By ZACH BRAZILLER
Ron Naclerio paced underneath the far basket, a million thoughts racing through the longtime Cardozo coach’s head. Top-seeded Lincoln was still celebrating its dramatic 56-54, PSAL Class AA semifinal basketball victory and his players had slowly made their way to the locker room, starting what feels like an annual tradition at Cardozo: crying into their jerseys.
Eventually, Naclerio joined them, but not before he had already played the final frantic minutes over and over again in his head, when his fourth-seeded Judges blew a four-point lead, missed three free throws — two front ends of 1-and-1s — in the final 40 seconds, yet nearly drew even before the clock hit triple zeroes March 9.
“One play goes right for us or wrong for Lincoln and we’re going to the Garden,” Naclerio said in a whisper. “This is one of those games I never want to see again.”
Who could blame him?
Cardozo (28-3) missed 12 free throws — murder in a two-point loss — including seven by point guard Chris Gayot and committed four turnovers after taking a four-point lead with 3:17 to go. Twice Gayot (13 points) had a chance to push Cardozo ahead or get it even, but came up short. Tyrel Hunt’s runner with four seconds left hit the front rim and the backboard before caroming off to Lincoln freshman Isaiah Whitehead, who tossed it down court as time expired.
“Bounce of the ball we’re going to the Garden, pulling off the upset,” Naclerio said. “I know the kids are going to be miserable for a while just like I am. We had it.”
At the season’s outset, nobody imagined Cardozo even making it this far, let alone pushing Lincoln (28-2) to the limit. The Judges graduated four starters and returned just three players — Shelton Mickell (10 points), Marquis Barnett (16 rebounds) and Gayot — with any varsity experience.
Yet they went undefeated in Queens, repeated as borough champions and rolled into the semifinals with routs of Brooklyn AA foes Transit Tech and Thomas Jefferson.
Mickell broke out as an all-city candidate and is closing in on a Division I scholarship, Barnett became one of the city’s top defensive big men and sophomore Jermaine Lawrence emerged as a future star. Lawrence, again, showed why Naclerio thinks he may one day be his greatest player, scoring 16 points and grabbing six rebounds.
“Each day he’s gotta try to be the best person, best student and best athlete he can be,” Naclerio said. “A few years down the road, he can be something special.”
He hit a pair of three-pointers and gave Cardozo a 53-49 lead with a highlight-reel tip dunk in which he leaped over Lincoln’s Kamari Murphy and Jordan Dickerson followed by a layup in transition with 3:17 left. Lawrence, like his teammates, took the loss hard, calling it “depressing.” He wanted to get to the Garden for the team’s seniors and for Naclerio. Losing in such heart-breaking fashion, he said, won’t break him, but serve as motivation.
“Watch out, everybody better watch out,” he said, fuming. “I’m coming hard.”
Naclerio couldn’t think of next year; he wished he could stop thinking about those final minutes. Like others, Naclerio didn’t have high expectations for this group, saying in November it would be difficult to be as invested emotionally as he was the previous season. But by the end, this was more painful than last year’s loss to Boys & Girls in the title game at Madison Square Garden.
“This group was just the best group that I’ve had in a long time,” the coach said. “They were the epitome of a team.”
