Yesterday afternoon, the boys’ basketball team won their fifth game in a row and improved to 4-1 in PSAA play with a 53-46 win at Long Island Lutheran. The win placed them solidly in second place in the East Division after saddling LuHi with their third loss, and with five games to play, they remain just one game behind first-place Portledge.

The game was a rematch of last year’s PSAA quarterfinals, in which the third-seeded Bears upset #2 LuHi, 51-47. Both squads had different looks from a year ago, but the fast pace and intensity remained as two of the league’s top dogs duked it out in a key tilt.

The Bears took the opening frame, 16-12, behind a balanced attack. Nate Small and Federico Chiappa buried 3-pointers, Charlie Onana Awana and Niks Zemitis each scored a pair of buckets, and Orlando Morris connected on two free throws to build an early lead. The Blue & White advantage swelled to double-digits by halftime as The Brook took the second period, 18-10, behind trifectas from Morris and Randolph Logan.

The potent Lutheran offense bounced back in the third quarter with 14 points, while the Bears mustered just three field goals to carry a slim 40-36 lead into the final eight minutes. Just as they did in their win over Knox last week, the Bears’ defense played big down the stretch, holding LuHi to just 11 points, while the offense dropped in 13 behind five points from Onana Awana and four from Morris. Lutheran carved their deficit back to two at one point with under two minutes left, but a timely 3-pointer from Onana Awana staved off the late rally.

Onana Awana led a multi-pronged offense with 13 points and was supported by Morris (11), Small (9), Chiappa (9), Logan (5), and Osazee Alapa (2). The Bears are back in action tomorrow evening in a league match-up at Lawrence Woodmere.

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