See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Bishop Loughlin’s boys saw their 11-game winning streak snapped on the court when they overlooked Brooklyn-Queens opponent Archbishop Molloy’s fight for the win.
The Stanners routed the visiting Lions 95–78 in Sunday’s game, and Loughlin guard Mike Williams admitted he could already tell his team didn’t expect a fight in warm ups.
“We came in a little bit too cocky,” he said. “In the layup line we were just like playing around, not taking things seriously.”
Molloy was all business and took advantage of Loughlin star guard Khadeen Carrington, missing nearly the entire first half with early foul trouble. The Briarwood, Queens, school grabbed control of the game with a 13–2 run to close the first half, which snowballed into a 48–29 lead at the break.
Williams did his best to keep Loughlin in the contest. He scored 30 points, while Carrington chipped in 14. But the Loughlin guard needed additional help and didn’t get it — with 10 points, Jeff Lange was the only other Lion scoring in double figures.
“I felt like I was just by myself out there,” Williams said.
Molloy successfully pushed the tempo and out-dueled the Lions at its own game. Loughlin coach Ed Gonzalez was even more upset with his team’s lack of effort on defense and on the backboards.
“We just didn’t play good defense,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t get back on defense. They played well. They took advantage of our mishaps on defense.”
His team did get as close as 85–74 with 2:41 left in the game. Molloy responded with an 8–0 run, capped by a Marko Kozul put back, to clinch the win. Kozul scored 28 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and reserve guard Jason Cethoute added 27 points to pace the Stanners (11–4, 3–3).
The last time Loughlin (11–2, 4–2) lost was its season opener against Cardinal Hayes. It’s hoping history repeats itself and this defeat proceeds another prolonged winning streak. To do so, however, the team will need to cultivate a killer instinct, which it had abandoned in the match against Molloy.
“We’ll become even more hungry,” Williams said. “We told each other we are not losing.”
Reach reporter Joseph Staszewski at jstaszewski@cnglocal.com. Follow him on twitter @cng_staszewski.