By Dylan Butler
But early on, the only statement Carter and his teammates were making was that they needed some extra sleep.
Newtown looked lackluster and sleepwalked through the first 2 1/2 quarters, falling behind 41-30.
“I only had two hours of sleep last night, I was so anxious for the game,” said the Pioneers senior guard. “In the first half we were dead, lazy. We were still at home sleeping.”
But midway through the third quarter, an alarm clock sounded for the Pioneers. Carter, along with Jamel Moye, did a great job down low, getting numerous second chance points and slashing to the hole. Carter garnered game MVP honors with 20 points and 13 rebounds while Moye added 25 points and 12 boards to lead the streaking Pioneers, winners of three straight.
“We've had a lot of internal problems this year, we're young and inexperienced,” said Newtown head coach Pat Torney. “We're not the premier team, not yet. We had three games in three days and they were all wins. We're peaking at the right time.”
Carter's driving baseline layup began an 8-0 run for Newtown (11-8), which cut New Utrecht's lead to 41-38 on a made free throw by Steven Duran with 1:15 left in the third quarter.
A three-pointer by Tristan Verette and a bucket from the left blocks by Moye gave the Pioneers a 47-46 lead, its first since 8-7 early in the first quarter.
But the Utes weren't done and took what seemed to be a commanding 54-50 lead on an alley-oop layup from Casseus Carpenter to Emond Finn with 2:02 left in the fourth quarter.
Moye answered right back with a 10-foot baseline jumper to cut the Utes lead to 54-42 with 1:41 left in the fourth. Twice in the final 36 seconds New Utrecht (11-8) went to the line to shoot the one-and-one bonus and both times they missed the front end, openeing the door for the Pioneers.
With :07 left, Tristan Verette was tripped on a drive through the paint, fouling out Curtis Arnold, New Utrecht's leading scorer with 15 points.
Verette missed the first free throw and Torney called time-out. Verette intentionally missed the second free, Carter tipped the rebound and it went back into the hands of Verette, who layed the ball in from the right blocks with :02.2 seconds left to tie the game at 58.
“It was a set play where we had the guys crashing the boards, we got lucky,” Torney said. “Sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're not. In six years at Newtown we tried that play twice. I'm 1-for-2.”
Verette, who last week was benched by Torney in Newtown's league loss to Bryant, had the hot hand from the line in the overtime. After going 0-for-4 during regulation, Verette nailed all four of his free throws in the extra session. He finished with 13 points – all in the second half and overtime.
The Pioneers capped a key 11-0 run by scoring the first seven points of overtime to lead 67-58 with 1:33 left. The Utes roared right back, forcing turnovers on its full court press to cut the score to just two, 69-67, on a Chad Timberlake putback with 36 seconds left in overtime.
“We let it get away, we should have put the hammer down,” said New Utrecht head coach John Sce. “They outplayed us in overtime. We missed shots and they made some good plays.”
But Newtown closed the door, scoring the game's final six points – four from Verette – to come away with the impressive win.
“This was a statement game, we had to show them,” Moye said. “People say Newtown ain't got nobody. We worked hard to prove them wrong.”
Tiquann Cannady had 14 points, Emond Finn scored 13 points and Chad Timberlake added 12 for the Utes. Tamer Gabriel had nine points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Pioneers.
Newtown 52, Tilden 50. Verette came to the rescue again for the Pioneers, draining a pair of free throws with three seconds left lifting Newtown to a two-point win at the fourth annual MLK High School Basketball Classic at JHS 275 in Brooklyn Saturday.
Bishop Loughlin 69, Cardozo 61. Led by Darryl Hill, who scored 17 points, the Judges (11-4) erased an 18-point halftime deficit to get within six, 66-60, with 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Timele Mitchell had 16 points, Ted Mumford had 15 points and Curtis Sumpter added 12 for Louglin at the Game Over/PAL Martin Luther King Jr. Classic at JHS 275 in Brooklyn Monday.
Long Island City 49, Richmond Hill 45. Charles McCoy led the Bulldogs (9-10, 4-4 Queens B-II) with 20 points and 12 boards and Bobby Moore added 13 points. Luis Abreu's 26 points paced Richmond Hill.
Campus Magnet 63, Manhattan Center 62 (OT). Devon Ray went end-to-end to score the buzzer-beating game-winning layup for Magnet in the 19th annual Martin Luther King Classic at Elmcor Sunday. Ray scored a game-high 21 points.
Hillcrest 100, Taft 61. Mike Thompson scored 24 points and Wayne Innis added 19 for the Hawks (13-4) at the 19th annual Martin Luther King Classic at Elmcor Sunday.
Jamaica 57, Flushing 31. Darryl Eilam led the Beavers (8-3) with 17 points, including three three-pointers. Wayne Taylor paced Flushing (12-8) with 19 points.
Bayside 65, August Martin 49. C.J. Okogeri had 21 points and Lance Hazel added 12 points and 12 rebounds for Bayside (6-9, 5-7 Queens A-I).
Hillcrest 58, Forest Hills 43. Wayne Innis led the way with 16 points, while Mike Thompson and John Caban scored 13 points apiece for the Hawks (9-1 Queens A-I).
Jamaica 63, Edison 37. Nathaniel Parker had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Beavers (7-3 Queens A-I).
Bryant 77, Springfield Gardens 57. Deshawn Warren scored 26 points and Carl Rhodes had 16 for Bryant (18-2, 9-1 Queens A-I).
Cardozo 75, Lane 45. Dana Townsend had 14 points and 17 boards for the Judges (9-2 Queens A-II).
Campus Magnet 91, Far Rockaway 46. Ray scored 26 points and Mark Arrington added 25 points for the Bulldogs.
Bowne 71, Aviation 68. Anthony Guitterez scored 22 points and Genc Felimi chipped in with 17 points and 10 rebounds for Bowne (11-8).
Renaissance 66, Wagner 62. Roland Hanak scored 23 points and Matt Canizares had eight rebounds for Renaissance (2-8, 2-7 Queens B-II).
Richmond Hill 62, American Studies 42. Paul Salcedo (21 points) and Kenny Smith (12 points and 15 rebounds) led Richmond Hill (4-13).
John Bowne 82, Queens Vocational 48. Jouralif LaFontaine led the Wildcats with 25 points and 14 rebounds, while Antoinne Millian had 20 points and 12 boards for Bowne.
Aviation 64, Robert F. Wagner 47. Kareem Bertrand (17 points) and Glen Byrd (13 points) paced Aviation.
Cardozo 57, Beach Channel 43. Senior point guard Daryl Hill had 33 points and Dana Townsend added 12 rebounds and five blocks for Cardozo.
Newcomers 35, Richmond Hill 32. Francisco Borbon had 15 points for the Lions (4-13, 3-4 Queens B-I).
