PSA pg 10 12-12-19
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PSA teams
put the work in
As the Putnam Science Academy prep basketball teams draw the bulk of the attention, the school’s non-prep teams keep putting in their work all the same.
The boys’ varsity team played four games in four days at the end of last week, winning the first two before dropping the last pair.
After getting 21 points from Abdul Seck, 17 from Darryl Simmons, and 12 from Travis Mangual in a 91-76 win over Commonwealth Academy Dec. 4, PSA handed out a 126-72 drubbing of Redemption Christian Academy the following night.
Max Armstead knocked down six 3-pointers and finished with 18 points to lead all scorers. Seck, Simmons, and Luc Brittian had 12 apiece, Luke Desaulnier 11, and Amir Sanders 10 for the Mustangs.
The story of the night though was the electrifying performance of reserve Ivan Aires. The Spaniard scored 14 points, including 12 in a row in less than two minutes, a run that got the gym as loud as it has ever been and led a good portion of the student section to actually leave their seats and rush onto the floor in celebration, despite there still being two minutes left in the game.
“Insane,” Aires said. “I don’t know. That was insane.”
Dec. 6 the team travelled into Rhode Island for a showcase event and dropped a tough one, 80-76 in overtime to London Basketball Academy. Seck and Luke Desaulnier had 17 points apiece, Simmons 16, Zach Boulay 11 (all in the second half), and Jaden Brewington 10.
“It was a back-and-forth game,” said coach Dana Valentin. “We were undersized but we battled. It was a strong team effort.”
Hoping for a bounceback with a quick turnaround Dec. 7, the Mustangs struggled without their leading scorer Seck, who was taking the SAT, and lost 83-78. Simmons was terrific again, knocking down shots and playing actively on the defensive end. But it wasn’t enough, as PSA fell to 4-3 on the season.
Girls’ Varsity
The girls’ varsity team improved to 2-1 with a couple of lopsided wins. The first came on Dec. 5, an 89-66 victory over Commonwealth Academy. Freshman Zanashia Croft led the way, scoring 20 of her 34 points in the decisive first half.
Appey DeSuze had with 13 points, and Bri Mead chipped in with 10 for the Mustangs, who used a swarming defense to force turnovers and lead to easy baskets.
“We worked on the pressure a lot at practice and I was so happy to see it work for them,” coach Katurah Andrews said. “They worked hard at it, and they were like ‘Coach, we got it, we got it!’ We stayed in it and (Commonwealth) didn’t really adjust very well to it so it worked out and turned the game for us.”
PSA then made the long bus ride out to SUNY Sullivan the following afternoon, though the Mustangs showed little signs of it, winning 90-48. DeSuze led the way with 12 points and 21 rebounds. Croft scored 26, Sofia Marcos 18, and May Santiago and Aden Edebale both had 10 for the Mustangs.
Boys’ Varsity 2
Finally, the boys’ varsity 2 team split a doubleheader Dec. 8 at the Eaglebrook Tournament in Massachusetts.
The first game was a 65-15 wipeout of Greenfield, as the Mustangs for 12 points from Javier Cobo, and 10 from both Erwan Menguy and Kevin Ravix. Their second game of the day didn’t end up as well as the PSA Cardinals (no affiliation) converted an and-1 with four seconds left to win the game. Menguay led the way again, scoring 27 points. He knocked down eight 3-pointers and made three foul shots to tie the game with nine seconds remaining. Michael Phav added 14 points in the loss, as the Mustangs dropped to 2-1.
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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