Cardozo point guard Chris Gayot goes in for a layup. (denis gostev)
The only difference was there weren’t television cameras around.
Six days after blowing a 19-point lead in an overtime loss to defending state champion Rice in the SNY Invitational final, Cardozo was watching history repeat itself. In less than five minutes of the fourth quarter, the Judges had nearly coughed up an entire 21-point lead to rival Forest Hills.
“I thought we were gonna end up crying,” forward Ryan Rhoomes said.
There were no tears, just hugs, smiles, high-fives and pats on the back after Cardozo managed to avoid another colossal breakdown. The Judges held off the host Rangers, 68-61, to win their second straight Queens AA crown and 10th division title in 11 years.
Cardozo answered the Rangers’ 22-4 run with a 10-2 spurt in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, putting the game away after nearly giving it away.
“The one thing I liked is when they were all looking at each other … they said, ‘no,’ like cut the crap,” Cardozo coach Ron Naclerio said.
Added Rhoomes: “We told each other we’re not losing.”
Rhoomes led the Judges with 18 points and 13 rebounds, Dwayne Brunson added 15 points and seven rebounds, Reynaldo (Junior) Walters had 11 points and eight assists and Chris Gayot also had 11.
After a Brunson jumper and four straight points from Rhoomes, the Judges (15-7, 12-2 Queens AA) seemed to have the division crown well in hand, ahead 54-33 less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
Everything was going right. The capacity crowd was quiet. Rhoomes and Brunson were dominating the paint while limiting UConn-bound forward Maurice Harkless (21 points and nine rebounds).
Then, the near-collapse began. Forest Hills (14-8, 11-3) junior guard Nick Padgett (20 points) was at the forefront, draining a pair of 3-pointers and scoring 14 points in the spurt. His traditional 3-point play, on the heels of a Shawn Branch 3-point play, made it 58-55 with 2:56 left.
“I’ve never had a core group play so great, get good leads and all of a sudden the storm comes,” Naclerio said. “I got to find the guy who writes the scripts for this core group.”
At least this chapter had a happy ending.
Unlike the loss to Rice, the Judges rebounded late. Walters answered Padgett’s heroics at the line and his teammates quickly followed suit. Rhoomes had a big block of a Denzel Dulin shot, which directly led to a Walters layup in transition, Dwayne Brunson caught an alley-oop from Walters, hit two more at the line, and Gayot hit two free throws himself.
“Definitely this is the best all year we finished a game against an elite team,” Walters said.
A year ago at this time, Cardozo lost at Forest Hills, a devastating setback that set in motion the Judges’ rocky end to the year. That included a loss to the Rangers in the Queens borough final and a defeat to McKee/Staten Island Tech in the PSAL Class AA second round.
“Today in my speech at Cardozo I said the game here last year started this agonizing stretch of losses,” Naclerio said. “Hopefully the game tonight ended that agonizing losing because there’s been a lot of it.”