By Dylan Butler
It may not have been pretty, but for Queens Village native Tom Pecora he’ll take a 67-65 victory over Florida Atlantic Saturday at Hofstra Arena in his Pride head coaching debut.
“We don’t talk about winning a lot; we talk about playing to our highest level,” Pecora said after the game. “Still, I much prefer the win. I still prefer to be the only undefeated head coach in Hofstra history.”
Also making his debut Saturday was Rochdale Village resident Kenny Adeleke and the highly touted freshman didn’t disappoint, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Freshman forward Wendell Gibson from Archbishop Molloy had four points and 11 rebounds in his collegiate debut and LeFrak City’s Joel Suarez, Hofstra’s starting sophomore point guard, netted a game-high 18 points with five assists.
Former Newtown standout William “Smush” Parker also made his Division I debut for Fordham in a 70-61 loss to DePaul University Nov. 12 in a first-round preseason NIT game. Starting at point, Parker had 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting and had four assists in 20 minutes. Sophomore Jeff McMillan, a 6-foot-8 former Bayside star, led the Rams with 16 points and 15 boards.
Antawn Dobie and JaJa Bey, LeFrak City residents who led Forest Hills to the PSAL championship game, combined for 48 points Saturday, but it wasn’t enough as Long Island University fell to Colgate, 99-87, at the Schwartz Athletic Center in downtown Brooklyn.
Dobie had a game-high 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three-point range and Bey chipped in 20 points, including 11 in the opening 20 minutes.
The commitments
Cigi McCollin, a 5-foot-8 senior guard at Christ the King, verbally committed to play basketball at Hofstra next year. Despite being hampered by a sprained ankle, the Astoria resident had 9.5 points last year for the Royals. McCollin, who plays for the NYC Heat AAU team, can play either guard position.
The St. John’s baseball team received a commitment last Thursday when Curtis High School pitcher Anthony Varvaro signed a letter of intent to play for the Red Storm.
Varvaro, who was 7-2 with three saves and a 2.45 earned run average, had 94 strikeouts in 62 innings. He chose St. John’s over Seton Hall, Delaware, Stony Brook, Towson State and Delaware State.
SJU football loses again
The worst season in the 33-year history of the St. John’s football program came to a predictable end Friday night as the Red Storm dropped its eighth straight game, 30-16 to Iona College.
Freshman Marc Saracino started at quarterback, he was picked off by Iona’s Tom Lagomarsino, who returned the interception 81-yards for a touchdown.
The Gaels, who defeated St. John’s (1-9) for the first time since 1993, then orchestrated a nine-play, 70-yard drive capped by five-yard LeVar Stockton’s quarterback sneak to put Iona ahead, 13-0 with 5:56 left in the first quarter.
St. John’s head coach Bob Ricca pulled Saracino for Kyle Lauver, who was 23-of-39 for 263 yards, two touchdowns and 86 yards rushing, but the Red Storm couldn’t stop Iona (4-5) from scoring.
Matt May had 13 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown for the Red Storm.
Red Storm women’s hoops drops opener
The St. John’s women’s basketball team’s season didn’t exactly get off to a great start Friday as the Red Storm were crushed 75-49 at Marist College in upstate Poughkeepsie.
Sophomore Sherri Brown scored a team-high 11 points, netting the Red Storm’s only two three-pointers of the game. Junior transfers Creasie Fowler had 10 points and eight rebounds and Amanda Rawson added 10 points and seven rebounds. Patrycia Gulak grabbed eight defensive rebounds and had four points in her Red Storm debut.
Marist (1-0) was led by Sarah Tift, who had 14 points and six rebounds.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
