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By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Bishop Loughlin guard Mike Williams was feeling so light headed and dizzy that Lions coach Ed Gonzalez sat him to start the third quarter and considered not playing him again.
Williams convinced him otherwise and proceeded to leave Xaverian feeling ill instead.
The senior scored 17 of his 18 points in the second half, including five 3-pointers to help break up a tight game and lead Loughlin to a 70–48 victory over the host Clippers in Brooklyn-Queens boys basketball Friday night. He said he felt a true superstar during the second half.
“I felt like Michael Jordan and his flu game,” Williams said, referring to the Game 5 of the 1997 NBA finals, when Jordan scored 38 points against the Utah Jazz while allegedly suffering from the effects of the virus. “I need to be sick more often.”
But he didn’t do it all on his own.
Gonzalez asked his team to turn thing up defensively after the break hoping to create transition points against a Xaverian team that struggles handling the ball.
“We got to get in our style of basketball, which is getting it and running,” Gonzalez said. “It finally happened.”
Xaverian, which led by five with a minute left to play in the second quarter, lamented missed first-half free throws. Coach Jack Alesi felt his young team competed well with one of the league’s elite squads outside of the 13–0 third quarter run and 15–0 spurt to close the game.
“You can’t let Loughlin get into a flow like that,” Alesi said. “We are not a great ball handling team and they pressured Lamel [Fasion].”
Sayon Charles paced Xaverian (9–6, 3–6) with 15 points and Fasion and Joseph Dello Russo each had 11. The Clippers played without center Latiek Laney because he was suspend for a violation of team rules.
Loughlin (12–2, 5–2), which hit 11 3-pointers in the game, got 18 points from Khadeen Carrington and a strong second half from Javian Delacruz (12 points).
The win was a good bounce back one for Loughlin after a disappointing loss to Archbishop Molloy last week — a defeat that some players said taught them a valuable lesson.
“That made us more humble,” Williams said. “It woke us up a little bit.”
Reach reporter Joseph Staszewski at jstaszewski@cnglocal.com. Follow him on twitter @cng_staszewski.