(Aquinas' Jamir Jones shoots over Park's Chris Efreteui / Photo by Jen Merkel)

 

In sports, there's the old cliche, 'you can't teach size'.  While that is true, if you're an opponent of Park, you better hope you can at least teach how to attack its size, because few high school teams are as imposing across the front line. On Monday night, in a battle of top state-ranked teams, Aquinas showed its formula for attacking size, which involved a lot of patience, combined with the ability to knock down shots and rebound the ones you miss.

 

The Lil Irish kept the ball moving against Park's massive 2-3 zone and continually picked the right spots to attack, earning a 55-49 victory over the visiting Pioneers.  The win improves Aquinas (#8 in NYS Class AA & Section V's #1 team) to 16-3 on the season, with its only losses coming to Canisius and Canada's top ranked team, Vaughan.

 

"Our guys are so unselfish, it makes it easy for me to coach," Aquinas coach Mike Grosodonia said.  "These guys share the ball so well, even though they were getting the ball inside, they weren't forcing it."

 

Earnest Edwards got off to a fast start for the Lil Irish, scoring eight points in the opening quarter and adding a pair of assists and steals.  After taking a 14-12 lead following the first eight minutes of play, Aquinas used a 13-2 run at the start of the second quarter to build a 27-14 lead.  The Lil Irish showed tremendous decision making on the offensive end, swinging the ball around the perimeter and feeding the high post, waiting for the perfect opportunity to score.  Edwards was especially adept at this, making the defense run out to challenge his open look, then swinging the ball to a teammate with even more space to shoot.

 

"Earnest is just a great athlete and plays very under control," said Grosodonia.  "We wanted to be patient on offense we didn't always take the first open look, sometimes making them guard a little longer would get us the same shot, but they're a little more tired now."

 

Just before halftime, Jamir Jones finished a shot in the paint and drew the contact, which enabled him to convert a three-point play that stretched the Aquinas lead to 34-19 at the break – the largest deficit Park had faced all season.

 

"I think they're very well coached – they run their offense, give the ball up, share the ball, and their spacing is good," said Park coach Michael Battaglia.

 

Edwards sparked a 7-2 spurt to begin the second half, scoring five of those points.  His 3-pointer midway through the third quarter gave Aquinas its largest lead of the game, 41-21.  The Pioneers had struggled mightily to get into any sort of offensive rhythm up to that point, largely due to the tenacious defense played by Aquinas.  The Lil Irish unleashed relentless ball pressure that resulted in 20 turnovers for the Pioneers.  Aquinas scored nearly half of its points in the game off of turnovers alone.

 

"We try to give a lot of ball pressure to bother every pass and bother every catch, create a little bit of chaos and make them make hard decisions," Grosodonia said.

 

The Lil Irish managed to rebound with Park all evening, despite the significant size disparity.  The Pioneers had just two rebounds more as a team in the game, but gave up 24 points in the paint, while scoring just 10 points inside.

 

"They have some really good rebounders in Jamir Jones, Jalen Pickett, & Jason Hawkes, and they rebound well as a team," Battaglia said.  "Sometimes it's hard to rebound playing zone.  You don't have a specific assignment – you're boxing out an area."

 

The Pioneers outscored Aquinas, 23-11, in the final stanza, and did make things interesting late in  the game.  Kyle Harris scored 16 of his game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter, as he connected on four 3-pointers in a comeback attempt that got Park within seven points with just two minutes remaining.

 

Edwards finished with 18 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals to lead Aquinas.  Jalen Pickett scored 13 points, and added five rebounds, four steals, and four blocks.  Jason Hawkes scored eight points to go with seven boards, while Jamir Jones had seven points and six rebounds in the win.

 

Jordan Nwora scored 16 points for Park, while Chris Efreteui led the Pioneers with seven rebounds.  Joe Jones and Noah Hutchins each grabbed six rebounds for Park, with Hutchins also adding six assists.

 

Point Totals

Aquinas:  Earnest Edwards 18, Jalen Pickett 13, Jason Hawkes 8, Jamir Jones 7, David Vito 7, Graycen Carter 2

Park:  Kyle Harris 18, Jordan Nwora 16, Joe Jones 11, Chris Efreteui 2, Tony Ugboma 2

 

-centercourt