Name: Sundiata Gaines
School: Archbishop Molloy
Sport: Basketball
Position: Shooting Guard
Year: Senior
Hometown: Jamaica
Just how good was Sundiata Gaines for the Archbishop Molloy Stanners on the team’s trip down South to play in the Arby’s Classic? Sinfully good.
The senior guard out of Jamaica scored a tournament record 147 points, broke the Classic’s successful free-throw record (38) and tied the record for free throw attempts in leading Molloy to a fifth-place finish. He was chosen as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
“He played great,” said Molloy coach Jack Curran of Gaines during the tournament held in Bristol, Tenn. “They had some great players in that tournament over the years, guys who are in the pros. He broke their records.”
In four games Gaines averaged 36.75 points per game, including a 46-point effort in a win against Bartlett (Tenn.). He was 18-for-26 in that game with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. He kicked off the tourney with a 33-point performance with six rebounds and seven assists and also had 32 points with six rebounds against Riverdale, shooting 11-for-19.
Gaines, a second-team all-league selection a season ago, will attend Georgia next year.
St. Francis Prep’s Susan Divald led the team in scoring during two non-league wins, dropping 22 against Sacred Heart and scoring 13 against Massapequa … Another Terrier, Bryan Geffen, scored 35 points in an overtime loss to Bishop Loughlin and had 23 in a win over Poly Prep. Teammate Andrew Cashin had 37 against Loughlin … Kevin Ogeltree and Michael Johnson scored 18 and 17, respectively, for Holy Cross in a 68-56 win over Cardinal Hayes … Carl Wardlaw had 44 points to lift Robert F. Wagner over Academy of American Studies, 95-93, while Danial Levent drained a buzzer-beating three-pointer to force overtime en route to a game-high 47 points for American Studies … Lawrence Young had 36 points, 10 assists and eight steals to lead Forest Hills to a come-from-behind 96-91 overtime win over Grover Cleveland.
