With the Queens College men clinging to a 55-54 lead with 52 seconds left, the sophomore, known more for his gritty play and long-range shot than his quickness, deflected a ball in the passing lane and…
By Dylan Butler
SPARKILL, N.Y. —Dave Trani even surprised himself.
With the Queens College men clinging to a 55-54 lead with 52 seconds left, the sophomore, known more for his gritty play and long-range shot than his quickness, deflected a ball in the passing lane and drove the length of the court, scoring a layup while getting fouled. The three-point play gave the Knights a 58-54 lead en route to a 61-57 New York Collegiate Athletic Conference win at St. Thomas Aquinas Saturday night.
“Usually it’s not a big part of my game,” said Trani, who scored a team-high 19 points. “Usually I don’t have the quickness to get into the passing lane but I read the play. Usually Steve Sikiric gets those plays.”
And it was a play that Queens head coach Kyrk Peponakis asked from his team at halftime. After trailing 33-23 at the break, he wrote the word “transition” on the chalkboard.
The Knights answered their coach’s plea. Queens (16-9, 14-7) caused several STAC turnovers with a full court press and a 2-3 zone and the Knights got out and ran.
After Trani opened the second half with a three-pointer, the Knights scored 12 of their next 14 points on the break, including two three-point plays by freshman Anthony Washington, as Queens led 40-35.
“The last time we played them [a 82-64 win Jan. 17] we jumped out to a big lead early all from playing defense and running,” said Washington, who scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half. “We tried to do that a lot more in the second half — run and create. They’re not as good a transition team and it worked to our advantage.”
But St. Thomas Aquinas (7-16, 6-12) didn’t go away. Three straight baskets by Nazareth Henry, the leading scorer in the NYCAC, put the Spartans back ahead, 41-40.
While the Knights knew Henry was a tremendous scorer and rebounder, they didn’t know how dangerous he was from three-point range. Henry was spectacular in the first half, scoring 21 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc as St. Thomas Aquinas opened up a 33-23 lead.
“He was just carrying them,” Washington said. “We did a lot better of a job playing him in the post in the second half. In the first half, he did whatever he wanted.”
On a corner jumper by Henry, STAC opened up a 54-48 lead with 3:34 left in the second half. But Trani scored nine of the game’s next 11 points to clinch the game for the Knights.
“If we get points on transition, it’s icing on the cake,” Trani said. “We’re going to score in our half court sets. A lot of games we grind out in the halfcourt and we don’t have to run as much as we like to. We have the horses.”
Added Peponakis: “In the second half, we made them make their plays. If we’re not aggressive on defense, we’re not aggressive on offense. I’m happy we got out of here with a win after not playing that well.”
Henry led St. Thomas Aquinas with 31 points and eight rebounds while Shahid Green added 10 points.
Queens women defeat St. Thomas Aquinas: Theresa Dollard scored 23 points to lead the Lady Knights to a 66-55 win over the Lady Spartans Saturday night at Aquinas Hall.
Elena Rakova had 16 points and 15 rebounds and April Gross added 14 points and 13 boards for Queens (14-11, 12-7). Sabrina Sanchez led STAC (11-12, 10-9) with 11 points.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
