After 2-year hiatus, Cardozo returns to final 8

Two years ago, they lost an overtime heartbreaker to Grady. Last March, they went into a second half funk, falling to Benjamin Banneker. This season, another Brooklyn school - No. 11 Thomas Jefferson - came calling in the second round.
This time around, however, Cardozo was up to the challenge, leading from start to finish for an 83-73 victory in Oakland Gardens Tuesday afternoon that advanced the sixth-seeded Judges to the PSAL Class AA quarterfinals for the first time in three years.
“It’s a relief,” Cardozo Coach Ron Naclerio said.
“We really wanted to get out of the second round,” added junior James Southerland.
Justin Garvin led four Judges in double figures with 19 points, Chris Abney added 18 and Southerland and Trinity Fields had 16 apiece. Keith Spellman paced Jefferson with 20.
The Judges (23-5) ran their typical gamut of peaks and valleys, following up hot streaks with dry spells. But with the lead down to five in the final minute of the third quarter, Abney, whose playoff status was up in the air last week because of his hyper-extended left knee, keyed a 13-4 spurt that put the game away with six points and three blocks.
“They kept on coming,” Abney said, “but we decided to keep on coming harder.”
It was the first playoff game for the 6-foot-7 senior center who transferred into Cardozo out of Christ the King in the fall. “This was his first baptism under fire,” Naclerio said. “He came through with flying colors.”
The Judges got a scare in the second quarter when Abney hit the deck after bumping knees with Joel Wright and screamed out in pain. He eventually limped to the sideline, only to return the very next possession. “I just had the will to keep playing,” he said. “It’s the playoffs. I had to give 100 percent.”
And thanks to his performance, Cardozo moved on to meet third-seeded Wings Sunday at St. John’s University.