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SOTA stays hot, holds off late NE Douglass rally

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Ethain Clarke-DeSouza (No. 3 for School Of The Arts) scored a game-high 28 points along with eight rebounds, two steals and a block. (PHOTO: JOHN LIKANJE)

By JOHN LIKANJE

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Grasping a two-point edge with the game on the line, School of the Arts head coach Al Nash knew exactly who to give the rock to: Ethain Clarke-DeSouza.

Leading 73-71 with 38.3 seconds remaining, the junior guard attempted to drive from the right wing to the basket, but was forced to give the ball up due to the suffocating ball pressure of NE Douglass. Ke’Vion Mitchell passed the rock back to Clarke-DeSouza, who took two dribbles to his right, slide-stepped back to his left and finished inside.

“It’s a lot of pressure because my coach knows that I can play at the next level, playing Division I or Division II or Division III,” Clarke-DeSouza explained on taking shots in the waning seconds of a close game. “So you never know who’s watching. Just keep going at everybody. You’ll be great one day. And I want to be great one day.”

“I don’t think it’s pressure on him because he’s been through it now for three seasons,” Nash said. “I don’t think he even feels the pressure. I think he wants to perform and he’s a competitor. Ethain, I don’t think he even recognizes what he’s doing. He’s just doing it.”

From there, the Silverhawks forced a turnover and Logan Hayes split a pair of free throws to secure the 76-71 victory, their eighth in the last nine games.

Clarke-DeSouza scored four of his game-high 28 points during a 14-5 run as SOTA took a 71-60 advantage with two and a half minutes remaining. The junior guard connected on a pair of free throws and slammed down a two-handed jam.

“I wanted to shoot more outside shots,” the junior guard said. “Put that in my arsenal, but my game is going to the rim. Like, attacking everybody. Doesn’t matter who, I attack them. Even if I get a charge, I’ll pull up for a midrange. I’ll just switch up a little bit.

“I’ll let them guess. I want them to keep guessing and play me inside and out so I can get my teammates open looks and so my team can get going.”

Hayes netted seven points on a pair of floaters and a left-wing three pointer. Keshaun Chatman rounded out the scoring with a traditional three-point play off a putback.

“We started moving a little bit more,” Nash explained as his squad forced two missed field goals and a pair of turnovers during the run. “Swinging the ball. Their rotation wasn’t as tight as it was the first time we played them. We found some open shots and we were comfortable when we shot them and they happened to go in for us.”

NE Douglass didn’t back down. The Panthers forced back-to-back turnovers and three missed field goals as part of an 11-2 run. Adonis Flagler scored four of his team-high 26 points on an alley-oop dunk and a layup. Nicolas Jeanty made a putback and Trynzeir Parker knocked down a right-wing three-pointer to round out the scoring.

However, NE Douglass would not score for the rest of the game.

Clarke-DeSouza connected on 11-of-13 foul shots, grabbed eight rebounds, swiped two steals and swatted a shot on the night.

“I think he was settling at the beginning of the game,” Nash said about his junior guard. “They were sagging off, not allowing him to drive. But off ball movement, you can find gaps and that’s what I told him. You got to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim. When you get to the rim, the defense is going to collapse.

“They collapse, we’ll find some guys that are open. If they don’t, attack the rim and try to finish through contact.”

Hayes continued his torrid stretch with four long-range shots and 19 points off the bench. The senior guard has scored double-digits in 10 straight games, averaging 19.7 points over that span. Hayes snatched a team-high 12 boards, dished out five assists and added a pair of steals.

Chatman broke out for a season-high 17 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. The sophomore forward scored 11 of his points in the second half. Loral Dillard (6), Mitchell (4) and Reggie Smith (2) rounded out the scoring for the Silverhawks, who dished out 18 assists as a team.

“Ball movement,” Nash stated. “Buying in is key. At the beginning of the season, we had a lot of people that wanted to put the team on their backs. You can’t win like that all the time. If you’re a one-dimensional team, you’re easy to scout.”

For NE Douglass, Flagler reached a career milestone of 1,000 career varsity points. The senior forward joined Jiahmere Mitchell and Torry Wright as the only players in program history to accomplish the feat. Off the feed from Lamar Lovelace, Flagler drove baseline and slammed down a one-handed dunk.

The senior forward scored 18 second-half points. Eight of his 10 made field goals were from inside the arc as well.

Adonis Flagler scored 26 points and became the third player in program history to reach 1,000 career varsity points. (PHOTO: JOHN LIKANJE)

Lovelace continued his strong return from injury with 13 of his 19 points in the final 16 minutes of game play and made 9-of-12 free throws. The senior guard is averaging 22.8 points per game in six games thus far.

Parker added 10 of his 14 points in the second half and a pair of three-pointers. Delzair Hanks (4), Jayden Berry (2), Nicolas Jeanty (2), Je’Keim Mosley (2) and Manny Rivera (2) rounded out the scoring for the Panthers.

School of the Arts (11-6) hosts World of Inquiry Thursday at 6 p.m. NE Douglass (7-9) takes on Monroe Friday at 6:15 p.m.

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