Cardinals Overcome Turnovers To Drop Blue Devils

When the clock reached zero at the end of four quarters, Prospect Heights boys basketball head coach Phyllip Jones finally had a chance to relax.

"I was nervous in the first quarter, the second quarter, and I was nervous the whole game," said Jones.

Jones anxiety had risen as he slowly watched the Cardinals nearly blew a 17-point second half lead in their home opener against the Blue Devils of Tilden Educational Campus. Prospect Heights held a 51-34 advantage over Tilden midway through the third quarter but turnovers in the final 12 minutes allowed the Blue Devils to get back into the game.

In the final seconds of the fourth quarter, with the Cardinals clinging to a 2-point lead, the team's youngest player stepped up to seal the victory.  After the Blue Devils missed a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, senior Andre Phillips grabbed the rebound but was injured on the play and unable to shoot free throws.  Jones inserted sophomore guard Abdoulaye Diallo into the game to take the shots.  Diallo, who played two minutes in the first half, calmly sank both free throws to make it a two-possession game and Prospect Heights held on for victory, 70-68.

"I wasn't nervous," Daillo said of his game clinching free throw attempts. "I have been in this situation before and even though I am the youngest on the team and I have a lot to learn, I went in there mentally involved and wanted to help my team win the game."

Diallo and the rest of the Cardinals were happy to win the game but were not thrilled that they allowed the Blue Devils to comeback. 

Prospect Heights appeared to be in command of the contest after a strong second quarter.  Following a first quarter where the Cardinals held a 13 to 12 lead, they outscored Tilden 30-18 in the second quarter and headed into halftime on an 11-2 run.

"We started spreading the court out and moving the ball around in the second quarter. We were setting picks and taking the ball to the hoop," said senior Eze VanBuckley, who scored eight of his 20 points in the second quarter.

Junior combo guard Kamal Nelson also had a strong second quarter, where he scored 10 of his game-high 25 points.  Nelson and the Cardinals appeared to be headed towards a blowout victory in the third but the team was unable to take care of the ball consistently in the second half.

"One of the things that hurt us today was turnovers. We have a lot of players that are new to the team and it is taking a little longer than we would like for them to learn the system, " said Jones.  "Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and don't take them over into the next game."

While they were frustrated with their sloppy second half plauy, they were happy to win the first game of the season.

"I feel like we can do way better," Nelson said. "It's going to be great cause the first win is always the most important to me." 

The Cardinals next game is against the Canarsie High School Chiefs on Friday.