By Stephen Zitolo
Queens High School of Teaching watched a relentless Boys & Girls team pull away from it after a strong first half.
Tigers coach Michael Shelton thought his team didn’t play with the same effort it needed to in order stay with Boys & Girls. The Kangaroos used a big fourth quarter to secure a 68-52 victory over the Queens squad at the Cardozo Classic Sunday. Senior guard Matthew Newton was the high man for QHST with 15 points
“I think we came out strong in the beginning,” Shelton said. “But the third quarter really did us in. They were more aggressive than us in the second half. We only finished the third quarter with four points. They became very hungry and we became passive. That was the difference in the game.”
The second-half struggles were just too much for the Tigers to overcome as they fell 68-52 to the Kangaroos in the Cardozo Classic Saturday.
In the first quarter QHST (12-9) was able to control the transition game of Boys & Girls. It limited the Kangaroos’ ability to both attack and score at the basket and led 17-13 after one quarter. Boys & Girls (13-6) would go on a 15-8 run to start the second quarter, but QHST was able to stick with them and fight back and only trailed 35-31 at the half.
Boys and Girls continued to attack the basket and got more successful as the game wore on. The team, which was helped by QHST forcing shots, held the Tigers to just four points in the third quarter and grabbed a 50-35 lead heading into the final frame.
In the fourth quarter QHST still didn’t have an answer for the transition and pressure defense of Boys and Girls as the Kangaroos continued to attack.
“They came right at us and we were taking bad shots,” Shelton said. “We were out of position and they grabbed rebounds. They caught us not getting back on defense and those things hurt us. They out hustled us.”
Cardozo 73, Kennedy 63: Tareq Coburn scored 27 points and Aaron Walker had 21 for Cardozo (18-0). Rashond Salnave chipped in 17 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, six steals and took three offensive fouls. Kennedy is 8-7.
