PSAL PLAYOFFS
DeWitt Clinton is in the PSAL semifinals.
“We always thought it was possible,” said DaMarr McBean, who scored the winning basket with two seconds remaining in overtime to beat Frederick Douglass 69-67 in a PSAL A quarterfinal yesterday at Hunter College. “It just took us until the playoffs to come together.”
Now that they have, the 19th-seeded Governors are a scary team.
Sixth-seeded FDA’s Jahkeen Washington drained a three-pointer with 21 seconds in overtime, but Clinton (20-7) capitalized on a fast break in the final seconds and McBean scored an easy layup with two seconds to go for the win. At least it looked easy.
“I guess it was easy,” said McBean, who scored nine points and grabbed 18 rebounds. “But it meant everything, the whole world.”
The win gets Clinton to Saturday’s semifinals – the school’s first trip there since it reached the finals in 1975. The Governors will play second-seeded Grady, which beat Roosevelt 73-58 yesterday.
Clinton’s immense height advantage proved to be too much for FDA (21-6), which was without 6-foot-5 Sam Edwards and 6-foot-3 Steve Souma, both academically ineligible for the playoffs. That left the Lions without a regular over 6-foot-2, while Clinton had 6-foot-8 Anthony Lalor, as well as McBean and Tyrone Spann, who are solid post players.
“After we beat [No. 3] Boys & Girls, we had a good feeling we’d beat FDA,” said Lalor, who scored 17 points and stayed in the game despite picking up his fourth foul with 5:15 to go in the fourth quarter. “Everybody doubted us, but now we feel nobody can beat us.”
That’s the attitude head coach Bob Finkelstein likes his underdog team to have.
“They have a lot of pride,” said Finkelstein during a confrontational session with the media, during which he asked both a school safety official and PSAL basketball commissioner Mel Goldstein to remove The Post from the interview area. Goldstein refused and Finkelstein moved on, but the unprofessionalism he displayed after the Boys & Girls victory – when he refused to talk or let his players talk to reporters until he was urged to by the school and the league – continued and he later called the media “scum.”
Grady 73, Roosevelt 58
Quincy Douby led No. 2 Grady (24-3) with 19 points, while Tyquan Goode added 11. The Falcons led 36-21 when Roosevelt’s Mark Felder was tossed after receiving his second technical on a questionable call. Sammy Mejia scored 30 to lead No. 7 Roosevelt (23-3).
Roosevelt head coach Vaughn Dweck lodged a protest because one of his players, Rudolph Smith, was declared ineligible, but PSAL commissioner Goldstein said the paperwork was only submitted a day before the game.
PSAL B Playoffs
Aviation 71, Urban Peace 49
Panagio Caris scored 28 points, as No. 6 Aviation blew the game open in the second half to beat No. 3 Urban Peace and advance to next Sunday’s semifinals, where it will play Banneker.
Banneker 77, Smith 58
Douglas Hammond scored 22 points to lead No. 2 Banneker over No. 7 Alfred E. Smith.
NYSAIS Federation Championship
Dalton 73, Poly Prep 69 (OT)
Ryan Ewers scored 20 points and combined with Michael Faherty (10 points) for all 11 overtime points to lead Dalton (21-8) to the upset. Dalton qualified to play in the Federation Cup in Glens Falls on March 23. Poly Prep (24-4) lost its first conference game in two years, despite 22 points from Keith Williams.
