In a real nail-biter that came down to the very end, the Francis Lewis varsity basketball team edged out Cardozo High School 60-57 on January 27, bringing their record to 10-3 and cementing their reputation as one of the top 10 teams in New York City.
Two star players from the game, Jonathan Walker and Zaire Pinnock, put on a show with Walker dropping 29 points and the game winner in the last few seconds. Pinnock, a freshman on the team, dropped 16 points. These two went off to help seal the win against Cardozo.
‘’Three freshmen playing in the top division and they made great plays, got a huge rebound down the end, Aiden Lee was involved on the rebound with Donovan Hanson. Donovan’s one of our seniors that was out there, but they really made big plays down the end.’’ said head coach Cairleglio. ‘’Together, everyone made a big play. Zaire Pinnock made a big three, Jonathan made a big three, obviously at the end there.’’
The captain of the team Jonathan Walker had 29 points and was going off. He was trying to make himself open and even try to find his teammates. He makes sure he is doing what he is supposed to do and making sure his teammates are doing the same as well in game and in practice.
‘’I feel great. I think my teammates really adapted and developed, a bunch of young guys. But I put the battery plugs in them and they keep working,’’ Walker said about him and his teammates.
Zaire, a freshman on the team, had an amazing game dropping 16 points against a very hard competition. He has developed very well these past few months since the season started and now he has built his confidence up and shows out every game.
‘’ I feel great. You know, work pays a lot with Coach Black and Coach C. With John, every day, that’s it.’’ said Pinnock. ‘’At first, I was going through rough times. But now I’m feeling comfortable during the course of the season.’’
At the start of the 4th quarter the Patriots were up and then the Judges started gaining a lead and with 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter they were down by 12. Coach C called a timeout, the Patriots came out and played amazing defense and didn’t let the Judges score for 2 minutes.
‘’We’ve been in games where we’re down by 12, with like three minutes left, we keep fighting, we don’t give up. We had great composure down the end. We didn’t call a timeout down the end, in the last minute really, because we trusted them, because of the work they’ve been putting in,’’ said Coach Cairlegilo.
With 10 seconds left in the game, the score was tied 57-57. The Patriots had the ball, the coaches and teammates trusted Walker with the ball and him to have the shot to win the game. Walker brought up the ball and with 3 seconds left, he shot a three and banked it in.
“In the video you can see there, the left side is wide open. I was going to drive, maybe get a foul call. But I saw the defender’s hand was down and the first instinct was hand down, man down,’’ said Walker.
The Francis Lewis boys came out with an amazing win against Cardozo. This win was all about the team’s effort in the last few minutes in the game and not giving up and also how they came together to win the game together.
“We keep fighting, we don’t give up. We had great composure down the end,’’ said Coach Cairlegilo about the last few minutes of the game. “We trusted them, because of the work they’ve been putting in. So I guess we’re most proud, as the coaches said, most proud of just how they played hard and played together and won the game together.’’
