Cardozo wins division title

The Cardozo Judges overcame a raucous crowd and then withstood a late comeback by the Forest Hills Rangers to claim their division title in a wild win on Friday, February 5.
With an atmosphere that could best be described as bedlam, the top two teams in the Public School Athletic League (PSAL) Queens ‘AA’ division met at Forest Hills High School in a replay of last year’s finale. The Judges lost that game, but this year judgment came for the Rangers, as Cardozo exacted revenge with a 68-61 victory.
The game kicked-off on a foreboding note for Forest Hills. After winning the opening jump ball, Rangers’ point guard Devin Johnson tripped over his own feet, giving Cardozo senior Reynaldo Walters an easy lay up to open the scoring.
It was a sign of things to come as the Rangers stood in their own way for much of the night. Unable to mount a significant offensive attack, Forest Hills fell behind by 16 points in the third quarter with Judges’ junior forward Ryan Rhoomes jamming a string of devastating dunks.
Forest Hills would trail by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter before an epidemic of Cardozo turnovers and fouls gave the Rangers hope. Junior guard Nick Padgett got hot from the perimeter, pulling Forest Hills within three points with 2:47 left in the game – reenergizing the home crowd.
However, a return to fundamentals saved the night for Cardozo, with junior guard Christopher Gayot sinking a pair of crucial free throws with just over a minute left.
Rhoomes led Cardozo (12-2) with 18 points, while Padgett dropped 22 for Forest Hills (11-3) and Maurice Harkless contributed 21.
Cardozo head coach Ron Naclerio acknowledged that his team got away with one in holding back the Rangers’ furious comeback in the fourth quarter.
“You got to be good and you got to be lucky,” said Naclerio. “Tonight, I think we were a littler more lucky than good.”
Heading into the playoffs, Naclerio wants to see his team cut back on the turnovers that have plagued them all season, causing far too many needlessly nail-biting endings.
“When you have a 19-point lead and you blow 10 of it, that tells you something is wrong,” he said. “Somehow, we’ve got to right this insanity.”