Lincoln’s Kamari Murphy had 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in the win. (Denis Gostev)
They have the leading candidate for Player of the Year honors, the PSAL Brooklyn AA division title is all theirs and they have the inside track at the top seed in the upcoming city playoffs.
All is right with the world in Coney Island these days.
Lincoln’s reign atop the city took a one-year hiatus last winter, but the Railsplitters appear to have their aura back in a veteran club and freshman who is a superstar in the making.
The Coney Island dynamo completed the season sweep of fierce rival and defending PSAL Class AA defending champion Boys & Girls – which was without star Mike Taylor – with a hard-fought 61-56 victory at Long Island University in Brooklyn on Tuesday night and clinched the Brooklyn AA regular-season crown as a result.
“We showed we’re back, we’re still Lincoln,” senior point guard Shaquille Stokes said of the Railsplitters, who have won seven of the last nine PSAL city crowns. “It gives us a lot of confidence going into the playoffs. We feel we’re the team to beat.”
Stokes, one of the top unsigned seniors in the city, had 18 points, six assists and five rebounds and freshman Isaiah Whitehead, his impressive backcourt mate, added 10 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter and had eight rebounds. In his return from a broken left pinky toe, power forward Kamari Murphy made his presence felt against the smaller Kangaroos, tallying 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.
Antione Slaughter scored 17 points for Boys & Girls (18-5), which was without the Rutgers-bound Taylor. The senior sharpshooter failed his first-period class and principal Bernard Gassaway has suspended him indefinitely, Boys & Girls coach Ruth Lovelace said. By PSAL rules, he is eligible, but Gassaway has his own rule that student-athletes have to pass their first class.
“I’m kind of disappointed in the kid, not the principal’s decision,” Lovelace said. “You let down the team, let down the program. But he clearly knew. It’s not like it’s something he didn’t understand.”
Taylor has earned the reputation as a big-game player. He won a JV title as a freshman and led Boys & Girls to its first city championship in 31 years last March. Down the stretch, when the Kangaroos struggled for good looks, they clearly missed him.
Lincoln didn’t want to hear about his absence, though, nor the fact that Slaughter missed the first game, either.
“We wanted to come out here and get the win, if Taylor was here or not,” Stokes said. “School comes first for us. We got a whole team nobody failed off.”
Boys & Girls didn’t miss him early. Taking advantage of Lincoln’s cold start, it led 17-6 with 5:01 to go in the first half, but the Railsplitters slowly found their rhythm. Stokes, the senior leader, got the mojo going with a sweet layup in transition in which he lost Nichols with a nifty behind-the-back dribble. Moments later he sank a 3-pointer and Lincoln only trailed 22-18 at the half.
Murphy hit two free throws and Reuben King scored inside to start the third quarter as Lincoln got even and never trailed by more than a few points the rest of the way.
Stokes and Whitehead owned the final stanza, combining for 17 points. Stokes gave Lincoln the lead for good with a jumper from the top of the key early in the fourth quarter and Whitehead added a running one-hander in the lane. Two possessions later, the freshman sank a jump shot and moments later a 3-pointer.
“He’s the next big thing, so that’s what we expect,” Stokes said of Whitehead.
Boys & Girls got within two with 2:47 left, but Stokes answered with a layup in traffic over Kangaroos forwards Anthony Hemingway and Jeffland Neverson and added a free throw for good measure the next time down.
“No. 1 player in the city right now – to me,” Lincoln coach Dwayne (Tiny) Morton said of the 5-foot-11 Stokes. “He’s the best player in this league. Our record shows it, our wins show it. He changed his game, everybody said he couldn’t be a point guard.”
