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Sports

Kangaroos Lose 'Dirty' Fight

Boys and Girls boys basketball team lost its second straight league game in a physical matchup against rival Thomas Jefferson Campus.

Boys and Girls High School left East New York on Tuesday night a team that was bloodied, dejected and crying foul.

Thomas Jefferson Campus jumped out to a 26-17 first quarter lead and never looked back, dealing its league rival a 70-56 a blowout defeat. It was a physical matchup that featured two technical fouls, a bloody gash, and several play stoppages to ease hostilities between the feuding benches.  

Leading scorer Mike Taylor was held to a season-low seven points, all of which came in the first half, and the Kangaroos struggled to score against Jefferson's defensive sets. The Orange Wave's gap-filling 3-2 zone in the third quarter limited Boys and Girls to just six points.

But after the game, head coach Ruth Lovelace said she was more frustrated by Jefferson's overly-aggressive tactics.   

"I don't wanna feel like a sore loser but that's their style of play and it ain't right," said coach Ruth Lovelace. "It shouldn't be in basketball. I think it's dirty play."

Taylor left the game in the second quarter to receive medical attention for a cut below his right eye caused by an elbow.  

But both teams played physical and the Kangaroos reciprocated with their own hard fouls and verbal provocation. Malik Nichols was called for a technical in the second quarter after he threw an elbow at his defender. In the fourth quarter, Jeffland Neverson was T'd up for excessive cursing.   

"They played dirty and we got into playing dirty with them," said point guard Antoine Slaughter. "They took us out of our game."

Jefferson assistant coach Seldon Jefferson dismissed the accusations.

"I don't think anything was done intentionally," Jefferson said.

Forward Leroy Fludd led the Kangaroos with 16 points. The Orange Wave were led with 20 points by Thaddeus Hall.  

The loss, their second straight in the Brooklyn AA, drops Boys and Girls to 10-3 on the season and third place in league standings. They remain 17th in USA Today's national rankings after finishing second in a national caliber basketball tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina over Christmas break.  

"This doesn't end the season," Lovelace said. "We're still working for the ultimate goal, which is the city championship. We'll get back in the gym and work on things that we didn't do today."

Joining her for the first time since November will be Slaughter and sixth man Anthony Hemingway. Both players were serving academic suspensions and weren't allowed to practice or play with the team. Hours before Tuesday's game, they learned they were reinstated.

"It feels great to be back with my family," said Slaughter, who scored 11 points but admitted he was out of shape. "I'm with them more than I'm with my parents at home, so I'm glad to be back."

The Kangaroos play next on the road against George Westinghouse on Thursday, Jan. 6 at 5:00pm.


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