TMA vs FDA 12/18/07

The Panthers of Thurgood Marshall Academy walked 13 blocks North on 7th Avenue last night (12/18) to face the Lions of Frederick Douglas Academy with a few things in mind during the walk. With a win Thurgood would cap off the 2007 league schedule with an impressive 6-0 start, 9-0 overall. This would be something the school has yet to accomplish in its young history a 9-0 mark to start the season and lead a pretty well balanced Manhattan "AA" division. Thurgood also wanted to show the rest of the City that they can win on the road after playing five of their 1st six league games at home. Lastly this would be a great way to end the year, on top of the division and having beaten every Manhattan team at least once on the way to the undefeated start. The coaching staff of TMA saw this match-up as a potential "Trap Game", not because of the talent on the other bench but due to the fact you never know what to expect when walking into the school located on 148th street and 7th Avenue. I don't even think "RAIN MAN" could have predicted what would transpire during this one. TMA would struggle to score the ball early on and committed several turnovers trying to force feed Kareem Green in the post. In addition TMA had several 1st half defensive let downs and barely got back on defense which lead to several easy transition baskets for the opposing FDA Lions. When TMA would transition well on defense in the 1st half they would play lazy with their hands leading to fouls. Kareem Green picked up 2 cheap 1st half fouls, Jason Givens would spend most of the 1st half and game on the bench due to foul trouble ( 3 fouls 1st half). Shooter Extraordinaire Daniel Berroa couldn't hit a basket to save his life in the 1st half; Sophomore Antoine Hackman played the 1st half like it was "SCARY MOVIE" while Trevor Dillard sat anxiously on the bench serving game 3 of his 3 game suspension. Add in a unhealthy Lenny McNeil on the floor and at the half TMA trailed 24-20 with all momentum pointing towards the home team. Not to worry TMA is a second half team but the Panthers would go into the locker room with a sense of urgency. If and only If FDA had a home crowd to cheer them on, things may have gotten a little more interesting in the 2nd half for TMA. Frederick Douglas Academy is the only school in the "AA" Division in the City to not allow spectators, including students in the gym during games. Which makes this rule interesting is the fact that there has never been a incident in the gym during a basketball game. So why no spectators? According to a FDA Assistant Coach “It’s not us (coaches) it’s the Principal. The parents have to step up and make it an issue. We can’t do anything about it". Well it turned out to be a great idea after all for FDA. I'm not sure how the home crowd would have responded in the gym the way this one ended. Thurgood would take advantage of the "NO HOME COURT ADVANTAGE" behind senior point guard Sean Corley. Corley would ignite a 3rd quarter rally in which Thurgood would see their 1st lead of the game behind 3 consecutive field goals from Corley. Sophomore guard Antoine Hackman who was blasted in the locker room at half for playing with a lack of focus, energy and heart responded extremely well. Hackman scored all 11 of his points in the 2nd half including 2 three point field goals including one long two in which the toe of his size 14 shoe straddled the 3pt line. FDA would counter by trying to slow the tempo against TMA's up-tempo in your face defense. This backfired several times as FDA was forced to battle with the 35 second shot clock to find a decent look at the basket. The fourth and final quarter would be the most telling. Not just for TMA who have played their best basketball in the fourth quarter. It would be rather more telling for the coaches, players, staff and entire school body of Frederick Douglas Academy. Kareem Green would score 12 of his game high 18 points in the final quarter. Green would convert a offensive rebound with a foul as the clock read 2:21. This would be the 5th and final foul for big man John Riley of FDA. This is when things would get interesting. Guard Juan Boateng would be called for technical foul as he expressed his dissatisfaction on the call and it would also bring TMA's lead to 20. The lead would never get past 20 and the clock would never run the final 2:21 seconds as the game was abruptly ended by the official after FDA's Head Coach Pat Mangan refused to put a sub in the game. FDA had at least 6 guys who were suited and could have played the final 2:21 if he wanted to just QUIT. “I don't want to make a sub and I don't have too" a furious Mangan yelled towards the officials. The game would end after a 15 second warning to the FDA bench that a sub needed to be sent in the game or the game would end with a final score of 64-42 Thurgood. Mangan would take the lesser of the 2 choosing to simply not play the final minutes out. Some speculated that some of the players may have been dressed but not eligible to play. Others speculated that Mangan was trying to avoid another possible 30 point loss, especially at the hands of FDA's Arch Rival. Whatever it was how you justify not playing the final minutes out because YOU want to play with 4 players. Instead of trying to win you just QUIT!!!!!! You could see the disgust in the player’s eyes as they walked down the line to shake the hands of TMA's players and coaches. At the end of the day TMA improved their league record to 6-0 and 9-0 overall. Thurgood will spend the holiday break in Maryland participating in the "Salisbury Lions Club Holiday Classic" where they will play Walbrook High School of Maryland in game 1.