By Dylan Butler
The 6-foot-3 sophomore who ran the point for the Judges, switched to the two-guard position and teamed up with Zach Marbury from Brooklyn to tear up the Stags. Woodward had 14 of 19 points in the first half. He shot 8-for-15 in 33 minutes. The duo combined to score 40 points for the Rams.
Woodward was one of several former Queens high school stars to make their Division I collegiate debuts over the weekend.
Joel Suarez from LeFrak City also had a fantastic start of his career at Hofstra. The freshman point guard who went to St. Mary's in Manhasset, L.I., had a game-high 22 points and went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc to lead the Pride to an 81-57 rout of Northern Illinois in Hofstra's opener Friday.
In a 78-50 win over Florida International Saturday, the 6-foot point guard had 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting and had three assists in 20 minutes.
Fellow LeFrak City resident Dawan Gary was also impressive in his first collegiate game. The former Forest Hills standout scored a team-high 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting in LIU's 96-50 loss at No. 25 Virginia Friday.
The 6-foot-6 forward who played for Christian International Academy last year added five rebounds in 25 minutes. Former Rangers teammate JaJa Bey added 11 points for the Blackbirds.
A pair of Queens residents made their debut head-to-head Friday as Taliek Brown and the No. 13 ranked UConn Huskies defeated Kason Mims and the Quinnipiac Braves, 86-72. Brown, also from LeFrak City and one of the best to ever come out of St. John's Prep, had nine points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals in 29 minutes in his much-anticipated debut. Mims, a 6-foot-3 freshman guard from Astoria and Christ the King, had eight points in 23 minutes before fouling out.
Kevin Fitzgerald from St. Francis Prep helped lead Boston University to a 77-64 win over St. Peter's Friday in Sunnyside native and Belle Harbor resident Bob Leckie's debut as Peacocks head coach.
Fitzgerald, a 6-foot-2 freshman guard also from Belle Harbor, had 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 32 minutes.
Darryl Boykins, who starred for Monsignor McClancy last year, did not play against BU, but scored nine points in 18 minutes in St. Peter's 100-75 loss at Boston College Saturday.
Former Christ the King standout Zack Williams had seven points and five rebounds in 23 minutes as Ohio State defeated Yale, 65-45 Friday night. St. Albans native Royal Ivey, who played for Ron Naclerio at Cardozo, had two points and one assist in seven minutes as Texas defeated California, 57-54, last Wednesday in the preseason NIT quarterfinals. The Longhorns will face No. 2 Duke in the semifinals at Madison Square Garden Wednesday and will face either Indiana or Temple Friday.
Ed O'Neil, a 5-foot-11 freshman guard out of Archbishop Molloy, scored five points in 23 minutes in Charleston Southern's 73-52 loss to the College of Charleston Friday and former Christ the King teammates Mark McCarroll and Juma Allen each made their debut. McCarroll, a 6-foot-10 freshman forward out of Jamaica, had three points and five rebounds in 10 minutes as the Panthers trounced the North Carolina A&T Aggies, 91-46 Friday. Allen, a 6-foot-6 freshman from South Ozone Park, had one rebound in six minutes as Wagner defeated Brown, 122-91 Friday.
SJU football rallies for season-ending 30-21 win at Iona
Trailing 21-17 at the end of the third quarter, the Red Storm (5-6) scored 13 straight points in the fourth quarter to forge a 30-21 win over the Gaels in New Rochelle Saturday.
Senior Elliott Hulse finished his collegiate career in fine fashion, scoring on a 5-yard touchdown run to cap a six-play, 76-yard drive to give St. John's a 24-21 lead at the start of the fourth quarter.
Hulse played iron man football Saturday at Mazzella Field, picking up three tackles at outside linebacker and rushing for 60 yards on 19 carries.
Sophomore Josh Krapf, who was the starting quarterback early in the season, replaced freshman Matt Millheiser who left the game with a separated right shoulder with 5:48 left in the second quarter.
Krapf was 4-for-11 for 123 yards and a 43-yard touchdown pass to Matt May to put the Red Storm up, 30-21 with 10:05 left in the fourth quarter.
Kurasaki and Roudovski garner Big East post season honors
Robyn Kurasai, a freshman on the St. John's women's volleyball team, was named the Big East Rookie of the Year and senior Olga Roudovski was selected to the All-Big East first team.
Kurasaki, who was named Big East Rookie of the Week four times, led the Red Storm to a 25-8 record. The native of Milliani, Hawaii had 1,370 assists on the season and was ranked fifth in the conference with an average of 11.61 assists per game. Kurasaki, who broke a Red Storm record for assists in a match with 83 in a five-game victory over Syracuse on Oct. 29, is the first St. John's volleyball player ever to be named Big East Rookie of the Year.
Roudovski capped a solid career by becoming the first Red Storm volleyball player ever to be named to the All-Big East first-team. The Brooklyn native led the conference in kills per game with 4.78 and is the all-time leader at St. John's with 1,541 career kills.
In her last collegiate match, Roudovski broke the Big East record for kills in a single season with 554.
