Billy Turnage stood outside his team’s locker room in the bowels of Carnesecca Arena motionless and expressionless.
The Wings Academy coach hardly had words to express his disappointment after the fourth-seeded Wings’ heartbreaking 72-68 loss to No. 1 Thomas Jefferson in the PSAL Class AA semifinals Saturday night.
He watched his team play its best game in months, take it to favored Jefferson, lead by eight points in the third quarter and by four with under a minute remaining. Yet, here he was again explaining a third straight semifinal loss.
“This is a game we should’ve won,” he said.
From star senior Justin Jenkins’ brilliant 23-point performance to the end-to-end play of junior wing Jaequan Brown (14 points) and the inspired effort from forward Steven Gomez, Wings’ marquee players produced.
Reserve Francisco Infante provided a spark off the bench and though he was saddled with foul woes, Marvilio Berroa sank a huge 3-pointer to spark a 15-6, fourth-quarter run which at the time seemed liked it would send Wings to the Garden for next Saturday’s ‘AA’ final.
Instead, Nazai Stokes hit a 3 for Jefferson, Gomez missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Thaddeus Hall scored five points in the final 7.7 seconds to send Wings back to The Bronx dejected.
“It sucks because we get this far and we can’t get over the hump,” Turnage said.
The fourth-year coach did feel his team’s 12 missed free throws cost them dearly.
“That’s the ballgame right there,” he said.
This was the closest Wings has gotten. Two years ago, it fell to Boys & Girls by 24 points and the Kangaroos knocked them off by five last March. The Wings were not only on the doorstep this time; they were by the door, about to turn the handle. Instead, it remained lock.
“We have a lot of juniors, sophomores, freshman, they have a lot of years left in high school,” said Jenkins, whose future is bright with scholarship offers from Fairfield, Florida Atlantic, LIU and St. Peter’s. “Hopefully they get better and they get back here.”
Foul trouble to Whitehead dooms Lincoln: The first foul Isaiah Whitehead understood. The second, maybe, but the third?
In about two minutes of playing time, Lincoln’s standout sophomore was called for three fouls, two on charges. Without his services for virtually the entire first half, the third-seeded Railsplitters trailed No. 2 Boys High by seven points at halftime and never really recovered in a 72-63 defeat.
“It was definitely frustrating because I didn’t think I committed the fouls except one,” he said.
Even with Whitehead on the floor for most of the second half, he couldn’t play with his usual aggression on either end of the floor. He was forced to settle for jump shots on the offensive end and be particularly careful on defense.
“He wasn’t as aggressive,” Boys High junior guard Wesley Myers said. “He wasn’t playing his game.”
Whitehead still scored 13 points, but it was far from his best effort. Despite the semifinal loss, an ankle injury which cost him three games and academic issues at the season’s outset, Whitehead still felt it was a successful season. Not that losing sits well with him.
“Every time I lose it’s gonna bring the animal out of me a little more,” he said. “We’re definitely gonna win next year.”