By Marc Raimondi
Matt Crockett was behind big last week, thousands of votes off the pace. The weekend, however, belonged to the Xavier junior star.
People came out of the woodwork in an effort led by his aunt and grammar school coach’s wife. All of his native Breezy Point and Xavier were clicking, too.
The effort paid off as Crockett finished first in an nypost.com poll asking, “Who is the top non-‘AA’ boys basketball player in the city?”
“I was surprised so many people took the time out and voted for me,” Crockett said.
He finished with a startling 88,623 votes, good enough for 34.89 percent of the record 253,994 votes cast. Poly Prep’s Charlie Marquardt, a former teammate of Crockett’s when they were younger, was second with 85,591 votes (33.7 percent) and Calhoun’s Zuri Pavlin finished a distant third with 43,408 (17.09 percent).
“Just being on the ballot was an honor,” Crockett said. “It recognizes the Xavier basketball program.”
The Knights are having a solid year, in the mix for a CHSAA Class A title and Crockett has been a catalyst with his inside-out game. The 6-foot-3 swingman is a dead-eye three-point shooter and a solid finisher inside.
“He kind of does a little bit of everything,” Xavier Coach Joe McGrane said in an interview last month. “He boxes out well, he’s got good footwork. He can score inside, shoots the ball well from the foul line, can shoot the three as well. He’s a good foul shooter.”
Basketball is a family affair for Crockett. His mother, Cathy, was a decorated girls’ hoops coach at Bishop Kearney and his father was a star at Xaverian. Crockett’s brother Kevin is a sophomore guard at Xavier and his oldest brother, Ryan Woerner, is an assistant men’s basketball coach at SUNY New Paltz.
His tight-knit family was instrumental in the vote-getting process, as were so many around him. Crockett said his teammates have teased him about winning the last day or so. He doesn’t mind the recent acclaim, but said he would trade the victory in very quickly for a chance to win the CHSAA Class A title this year.
“The goal is to win a city championship,” Crockett said, “not win a poll on newyorkpost.com.”
