By Mitch Abramson
On Tuesday, Cardozo hosted Bayside in the second chapter of this season's “Battle of the Bayside” and, although the Commodores made a game of it in the first quarter, Cardozo won easily 76-45 in the final league game for both teams.The Judges shook off the malaise that had effected them over the weekend when, upon returning from the school's senior class trip Sunday morning, they were thumped later in the day by New Jersey's Bloomfield Tech 62-56 in the Tom Crotty Memorial Classic at St. John's University. Four of the five starters on Cardozo are seniors and one of them, Drew Gladstone, took an elbow to the head and suffered a concussion.”I'm still recovering from it,” said Gladstone who finished with 11 points. “I wasn't really into the flow until the second half (against Bayside).”Bayside (14-4, 11-3 Queens II-A) trailed 12-10 after the first quarter and succeeded in keeping Cardozo's speedy guards out of the lane. Patrick Hazel, Bayside's 6-foot-5 junior center, loomed large in the middle. He scored 6 of his 14 points in the first quarter and emphatically blocked a drive by the versatile James Peters.”He surprised us with how dominant he was down low,” Gladstone said of Hazel.Hazel's impact diminished in the second quarter as Cardozo's press began to catch Bayside out of position defensively. Vic Morris found his shooting touch and hit a deep 3-pointer in front of Bayside's bench. Moments later, he converted a basket off a steal to give Cardozo a 19-12 lead. Morris scored 12 of his game-high 25 points in the second quarter. The Judges outscored Bayside 18-8 in the second quarter and led 30-18 at the intermission.”They did a good job doubling Hazel (in the second quarter) and every time they would hit a three, they could come back and get a steal and score again,” Bayside coach Joe Capuana said. “We wanted to slow the pace of the game down, and we got caught up trying to run with them. We didn't want them to score 60 or more points.”Naclerio subbed players in and out whenever they made a mistake, something he began to do against Xaverian on January 16 in a victory at Madison Square Garden. It was an attempt to get his players to be more accountable, and the ploy worked. Morris continued to shoot the ball well and Wes Frederique, as he did in the Xaverian game, hit a pair of 3-pointers that broke the game open. Bayside found itself in a 49-29 hole after three quarters.”We were hot when we had to be hot,” Naclerio said. “Bayside always tries to challenge us; we had to step up to meet the challenge.”Naclerio scheduled a grueling non-league schedule this season with games against Rice, Lincoln, St. Patrick's, Xaverian and St. Raymond's. Sometimes Cardozo lost so bad that the players didn't know whether they were bad or if the opponent was that good. Without center Theo Davis, who missed two months of school and remains academically ineligible, Cardozo (17-5, 14-0 Queens II-A) struggled. Instead of hanging their heads, they took out their frustration on the PSAL, finishing undefeated in Queens II-A.”It's been tough, but until our big man comes back, I've got to be one of the big men for the team,” said junior Devin Epps, who finished with 11 points and helped limit Hazel to 6 points in the second half. “We seem to always come out strong in the second half of games. We need to put two good halves together (if we're going to go far in the playoffs).” RFK 63, Frank Sinatra 34. Roberto Colonette scored 17 points and Adbul Akbary handed out 18 assists for RFK (9-9, 6-8 Queens B) on Monday. Frank Sinatra dropped to 1-13 in the division.Queens Vocational 49, Newcomers 38. Armando Contreras scored 16 points and grabbed 4 rebounds on Monday for Queens Vocational (7-5 Queens B). Newcomers dropped to 7-7 in the division.Newcomers 43, Frank Sinatra 40. Renzo Bertran scored 14 points for Newcomers and Frank Sinatra received 25 points from Marco Cuoco Friday.Reach reporter Mitch Abramson by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 130.
