City teams ready for Fed
Big Apple’s best hoopsters head to state tourney
WINGS SENIOR guard Randy Corporan admits he’s a little greedy.
After Wings won its first PSAL ‘AA’ championship two weeks ago at Madison Square Garden by beating defending champion Cardozo, it only made Corporan yearn for more titles.
“That made us more hungry, it made us even get a little greedy,” Corporan said. “We want to win a lot more, and we know this is our last year, so were trying to go out strong and win everything.”
As one of the senior leaders on the team, Corporan often gets overlooked, with Georgetown-bound forward Jessie Govan and Hofstra-bound guard Desure Buie getting all the attention. But if Wings hopes to win this weekend’s state Federation tournament in Albany, Corporan must make a big contribution.
“Everybody knows who our big guys are, so we tell them that there will be big games where we’re struggling and you all got to pick it up,” Buie said. “We’ve got a lot of pieces this year, so it ain’t just us two.”
“As great as (Govan and Buie) are, we can’t depend on them for everything, we need everyone to contribute,” Wings coach Billy Turnage said. “But that also makes us hard to scout because some of those guys don’t have eye-popping stats, but they can all make plays at certain points in time so it’s a great thing to have.”
For instance, Corporan only averages 4.7 points a game, but Turnage said his point guard has provided leadership at key points and hit plenty of big baskets. That could be key for Wings when it plays Friday night against PHSAA-champion Shenendehowa, which is located just outside of Albany.
“It’s always a challenge going into another team’s basically home crowd,” Corporan said. “The intensity of the game picks up, the crowd makes it hard for us to hear calling plays. We always say before games, all we got is us.”
A Wings win could set up an all-city final on Saturday if Christ the King can beat Long Island Lutheran in Friday’s other ‘AA’ semifinal. The Royals, led by star junior Rawle Alkins, have won the previous two Federation titles.
Former Knick Anthony Mason’s high school alma mater, Springfield Gardens, will open the tournament for the city schools when it faces Albany Academy in the ‘A’ semifinals at 11 a.m. Friday.
After that, PSAL girls champion South Shore will face CHSAA champion Christ the King in the ‘AA’ semifinals.
Then, PSAL ‘A’ girls champ McKee/Staten Island Tech will face CHSAA champion Nazareth HS.
On Saturday, the Staten Island Academy girls’ team will face Susquehanna Valley at 9 a.m. in one ‘B’ semifinals, followed by PSAL champion Brooklyn College Academy taking on Mt. St. Mary’s-Buffalo in the other.
The Maspeth boys team, which is playing in its first varsity season, will face the Dwight School in the ‘B’ semifinals at 3 p.m that day.
The boys’ ‘A’ championship game will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, followed by the ‘AA’ girls’ championship game at 7 and the ‘AA’ boys’ championship at 9 p.m.
On Sunday, the girls’ ‘A’ championship will be played at noon, followed by the ‘B’ championship. The boys’ ‘B’ championship game will conclude the tournament at 4 p.m.