By Joseph Staszewski
Trailing isn’t a position Springfield Gardens is used to being in, especially for nearly an entire game. You wouldn’t have guessed it by they way it handled the situation when faced with it.
The Golden Eagles boys’ basketball team was chasing St. Edmund for more than three quarters but never lost the belief they would find a way to win. They kept fighting and after a sluggish start used pressure defense to spark a late surge to secure a 46-43 win at Aviator Sports Complex Friday. Springfield Gardens went on a 15-2 run to grab a 46–41 lead with 1:07 left in the game.
“You don’t know where your team is at until you see them when they are down,” Springfield Gardens Coach Angelo Buono said. “We’ve kind of been rolling this year.”
The Golden Eagles have been one of the top programs in the PSAL Class A division the last three seasons. They are a combined 33-3 in division play during that time, including a 6-0 mark this year in Queens A West. Buono said it was good for his club to be tested by a well-coached and disciplined St. Edmund team that plays in the CHSAA Class B league.
“We haven’t really been down this year and they responded really well,” he said.
Springfield Gardens trailed by 11 points early in the second quarter and was down 34-27 after three. Junior Travis Raynor scored a game-high 14 points and sophomore Joel Brice added 12. The Golden Eagles got St. Edmund star Altine King in early foul trouble and held him to just 12 points.
Raynor was one of the few who played with energy throughout. He attacked the glass and was aggressive going to the basket. He knocked down a big trey and converted a three-point-play during the decisive run. Raynor, averaging 19.8 points and six rebounds per game in league play, has been a versatile threat all season.
“He gave us a great lift and sometimes makes impossible shots that nobody thinks he is going to drop,” senior Darcell Brown Womack said. “Out of nowhere he hits a three from deep. I don’t know how, but he does.”
Springfield Garden, along with it young standouts, has plenty of veteran leadership in Brown-Womack and point guard Jason Deochan. It was Deochan who orchestrated the offense to perfection late after St. Edmund forced them to be more patient than usual.
“He kind of took over at the end setting people up,” Buono said.
Springfield Gardens is hoping to set itself up for a run at a city title. It lost in the quarterfinals the last two seasons, including to eventual champion Brooklyn Collegiate two years ago. The players think they can get over that hump.
“We want it bad” Raynor said. “We want it. We are going to make noise this year.”
