With Starters Benched, Kangaroos Keep Winning

The broad, squared shoulders of Mike Taylor's jumper carried a heavier load than normal Tuesday night, even for the team's leading scorer.

Playing with a roster depleted by suspensions, Taylor scored 34 points, including 22 in the second half to lead Boys and Girls High School to a slim but secure 78-68 win over East New York Transit Tech High School.

Taylor's heroics were nearly wasted thanks to a furious fourth quarter comeback by the Express, who opened the final period with a 14-4 run and whittled a 17-point lead down to single digits with less than two minutes to go.

But the Kangaroos delivered clutch free throw shooting down the stretch, hitting 9 of 10 from the line in the final 60 seconds to put away the Express for good.

"The game was never really in doubt," said head coach Ruth Lovelace, whose team led start to finish.

The win lifts Boys and Girls, 17th in USA Today's national rankings, to 5-0 and sets an undefeated clash with rival Abraham Lincoln High School on Thursday evening at 5:00 pm in the Boys and Girls High School gymnasium. East New York Transit fell to 1-4 on the season.

Taylor, who is averaging 24.6 points per game, accounted for more than half of Boys and Girls' offensive production in the second half. The team's next highest scorer, Malik Nichols, had just 12 points.

Missing from the game were three starters - Antoine Slaughter, Leroy Fludd and Jeffland Neverson - and several bench players, including sixth man Anthony Hemingway. 

Before the game they were suspended for violation of team policy, Lovelace said. With the exception of Neverson, who was inactive because of an incident in practice, Slaughter, Fludd, Hemingway and the others were ineligible because they failed to meet academic standards required of all Boys & Girls student-athletes, Lovelace said.

"You got to send a message," said Lovelace. "That it's not about you. That it's not about the coach. It's about the program."

But without its regular starting unit, the Kangaroos struggled at times against East New York's press in the open court and against its zone in offensive sets. That was primarily due to the absence of Slaughter, the team's point guard  and floor general who averages 10 assists per game.
 
In Slaughter's place, Dykwell Bryan started and led the team with six rebounds and four assists. He added 10 points as well. Tayvon Meyers, another reserve promoted to starter, chipped in 11 points.

"I'm kind of happy to for the guys who don't normally have a chance to play," Lovelace said.

The ability for Lovelace to reach deep down her bench and still produce winning teams shows that Boys and Girls, the defending PSAL City Champions, will defend its title with more than just a couple of stars.

But as long as no more transgressions take place in practice on Wednesday, all Kangaroos starters will be back in the lineup on Thursday when it faces Lincoln, she said.

"It's going to be a good game."