By Stephen Zitolon
A close game again got away from Bayside.
For the fifth time this season the Commodores boys’ basketball team lost a game by five points or less, this time falling to Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School 73-72 at the Cardozo Classic Saturday.
“I’m always proud of what these guys do,” Bayside Coach Steve Scharf said. “They always fight back. We pride ourselves on playing hard.”
Bayside had a chance to send the game to overtime when sophomore forward Robert Chiddick was sent to the line for two free throws with three seconds left and his team down two points. Chiddick hit the first, but missed the second free throw and Washington Heights (13-6) secured the rebound for the win. The Commodores (11-10) were on the cusp of getting an impressive victory over one of the top teams in Manhattan, but felt it needed to be better defensively to do so.
“We had a good offensive game, but they had an even better one,” Bayside senior guard Daniel Hernandez said. “Our defense doesn’t usually allow 72 points in a game.”
Washington Heights senior guard Emile Lewis scored a game-high 31 points, and sophomore forward Jessy Jimenez added 24 points. Bayside was led on the afternoon by a career-high 16 points from Chiddick and 24 from Hernandez.
“I felt like I played well,” Chiddick said. “But we can still get better as a team.”
Bayside did have opportunities to win the game, but they couldn’t follow up their own scoring runs with continuous stops on the defensive side of things. They went on a 23-12 run over the first and second quarter, but allowed Washington Heights to jump right back into it with a 14-6 run going into halftime and a 39-35 at the half.
Bayside and WHEELS went back and forth for most of the second half, with the Commodores holding a narrow lead for most of the third quarter. But the WHEELS duo of Jimenez and Lewis combined to score 17 fourth quarter points to put the game away.
“I just told them that the two kids on their team were making tremendous shots,” Scharf said. “We played really well today and we have to get over the hump. The other team deserves the credit. They made difficult shots.”
