By Joseph Staszewski
The doubts began to overcome Rashond Salnave. Thanks to his teammates he did not succumb to them.
The rest of the people on the Benjamin Cardozo bench never lost faith in themselves and their leader. Salnave kept being told that despite a poor shooting weekend he and the team would find a way to win.
“They just told me keep shooting,” Salnave said. “It’s going to start falling. They said just believe and that’s what I did.”
The comeback from a nine-point deficit with less than two minutes to play started innocently enough. Salnave, who had just four points at the time, got a basket and the foul. On the next possession, he buried a three-pointer from the right side to spark an improbable finish.
Cardozo scored 12 points in the final 1:46, including three treys to steal a thrilling 50-47 victory over fellow PSAL boys’ basketball power Wings Academy in the final of the SNY Invitational at CCNY Saturday.
“Everybody started making shots toward the end,” Cardozo forward Tareq Coburn said. “Ray hit the big three.”
More big shots followed and with Wings out of timeouts and unable to stop the run. Salnave’s shot pulled Cardozo (15-1) within four. Aaron Walker followed that up with a three of his own after a quick shot and miss by Wings (14-2). Coburn put the Judges up for good at 49-47 with a triple from the right side and 30.4 seconds remaining in the game.
“It was great because I didn’t hit a three in the whole game,” Coburn said.
Wings, again, could not score. Armando Dunn kicked the rebound to Salnave. He was fouled and made one of two free throws. The Judges trapped Wings star and Hofstra commit Desure Buie (19 points) in the right corner on the final possession. It forced a contested three that was no good and Cardozo ran out the clock.
“I don’t know what the hell happened,” Judges coach Ron Naclerio said. “A three, and a three, and then a Coburn three.”
Walker led Cardozo with 17 points. Elijah McNeely tallied 12 points and Coburn had 10. Salnave finished with nine points on just 3 of 13 shooting from the field. Dunn grabbed seven rebounds and helped the Judges limited Georgetown-bound center Jessie Govan to just 11 points and 11 boards.
Cardozo, which trailed most of the game, had just one assist going into the final two minutes. It shot 1-for-16 from three-point range before making the biggest threes late. Keeping confident in Salnave helped it all to happen.
“We are not taking you out of the lineup,” Naclerio said he told the junior. “We are not benching you. You’ve got to play.”
It’s the Judges first title in four appearances in the SNY Invitational. Naclerio believes the team has had a different focus since losing to Christ the King on Jan. 11. Cardozo has played its best basketball since then.
The defending PSAL city champion Judges beat New Jersey power Seton Hall Prep, previously nationally ranked Long Island Lutheran and now Wings all in the last week. Beating the Bronx school was also payback after Wings beat Cardozo three times during the summer and offseason. This stretch has the Judges in position to claim one of the top two seeds in league’s Class AA playoffs.
“I think we should be number one,” Coburn said. “I don’t see why not”
