By Anthony Bosco
Joe Capuana strolled into the gymnasium at Cardozo High School clad in a sports jacket and tie, looking every bit the high school basketball coach. His team, the Bayside Commodores, were bringing a perfect 20-0 record into the unfriendly confines of Cardozo’s gym, a place that has been home to the borough’s most dominant public school basketball team of the past decade.
The stage was set for a titanic confrontation that had all the elements a top-flight high school game should have from neighborhood rivalry to citywide importance. And neither team disappointed in a game no one in attendance — and there were plenty — will soon forget.
Cardozo, led by two talented players, junior Cameron Tyler and freshman Vic Morris, brought a league record of 11-1 into the battle, the lone blemish coming against Bayside on Dec. 18. Bayside was 12-0, sitting atop the division and looking forward to staying there.
When I shook hands with Capuana before the game I asked him straight up, “So, you guys gonna win?”
And Capuana answered with only one word: “Yes.”
His counterpart, Cardozo coach Ron Naclerio, a veteran of countless such encounters over the years, was a little less optimistic. In fact, he seemed ready to jump out of his skin. A loss pretty much would lock up the division title for Bayside, a crown which has almost exclusively belonged to the Judges since the first George Bush was in the White House.
The Cardozo coach bounced from one end of the gym to the other prior to tip-off, seemingly unable to calm himself down long enough to have more than a two-sentence conversation with anyone in the gym, myself included.
But all the pregame anticipation, which had been building since before Christmas, was soon behind everyone and the two teams took the floor for what promised to be nothing short of a sensational game.
Soon enough the game was on. Both clubs raced up and down the court at breakneck speed almost immediately, neither team settling into a controlled half-court offense and neither team controlling the action.
If there was an advantage at all, it belonged to Cardozo. Playing before a partisan packed house, the Judges seemed to feed off the energy of the crowd, specifically Tyler, who was on fire early, scoring 14 of the Judges’ first 16 points. But with Morris quiet, Tyler was barely enough to keep Bayside at bay.
C.J. Okogeri and Lance Hazel, the two key cogs of the Commodores’ attack, were also clicking on all cylinders. The slashing Hazel had little trouble getting to the basket, while Okogeri had his potent jump shot working.
Cardozo led 16-10 after one, but Bayside battled back in the second quarter, outscoring the Judges 19-15 during the stretch, mostly behind Hazel and Okogeri, making the score 31-29 at the half.
I was sitting behind the Cardozo bench for most of the first half and got a bird’s eye view of Naclerio in action. As entertaining as the game was, it was matched in its intensity by Naclerio, who paced an endless groove in front of his bench, dropping tidbits of knowledge to anyone within earshot at that particular moment.
Naclerio’s years of experience in such games certainly helped his club at the half. When both teams returned from the intermission, Naclerio saw Hazel dunk during layup drills, something forbidden by the PSAL. The infraction was pointed out to the officials, who issued a technical on Bayside, turning a two-point game into a four-point game and giving the Judges’ possession.
Capuana was incensed, but admitted later that it was the right call. The Cardozo players used it to their advantage as well, dominating the quarter to the tune of 26-16, taking a 57-45 lead into the fourth and final period.
Faced with the real possibility of their first loss of the year, the Commodores refused to fold, fighting back fiercely, as Hazel and Okogeri, who combined for 47 points, scored on nearly every possession and got Bayside within three points in the game’s final seconds.
Bayside called timeout after Hazel sank one of two free throws, but it was a timeout the team didn’t have — at least according to the official scorebook. A technical foul was assessed, Tyler calmly sank both free throws — bringing his total for the game to a staggering 41 points — and Cardozo had sealed the win.
Both coaches were gracious after the win, each congratulating the other team for a well-played game, while it might not have always been pretty. Capuana left the gym clutching his young son with the knowledge that a rubber match might be in the offing at the Queens Championships, coming up this weekend. One could only hope.
Five hours after the final buzzer sounded, my home telephone rang. Naclerio was on the other end, still pumped up after the win and needing to talk about it some more. It was clear he knew how important it was, not just in terms of citywide playoff seedings and division title implications, but for the fragile mind set of his young team.
But no matter what happens, in the end it was just another game. But one hell of a game at that.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
