Quantcast

Kunkel, Prodanovic brilliant, but Stanners lose

By Dylan Butler

Prodanovic seemingly couldn't miss a shot and the undersized Kunkel again dominated inside the paint. But the Stanners didn't have an answer for Mike Davis, who scored at-will inside to lift All Hallows to a 97-94 overtime win in a first-round playoff game at Holy Cross Sunday afternoon.Davis, a 6-foot-7 center, came off the bench and scored 27 points for an All Hallows team that was without guard Codi Oliver, who was held off the court by coach Ed Gonzalez for an undisclosed reason.Oliver played sparingly in All Hallows' last game, a 74-72 loss to St. Raymond's in the New York Archdiocesan semifinals. That was All Hallows' ninth straight loss, four coming by three points or less.”We kept our composure, we didn't throw the ball away,” Gonzalez said. “I think that they learned from (the close losses).”Gonzalez said that Davis, who is also a usual starter, came off the bench because of his tendency to pick up early fouls. Davis did have four fouls late but was particularly huge down the stretch.After putting All Hallows (11-15) in front 87-85 with 26.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter, he scored his team's first seven points in overtime, although he did miss a pair of game-clinching free throws with 46.9 seconds left in overtime.”Coach told me Codi wasn't going to play so I just had to step it up and be strong inside,” Davis said. “The team needed me, so I had to. I missed a couple of free throws down the stretch.”Molloy's Kenny Kelly was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 21.6 seconds left in overtime but went just 1-of-3 from the line to tie the game at 94. Chris De la Rosa, who finished with 6 points, knocked down his only two free throws of the game with six seconds left in overtime to give the Gaels a 96-94 lead.”I think it's the most points we ever gave up in a game. I can't remember anyone scoring more,” Molloy coach Jack Curran said. “We gave up 91 once to Power (Memorial) and lost 91-90.”Kunkel tried to find Prodanovic down the wing, but he bounced the ball out of bounds with two seconds left. After a Darryl Crawford free throw with 0.9 seconds left, Molloy (12-14) had one desperation chance at tying the game but Kunkel's touchdown toss to Prodanovic was picked off by Terrell Ellison.”I felt 100 percent we were going to win. We just weren't able to pull away at the end,” Prodanovic said. “I don't know, I'm just shocked.”Prodanovic finished with a game-high 34 points and was 10-of-10 from the foul line, including six straight free throws in the final 1:58 of the fourth quarter. Prodanovic also stepped a foot inside the 3-point line and buried a game-tying bucket with 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter.Kunkel had a typical George Kunkel game. The 6-foot-2 senior forward, who was left off the CHSAA's All-League teams, had 29 points and 16 rebounds in his final game at Molloy.”George and Milan both played well, but they just didn't get enough help,” Curran said. “We usually get a little more out of our inside guys, either Morgan Kelly or Victor (Rosario) but Victor kind of backed off their big guy.”Monsignor Farrell 67, St. Francis Prep 56. Douglas Elwell had 20 points, Stephen Rossiter had 15 and Nicholas Brosnan added 10 for Farrell (24-4) in the other CHSAA 'AA' intersectional first round game Sunday at Holy Cross. Ray McKie had 15 points, Jeremiah Adegbola had 11 and Mike Marin and Billy Dupree scored 10 points apiece for St. Francis Prep (12-14).Wheelchair tryouts. Tryouts for the Queens Wheelchair Classic team will be held at Holy Cross March 8 at 6 p.m. for all current high school junior and senior players. The Wheelchair Basketball Classic will be held April 5 and 7 at Christ the King High School.Reach Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.