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A new boys and girls team is sitting on The Throne. St. John’s Vianney Regional Lancers (Holmdel, NJ) and the Columbus Explorers (Miami, FL) are champions of the national prep basketball tournament, winning their respective brackets by taking down the Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, NY) girls and boys teams, respectively.
The victories, though they came against the same school, took shape in two different forms.
The Lancers, who won 71-68 in double overtime, needed a miraculous shot to even get out of regulation. With five seconds left, Penn commit Madison Kocis hit a ridiculous, deep, rainbow-arching 3 to tie the game at 55, coming back from what had been a four-point deficit with 20 seconds to play.
LuHi’s Emily McDonald controlled the tempo in overtime and drilled her seventh 3-pointer of the game. Neither team could gain control, and it went to double OT.
There, Taylor Sofilkanich, whose clutch layup in the semifinals sent the Lancers to the championship game, put a bow on her masterpiece of a performance. She was a key part of the comeback in the final 20 seconds of the fourth quarter, hitting a layup through contact against a double team. Now, late in the second period of overtime, she picked up her ninth block of the game and then hit a layup on the other side to give the Lancers a five-point lead with 37 seconds to play.
It came down to free throws. Charlotte Bradley, scoreless in 20 minutes, had her chance.
She was sent to the line … and missed both. But then she got another opportunity, intentionally fouled a second time. She found redemption, making both, and giving Lancers the lead that, finally, would not be relinquished.
Kocis and Stella Lockhart led the Lancers with 18 points apiece, and Sofilkanich had a near-triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and nine blocks.
McDonald scored a game-high 25 points and had 10 rebounds, taking over when costar Savannah Swords fouled out with 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Swords had 16 points and eight boards in 26 minutes of play.
It was close competition that needed extra time twice to decide the champion.
Behind Caleb Gaskins, who put the finishing touches on an absolutely dominant weekend, the Explorers won 66-55. They led by as many as 19 points, and after putting on a burst in the second quarter, they didn’t let LuHi come close.
Gaskins finished with 28 points on 9-for-14 shooting and went 8-for-10 from the free-throw line. He also had 10 rebounds, four assists and a block.
Akol Nyok was impressive as a rim-runner and big man, making all three field goal attempts but, more importantly, blocking five shots and grabbing eight boards. Felipe Quinones hit some big shots and finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Outside Moussa Kammisoko, who had 23 points on 50% shooting, LuHi could not get going. Star forward Kayden Allen had just 12 points on 5-for-19 shooting and three turnovers. Nobody else scored more than six points; junior point guard Jamaal McKnight posted five on 2-for-12 shooting, and junior point guard Peyton Howell had six points on 1-for-6 shooting.
The Explorers dominated the tournament, defeating the Plainfield (NJ) in the semifinals by 40 points and shrugging off a competitive first half by the Sunnyslope (Phoenix, AZ) in the opening round to win 64-50. Over the course of The Throne, Gaskins averaged 27 points on 62.5% shooting, totaling 81 points in 86 minutes of play, to go along with 10.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, with at least one block per game. Jordan Fisher scored double-digit points in all three games, including 21 in the semifinals.
The team from Columbus knocked off reigning champion LuHi, ending their fight for a repeat. The Explorers, who won in 2023, are back on top.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY High School Sports Wire: Caleb Gaskins, Taylor Sofilkanich shine in Thorne basketball titles
Continue reading...
The victories, though they came against the same school, took shape in two different forms.
The Lancers, who won 71-68 in double overtime, needed a miraculous shot to even get out of regulation. With five seconds left, Penn commit Madison Kocis hit a ridiculous, deep, rainbow-arching 3 to tie the game at 55, coming back from what had been a four-point deficit with 20 seconds to play.
LuHi’s Emily McDonald controlled the tempo in overtime and drilled her seventh 3-pointer of the game. Neither team could gain control, and it went to double OT.
There, Taylor Sofilkanich, whose clutch layup in the semifinals sent the Lancers to the championship game, put a bow on her masterpiece of a performance. She was a key part of the comeback in the final 20 seconds of the fourth quarter, hitting a layup through contact against a double team. Now, late in the second period of overtime, she picked up her ninth block of the game and then hit a layup on the other side to give the Lancers a five-point lead with 37 seconds to play.
It came down to free throws. Charlotte Bradley, scoreless in 20 minutes, had her chance.
She was sent to the line … and missed both. But then she got another opportunity, intentionally fouled a second time. She found redemption, making both, and giving Lancers the lead that, finally, would not be relinquished.
Kocis and Stella Lockhart led the Lancers with 18 points apiece, and Sofilkanich had a near-triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and nine blocks.
McDonald scored a game-high 25 points and had 10 rebounds, taking over when costar Savannah Swords fouled out with 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Swords had 16 points and eight boards in 26 minutes of play.
It was close competition that needed extra time twice to decide the champion.
The boys LuHi team couldn’t keep their game as close
Behind Caleb Gaskins, who put the finishing touches on an absolutely dominant weekend, the Explorers won 66-55. They led by as many as 19 points, and after putting on a burst in the second quarter, they didn’t let LuHi come close.
Gaskins finished with 28 points on 9-for-14 shooting and went 8-for-10 from the free-throw line. He also had 10 rebounds, four assists and a block.
Akol Nyok was impressive as a rim-runner and big man, making all three field goal attempts but, more importantly, blocking five shots and grabbing eight boards. Felipe Quinones hit some big shots and finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Outside Moussa Kammisoko, who had 23 points on 50% shooting, LuHi could not get going. Star forward Kayden Allen had just 12 points on 5-for-19 shooting and three turnovers. Nobody else scored more than six points; junior point guard Jamaal McKnight posted five on 2-for-12 shooting, and junior point guard Peyton Howell had six points on 1-for-6 shooting.
The Explorers dominated the tournament, defeating the Plainfield (NJ) in the semifinals by 40 points and shrugging off a competitive first half by the Sunnyslope (Phoenix, AZ) in the opening round to win 64-50. Over the course of The Throne, Gaskins averaged 27 points on 62.5% shooting, totaling 81 points in 86 minutes of play, to go along with 10.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, with at least one block per game. Jordan Fisher scored double-digit points in all three games, including 21 in the semifinals.
The team from Columbus knocked off reigning champion LuHi, ending their fight for a repeat. The Explorers, who won in 2023, are back on top.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY High School Sports Wire: Caleb Gaskins, Taylor Sofilkanich shine in Thorne basketball titles
Continue reading...
