By Simon Chen
In Brooklyn’s “A” Division, the Telecommunications Yellow Jackets, Midwood Hornets, Tilden Blue Devils, and Sheepshead Bay Sharks all went 2-for-2 in this week’s abbreviated action. As the playoff race intensifies with each passing week, the Yellow Jackets still maintained their undefeated record which improved to 13-0 this week. Additionally, the Jackets still kept some breathing room between them and, both the Midwood Hornets and Sheepshead Bay, who are 11-2, respectively. As the Jackets sit in first, the Hornets and Sharks battle for second place, the Blue Devils bolstered their playoff chances with huge victories over Lafayette and Madison. They are currently tied for fourth place with a surging Fort Hamilton, also 8-6, who defeated another playoff contender New Utrecht on Friday but suffered a minor slip-up to Midwood on Wednesday. The only thing that is certain in this division is that the 3-11 teams of Madison, Erasmus, and FDR are out of playoffs, as well as the 0-14 Lafayette Patriots. Lafayette is still in search of their first victory of the year, after going another dismal two-and-out week. With four games to play in the regular season, the division title is far from being determined but any minor slip up by any of top three division teams can cost them the division. The Midwood Hornets were able to something that hasn’t been done to the Fort Hamilton this entire season and that was hold them to under 40 points. Not only did they hold to under 40 points, they simply embarrassed them on the Tigers’ home floor by blowing them out by 19. The game didn’t begin this way as the Tigers trailed the Hornets by five at the end of the first quarter, 15-10. But a mistake filled and defensive letdown by the Tigers opened the door for the Hornets to come stinging — and they stung with vengeance. In the second quarter, the Hornets scored 15 and increased their five point lead to a 14-point in the matter of one quarter. The Hornets headed into halftime with a 30-16 lead and never relented as they pounded Fort Hamilton the rest of the way through by posting 27 more second half points. Leading the Hornets was forward Kevin Henry, who punched in 13 points, four rebounds, and a lone assist. Despite leading all scorers, the Tiger’s Tarik Alassari contributed 19 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. With the victory, the Hornets improved to 11-2 while Fort Hamilton drops to 7-6. The Telecommunication Yellow Jackets have played the best basketball in the entire division and in the borough and would continue to do so by destroying the Madison Knights at Madison. The Yellow Jackets were able to light the scoreboard frequent and fast by scoring 21-first quarter points and 17 more in the second. Before 24 minutes was up, the Yellow Jackets were able to be a 16-point lead, 38-16. The Jackets had the honor of closing the lights and sending the fans home by pouring 29 more in the third quarter to building up a 35 point lead after 36 minutes of play. Leading the Yellow Jackets was forward Rasak Bello, who racked up 19 points, 14 rebounds, and an assist. Posting another impressive performance was Madison’s Javon Jean, who contributed 9 points, 13 rebounds, and two assists in the losing cause. With the win the Jackets improved their record to 13-0 while keeping some breathing space with a two game lead against Sheepshead Bay and Midwood. While the lost sets the Madison Knights back to 3-10. An eight-point fourth quarter claws the Cougars as the Sharks beat FDR at Sheepshead Bay. Despite matching with the division’s second best team for 16 minutes of play, the Cougars opened the gat of opportunity for Sheepshead Bay and they never looked back. The Cougars played a tough first quarter, matching the Sharks for 15 points a piece. But in the second, the Sharks placed some separation as they torch the Cougars’ defense for 20 points and nailed the coffin with 22-fourth quarter points. In that same fourth quarter, the Sharks only allowed 4 two-point field goals. Leading the Sharks was center Joshua Hinds, who scored a season high 17 points, 11 rebounds, and three rebounds. With the victory in the hand, the Sharks improved to 11-2 but are still tied with Midwood (11-2) and stay two games behind the Yellow Jackets, who are stay undefeated at 13-0. The Cougars are dropped to 3-10 on the season. In the upset of the week, the Erasmus Hall Dutchmen were able to edge the New Utrecht Utes at New Utrecht. In the first quarter, the Utes were up by two, 8-6. But it was the second quarter when the Dutchmen were able to fight through with a 21-point second frame to lead 27-18 at halftime. Erasmus was able to take control in third quarter by scoring 19 for a 46-29 lead. Although the Utes did make a furious comeback with a 25-point fourth quarter but it wouldn’t be enough as they were defeated. In the loss, the Utes’ guard Ismael Gonzalez was able to score 13 points, four rebounds, and five assists. With the defeat, the Utes fall to 7-6 while the Dutchmen improves to 3-10. A dismal first quarter for the winless Lafayette Patriots set the tempo for the entire game as they were destroyed by the Blue Devils at Tilden. In the first frame, the Patriots were only able to score three points in the entire eight minutes of play while allowing 14-Blue Devil points in the process. This trend continued into the second quarter as the Blue Devils put up a 26 spot on Lafayette for a 40-17 lead heading into the half. After the half, the Patriots scored 25 points but still trailed by 17, 59-42 at the end of three quarters of play. In the fourth, Tilden would slam door as they would post 22 more points. Leading the Blue Devils was guard/forward Ashton Pascall, who scored a season high 37 points, pulled down 20 rebounds, and dished out two assists. Pascall’s 37 points was good enough to improved Tilden’s record to 7-6 while the Patriots’ drops to 0-13. In this week’s feature game of the division, the New Utrecht Utes and the Fort Hamilton Tigers are both fighting for their collective playoff lives as it was a battle of 7-6 teams. The team that won would greatly have their playoff hopes strengthen while the loser would their hopes dealt with a major blow. It was a strong second half by Fort Hamilton that lifted them pass the New Utrecht Utes at home. Despite being down 16-14 to the Utes, Fort Hamilton made a roaring comeback in the next 24 minutes of play, as they combined for 54 points. A strong performance by guard Tarik Alassari led the Tigers, who contributed 20 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Another impressive performance was by Tigers’ guard Nabiel Bader, who added 17 points, three rebounds, and eight assists. In the losing cause for the Utes, guard Ismael Gonzalez scored 25 points, snagged down four rebounds, and dealt out five assists on the afternoon. With the victory, the Tigers claw their way to a 8-6 record with the playoffs insight with four games to play. The loss sets back New Utrecht to a .500 record at 7-7. The FDR Cougars played their strongest game of the entire season against of the city’s and one of the borough’s best team by keeping the Yellow Jackets’ forward/center Nikita Davis under 20 points but still lost. The Telecommunications Yellow Jackets slightly edged the Cougars at FDR. The last time that these two teams met was on December 13 at Telecommunications where the Jackets wiped out the Cougars, 82-60. In that game, the Cougar defense was able to keep Davis under 20 in this game as well. But failed to win either time. But it was the Cougars’ guard/forward Steven Sharrers that led scorers with 25 points, a lone rebound, and two assists. Another impressive performance was by guard/forward Tomasz Kurpiewski, who contributed 17 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. Leading the way for the Yellow Jackets was forward Rasak Bello, who had a 18 point, 12 rebound, and one assist day. With the victory, the Jackets go 2-for-2 during the week, keeping pace with their two game lead above Sheepshead Bay and Midwood intact and increased their winning streak to 14 consecutive games. The Cougars fall to a miserable 3-11 and falls into a three way tie for fifth place in the division with Erasmus and Madison. Even though, Erasmus play a strong for three of the four quarters, it proved not to be enough as the Hornets able to slip by at Midwood. The Hornets jumped out to an early 12-10 lead through the second quarter where they tact on 16 more to lead at the half, 28-24. But it was a third quarter letdown by the Dutchmen that allowed the Hornets to sting them, Erasmus, in eight minutes of third quarter play only scored three 2-point field goals while allowing 17-Hornet points. Although the Dutchmen did make a strong comeback in the fourth quarter by torching the beehive for 22-fourth quarter points but it wasn’t enough. Leading the Hornets was guard Stefon Douglas, who scored 18 points, five rebounds, and five assists. As a result of Telecommunications slipping past the FDR Cougars and Sheepshead Bay defeating Lafayette, the Hornets still stay within two games of the Yellow Jackets and tied for second place with the Sharks at 11-2. The loss drops Erasmus to 3-11 and into a three way tie for fourth place in the division. A strong first half bolstered the Sheepshead Bay Sharks past the Lafayette Patriots at Lafayette. A 39-point first half led the Sharks to a 39-14 halftime lead but the Patriots fought back. Lafayette scored 21 points in the third quarter to close the deficit to 57-35, Sharks. But in the fourth quarter the Patriots had the nail in the coffin as they allowed 15-Shark points to end the game. The Sharks had two strong performances by a center and a forward. Center Joshua Hinds contributed 12 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists. While guard Eric Williams checked in with a 12 point and three rebound day. After getting shark bitten, the Patriots fall to their 14th consecutive loss on the year but the Sharks improved to 12-2, still tied with Midwood and are still within two games of the Yellow Jackets. Despite holding the division leading scorer, Tilden’s Ashton Pascall, to only 20 points, it wouldn’t be enough as the Blue Devils handed the Knights their third loss in four games on Madison’s home court. While speaking of Pascall, the Blue Devil guard scored 20 points, 10 rebounds, and one assist on the afternoon. With another impressive contribution was forward Roler Alexis, who added 18 points and 11 rebounds of his own. At one point, the Knights actually held a six point lead after the first quarter but they gave it away during midway of the second quarter when the Blue Devils scored 18-second quarter points. Once the lead was given away by the Knights, the game was also given away in the fourth quarter, when they gave away 20-fourth quarter points to the Blue Devils.
