Month of January

The month of January has been an up and down month for the Panthers of Thurgood Marshall Academy. After a tough four point win vs. Food & Finance the Panthers dropped three in a row to Manahttan Center and Wadleigh HS at Home and a 40 point blow out loss to JFK HS on the road. The Panthers seem to self destruct around this time of the year which becomes a barometer of how the second half of the season will play out. Self centeredness has seemed to converge upon the TMA team early in the month of January coming off a very good trip in MD where the Panthers finished 2-1 and lost in the final game of the trip.

The panthers seem to bounce back with a four game winning streak starting with a one point win over Lehman HS whoch had just Wings Academy the previous night. Saturday in the Wadleigh HS Tournament TMA Defeated Bayside HS by 10 points in a group effort that gave the Panthers some confidence as they struggled to find their chemistry. The Panthers closed out the winning treak by pouncing on the lions of FDA by 40 points and earning a revenge victory over Monroe HS of the Bronx by 10 points. This game was especially gratifying because of the defeat the Panthers suffered by one point to Monroe HS last year where becasue of a referee error the Eagles of Monroe was afforded more time with the ball. With Panthers riding high they were scheduled with a match up with Express of Transit Tech.

Khalid Vaughn has been out 7 games due to various reasons and during that span the Panthers have suffered due to lack of depth at the guard position. The Panthers are 2-5 without Vaughn coming off the bench adding a spark to the TMA offense. Once again Vaughn is out of the lineup and others on the bench need to step up at the guard position. TMA goes down early to Transit Tech at 14 points at the half and claw back in the fourth quarter to bring the deficit to six points. Trevor Dillard fouled out first and then Jason Givens and left the Panthers with two of their starters condemned to the bench for the remainder of the game. Although TMA fought back to have a chance there was not enough fuel in the tank to complete the uphill charge. Transit Tech downed TMA by 10 points in a hard fought game by both teams.

TMA looked forward to competeing against a tough Brooklyn Collegiate team from the A division in the Young World Classic at the Gauchos gymnasium. Brooklyn Collegiate came out hard and fast scoring and keeping the Panthers on their heels. As the game went back and forth it became evident to TMA that Brooklyn Collegiate would not back down and a dog fight was apparent. TMA battled but eventually fell to Brooklyn Collegiate by 10 points as Jason Givens was MVP with 28 points.