August Martin crushed by Jefferson 83-44

Some people make judgments about family members who bring video cameras to a basketball game. For the two who kept their cameras trained on the action all game long at August Martin High School on December 12, only one such judgment is plausible: They must have been from Thomas Jefferson Campus.
It was an ugly loss last Friday for August Martin, which fell 83-44 in a game that was never really close and that prompted a good chunk of the home audience to flee after the third quarter. That Jefferson went 14-2 last year in the second group of the Brooklyn ‘AA’ division provided little consolation for the Lady Falcons, who went 10-5 in the top girls’ division in Queens in 2008-09. That their coach, Joel Ascher, left with a bitter taste was obvious.
“There’s no effort,” he said after the game. “Our basic problem is we don’t practice right. Half the kids are not at practice, and when they are, they’re fooling around. … You can’t expect to win if you don’t come and give your best effort.”
The big problem for August Martin - and its perceived weakness against division rival Francis Lewis heading into the 2008-09 season - is eligibility. A glimpse at the team’s official roster reveals that six of the Lady Falcons’ 14 members are on the inactive list, with academic issues proving to be even more of a roadblock than injuries. One of the “active” players, sophomore forward Marquea Alexander, sprained her ankle and was confined to crutches. On Friday, only seven individuals composed the active roster, and Ascher’s two substitutions never entered the game.
One of the Lady Falcons’ most noticeable absences was that of senior forward Patrice Lewis, who scored 24 points per game last year.
That left a lot of work for the starting tandem of senior forward Krystina Agard, junior guard Shakeela Benjamin, senior center Latoya Griffith, sophomore forward Starasia Lawley, and senior guard Simone Posey. Despite the minutes, Agard was the only real star of the game, with 29 points and four three-pointers. As might be expected, August Martin looked overworked all night.
The Lady Falcons had trouble on the inbounds pass, with Jefferson’s full-court press stifling - and stealing - an embarrassing number of attempts to get to center court. Lawley, who scored 10 points, had to rely on some elaborate fakes. Once the Lady Falcons did find their way down the hardwood, they too often settled for taking desperate shots, too often satisfied with running as hard as they could and hoping to draw a foul on a shot that was never going in. For the first 3:30, August Martin’s only points of the game came from the free-throw line.
The rush-and-get-fouled strategy was effective in the sense that Thomas Jefferson did rack up the whistles at a breakneck pace. Still, the Lady Orange Wave displayed superior shot making all game long. Junior Alicia Cropper was a master of the long-range three and had no qualms about slipping right through the August Martin defense.
The score was 27-11 after the first quarter, 45-26 at the half.
“[Jefferson] had a lot of subs, so we were tight,” Agard said. “I feel like if we had [subs], we would be able to beat teams like Francis Lewis and Jefferson.”
While some players gain academic eligibility over the course of the season, Ascher said that recent developments on the eligibility front have been “not good.” He spoke in frustrating detail about a few players who failed too many courses, or who came one credit short of getting through summer school. It is clear that some players’ academic problems are a constant source of what-could-have-been considerations for their coach.
“We might get some people back [eventually],” Ascher said. “But it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”
Difficulties notwithstanding, August Martin was able to come within one point of borough favorite Francis Lewis in the season opener, even holding a 13-point lead at the half. The Lady Falcons defeated Brooklyn’s James Madison, which finished 9-6 last season, by 48-38 in Game Two. The loss to Thomas Jefferson Campus gives them a league record of 1-2, with Brooklyn’s Abraham Lincoln on tap for Friday, December 19.
Ascher did manage to have some fun last Friday, as evidenced by his subtle, bent-knees mocking of Posey’s form during a pair of free throws. Posey is five feet tall and just reaches most girls’ shoulders, and her shot trajectory seemed best suited for a shorter basket.
He even joked after the game, saying that the Lady Falcons’ performance “looked like Custer and Sitting Bull at Little Big Horn.”
But the pain he feels for a team with enormous early-season potential is undeniable. He spent most of the game with one foot propped up on the bench, staring blankly at the Lady Falcons’ repeated turnovers.
Presumably, according to his simile, Thomas Jefferson was Sitting Bull and August Martin was Custer. So consider this: If the U.S. Seventh Cavalry lost with just over 200 men, what can August Martin really do with only seven players?