By Dylan Butler
In the week leading up to his team's first round PSAL playoff game, Van Buren head coach Perry Dortch considered himself a lucky man. The VeeBees had just edged out Bayside in Queens II-A and the Commodores were forced to head to Staten Island to take on Curtis.
Then Van Buren won the coin flip to determine the site of its first-round game against Grady. Instead of heading into one of the toughest gyms in Brooklyn, the VeeBees would stay in the friendly confines of their own gym.
But good fortune could take the VeeBees just so far. And that's where basketball smarts took over. Van Buren played a great ball control game and exploited its size advantage in a 66-53 win Monday afternoon.
With Grady forward Michael Clark out for most of the game in foul trouble and with an injured foot, the Van Buren tandem of 6-foot-5 William White and 6-foot-4 Jean Augustine dominated the Falcons down low. The two combined for 22 points and 22 rebounds. James Parker also added 14 points on a variety of low post moves.
“I thought if we could get the ball inside, which we did to William and Jean, we would give them trouble. They had no answer for them down low,” Dortch said. “It was a team effort. We had nine guys and every one of them did something to chip in.”
Trailing 46-32 after three quarters, Grady (15-9) staged a furious fourth quarter rally. The Falcons pushed the ball up the floor led by junior Woody Souffrant, who had a game-high 25 points. But with Van Buren ahead, 58-53, with just under a minute remaining, Grady missed three layups in a row. White grabbed the rebound, dribbled up court and fired cross-court to Josh Puello, who scored a layup while getting fouled. The made free throw iced the game, putting the VeeBees ahead, 61-53, with 46 seconds remaining.
“Without Mike, we had nobody down low,” Grady head coach Jack Ringel said. “The one weakness this team had was the shortage of big guys all year. When you lose your top big guy, it shows.”
Van Buren (15-8) was also solid from the free throw line down the stretch, connecting on seven of 10 from the line.
“They got the ball into the foul shooters hands at the end,” Dortch said. “We beat a lot of teams because of that stripe. This team shoots free throws very well.”
Without an inside presence, Grady tried its luck from the perimeter. But the threesome of Souffrant, junior point guard Tyquan Goode and senior Michael Garrett shot a combined 2-15 from three point range.
“They played smart, they got us into a slower game which was to their advantage, but we didn't hit shots,” Ringel said. “We hit shots they have to come out of that zone. And not having a guy like Michael inside to keep them honest was a big factor.”
Grady led 16-10 with 6:42 left in the second quarter when the VeeBees went on an 11-0 run to go ahead, 22-16. The Falcons outscored Van Buren 7-3 down the stretch of the second quarter to go into the break down, 25-23.
Van Buren extended its lead to 46-32 in the third quarter as Parker led the way with eight points in the stanza. The VeeBees patiently attacked the Falcons press, working the ball into the middle for several easy layups in the third quarter.
“They wanted to get us up and down. We had to control the tempo and then play our game,” senior guard Greg Dickinson said. “We had the size advantage and used that and then just played our game.”
Dickinson had 10 points and Darryl France added nine for Van Buren, which advances to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in recent history. The VeeBees lost to Columbus in the first round last year.
“This is a goal before the season to get to [the second round],” Dickinson said. “We'll just see who we play and try and go another round.”
Franklin K. Lane 62, Stuyvesant 31. Robert Villanueva scored 20 points and Ramell Whittenburg added 13 as Lane (18-6) jumped out to a 35-11 halftime lead. Waleed Farid had 12 points for Stuyvesant. It was almost a short post-season for the defending PSAL 'B' champions as the Knights were taken to double overtime before overcoming Grand Street Campus in an outbracket game last Friday. Villanueva had 38 points in that game, including a driving layup with two seconds left in the first overtime to send the game into a second extra session.
Grover Cleveland 67, Jane Addams 56. Sophomore Ralph Williams scored all of his 10 points consecutively in the third quarter to open up what was a tight first round playoff game. The Indians (14-8) were led by Juan Fortuna (17 points, 18 rebounds) and Mike Gerena (13 points, 11 assists). Wilbur Williams had 28 points for Jane Addams (15-11).
Aviation 86, Automotive 57. Calvin Fraser's triple-double led the way for Aviation in its first round win Monday afternoon. Fraser had 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists while Trace Moxhan added 26 points for Aviation (20-5), which scored 32 fourth quarter points.
Pete Caris added 17 points and Audley Mattos had 14 for the Flyers.
