Dennison And Barnes Overwhelm Forest Hills

Duran Velasquez raced back, squared up and wrapped up Tony Dennison, driving him to the ground with a picture-perfect tackle. It was a textbook hit by all accounts.
On this day, it was the only method, the Rangers discovered, to slow down Dennison, who poured in a team-high 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, as Bryant out-classed Forest Hills, 75-64, at home Wednesday afternoon.
In an early-season battle for first-place supremacy in Queens I-A, Bryant (10-1, 5-0 Queens I-A) led 19-7 after the opening quarter, largely because of Dennison’s seven early points, and jumped out to an early 18-point lead, en route to a comfortable win.
Johnny Barnes added 22 points and 12 rebounds, Enes Purisic chipped in with 16 points, and Shaun Willoughby dished out 10 assists.
Forest Hills fought back on numerous occasions but dug too deep a ditch for themselves.
Led by senior guard Cerrone Jackson’s 23 points, the Rangers rallied to within seven late in the opening half and trailed by only 33-23 at halftime.
Even after Barnes scored the first five points after intermission, Forest Hills rallied, trailing by only 41-33 after Jeancar Hernandez’s runner in the lane fell. But Dennison answered in transition, then fed Barnes for a lay-up, kick-starting a 12-5 spurt.
The differential grew to 18 when Barnes, the lanky 6-foot-5 forward, swooped in for an offensive rebound and stick-back.
The scrappy Rangers, using a four-guard lineup, managed to hang around because of their full-court trap. Yet it was a double-edged sword.
While the frantic press created turnovers, at the same time, when Bryant got past half court, Barnes and Dennison found themselves in open space with two-on-one opportunities.
“The more they trap us,” said Bryant Coach John Demas, “the more we’ll score.”
The Owls, without a natural point guard, figure to see a lot of pressure.
Willoughby, last season’s starting off guard, is the closest Bryant has to a point guard, but he was in foul trouble against Forest Hills (4-1 Queens I-A). Reserve Javon Huntley was called into action but struggled, drawing the ire of Demas twice in the final minutes for taking an ill-advised 3-pointer and throwing the ball away.
Still, in a clash of unbeaten teams, Bryant won with ease. When the season began, the Owls were considered the class of Queens I-A. After five games, not much has changed.
“We wanted to send everybody a message,” said Barnes of the decisive victory. “We know we’re the underdogs in Queens behind Cardozo and Campus Magnet. Even though they’re very good teams, we feel we can play with them, too.”