Boys and Girls point guard Antione Slaughter looks to lead the Kangaroos to a second straight PSAL Class AA title. (Denis Gostev)
MSG Varsity’s Mike Quick did his best to hype Sunday’s PSAL Class AA final between Lincoln and Boys & Girls at the Garden Friday morning.
He talked about Shaquille Stokes being robbed of New York State’s Mr. Basketball, the award given to the top senior. He said he had no doubt Boys & Girls would repeat back in December, but now gives the slight edge to Lincoln. He talked about the great rivalry, the great players both programs have produced, from Lance Stephenson to to Lenny Wilkens to Stephon Marbury.
The words were delivered with passion – Quick only knows one way to run a press conference – but there was really no need to build up the contest.
Top-seeded Lincoln and No. 2 Boys & Girls, back in the title game against one another for the third time in five years, stands on its own.
“It’s what everyone,” Stokes said, “wants to see.”
Particularly with how the regular season went for both sides. Lincoln (28-2) was clearly the better team when it came to league contests as the Railsplitters dropped just one game, won Brooklyn AA and the Brooklyn borough crown.
The defending city champion Kangaroos (23-6), by contrast, lost four league contests – including a pair to Lincoln – though they thrived in a series of non-league showdowns, beating nationally ranked foes such as Winter Park (Fla.), Academy of the New Church (Pa.) and Imhotep Charter (Pa.). The High also placed second in the prestigious Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach.
Boys & Girls is quick to point out of the four league losses, three came shorthanded; either without gutsy point guard Antione Slaughter or Rutgers-bound star Mike Taylor. Slaughter missed the first defeat to Lincoln, a two-point defeat; Taylor wasn’t available for the second showdown, a five-point setback.
“They didn’t beat the best — when everybody was out there,” Boys & Girls coach Ruth Lovelace said. “That opportunity comes on Sunday.”
Lincoln heard that after both victories and shrugged it off. They don’t want to hear it anymore.
“No more excuses,” Stokes said.
Just getting to the Garden is an accomplishment for these senior-heavy Railsplitters after last March’s quarterfinal exit. The season began with little fanfare in Coney Island, all the attention over Bedford Stuyvesant. Slowly, Lincoln showed it belonged not only among the city’s best, but the nation’s, too. Its ranked 21st in the country by USA Today and is back at MSG, where the Railsplitters feel they belong with their seven city titles in the last nine years.
Stokes had a rocky summer and Morton even asked him if he wanted to transfer, a coaching ploy to see how much he wanted to be at Lincoln. Stokes remained and had a remarkable year, not just as a scorer but as a point guard getting his teammates involved, helping to mold standout freshman Isaiah Whitehead and develop forwards Kamari Murpjhy and Jordan Dickerson.
“I wanted to be one of the guys to bring us back to the promise land, but my teammates helped me out a lot,” he said.
Taylor has been to that promise land, leading Boys & Girls to its first city championship in 31 years last March. But that memorable victory came over Cardozo, a quality Queens team, but not Lincoln, the Kangaroos’ fierce rivals, the team seemingly always standing in their way.
“Lovelace never beat Tiny in a championship game and I want to win that for her,” Taylor said.
Sunday it’s all on the line – Brooklyn bragging rights, the ‘AA’ crown, a trip to Albany. Lincoln restarts its dynasty or Boys & Girls can call itself one. The answers will be known by 3 p.m.
“It’s the game for all the marbles,” Stokes said.
