Iona Prep’s Brandon Williamshad 10 of his 18 points in the third quarter. (Denis Gostev)
Brandon Williams came to the bench during a timeout in the third quarter and sat down with some swagger.
“This is my quarter, boys,” Iona Prep teammate Felix Abongo said Williams told his teammates. “Get me the ball.”
The Gaels junior guard wasn’t just all talk.
Williams came off the bench to score 10 of his 18 points in the third quarter, most of them answering the opposition’s baskets in Iona Prep’s 70-54 win over St. Edmund Prep in the CHSAA Class A boys basketball championship game at Fordham University in The Bronx. The victory marks the New Rochelle squad’s second title in four years. Williams was a major reason for the crown.
“I just wanted to attack the basket,” he said modestly. “That’s all I was trying to do.”
It was a rough season for Williams. He starts at wide receiver for coach Vic Quirolo’s very good Iona Prep football team and came into the season with an ankle injury, which he hurt again on the court. He was never 100 percent healthy and missed several games. Williams didn’t start most of the year, but made the most of his time.
“I had to fight for my spot all season,” he said. “I had to keep moving forward and that’s what I did.”
Williams seemed to respond every time St. Edmund (21-7) went on a run. Justin Manon got the Eagles within 58-46 with 3:56 remaining and St. Edmund Prep stole the inbounds pass. Williams, though, stole it right back and broke free for a fast-break layup. That was the basket that all but sealed the title for Iona (23-3).
“When he gets in flow, he’s dangerous,” Quirolo said. “Today he hit stride and he just got it going.”
Iona coughed up a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter against Moore Catholic in the semifinals before coming back to win in overtime. The players were determined not to let history repeat itself in the championship game.
“It was brought up,” Abongo said of blowing the lead on Tuesday. “Coach said don’t let it happen again. We just buckled down on defense and got rebounds.”
Sophomore guard Isiah Ice, the hero from the Moore game, had another 17 points, Tim McCarthy had 11 points, Kevin Conroy had nine points and Abongo added eight. Matt O’Neill and Nick Grasso each scored 19 points for St. Edmund Prep.
Iona Prep now meets the winner of a semifinal game between St. John the Baptist (L.I.) and Canisius (Buffalo) in the CHSAA Class A state final next week. The location for the final is dependent on the winner of the semi.
The Gaels wouldn’t have gotten there without Williams.
“I would say it was his best [game],” Abongo said. “He took over in the third quarter.”
When the final buzzer sounded, the large Iona Prep student section, which was going back and forth with the St. Edmund students all game, stormed the court in a wild celebration.
About 30 minutes later in the locker room, Abongo, one of the team’s leaders, took a deep breath.
“It’s amazing,” Abongo said of winning the title. “I’m never probably gonna get a feeling like this again.”
