Wolves VS HS Graphic Communication Arts

     After beating Seward Park in February 2012, the Grand Street Campus' season ended with a loss to the Evander Child's Tigers on February 28th, 2013. All Wolves hope that this playoff experience would be different-- "I hope to go real far since we fell short last year. I'm confident in this team" said Senior Joel Banton who had 14pts in the loss to the Tigers. The Wolves (ranked 28th) faced the HS of Graphic Communication Arts Devils  (ranked 37th) on February 16th, 2013 in their first play-off game of the season. The Devils ended their season, as the Wolves, in the second round to Adlai Stevenson by 3 points. With the Wolves Den without their cheerleaders, the fans came to support their team.
     The first quarter began will a couple of turnovers from the Devils. The Wolves began to score but Coach Sharpe urged his players to wake up and push the ball off of the Devil’s misses. In this fast pace game, the Wolves were able to balance their scoring between their players. Most of Grand Street’s scoring came off of jump shots. The Devils found themselves in a quick 13-4 deficit as a result of their miscommunications and missed shots. The Wolves were able to rebound both on the offensive and defensive end against the Devils leading rebounders Khalil Tucker and Darius Webster. When the Devils tried to bring up the ball, the Wolves guards Lawahn Lewis and Anthony Reese played great defense, which forced turnovers. The Wolves continued to roll as they put their famous pick and roll play in action with centered on Tarik Allicock. After about 5 minutes of stagnant scoring from the Devils, Terrell Fullerton converted on a 3 pointer with a minute to play. Fullerton had his way on offensive by beating his man of the dribble, but his team mates could not score. With lobs, tough lay-ups, and 3's the Wolves jumped out to a 26-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Devils started the second quarter with a quick turnover but received their first points of the second at the line. Despite a tough shot inside from Darryl Green Jr. 2 minutes into the second quarter, the Devils carelessly turned over the ball and the Wolves were there to clean up their mess. Tarik Allicock showed use more from his scoring repertoire with back to back scoring, one lay-up going left, and the other a smooth spin move off of an offensive rebound. The Wolves with 5 minutes to play had a 32-12 lead over the Devils. Though the Wolves had a great lead, they began to settle for 3's which Coach Sharpe did not approve of. With a hustle play from  Nathaniel Wyatte who lost the ball, retained it, caught an offensive rebound, and got an and 1, the Wolves showed their intensity. The half ended with the Wolves comfortably up 37-21 over the Devils. At the half Coach Sharpe said "the guards are doing it [defense] right but we just have to do a better job at containing #10 (Fullerton) and continue to make easy lay-ups".
     In the third quarter the Devils attacked much better than previously; they picked up a steal to begin. Early in the third, the Wolves continuously left Glenn Wilkerson open behind the arc--one mishap resulted in a 3 at 6:15 in the 3rd. From then on Wilkerson became something similar to unstoppable from 3, scoring his third of the game about 1:30 seconds after his second 3. Joel Banton stepped up on the offensive and defensive-- hitting jumpers and even catching a ferocious block. Banton's effort did not go unappreciated as Coach Sharpe commended him for his hustle. The crowd began to get into the game from the block and Allicock’s dunk attempt on a fast break (he was fouled on the dunk). With a minute left in the third Wilkerson hit two deep three's cutting the lead to 10-- the Wolves Den was stunned. The third quarter ended with a score of 54-46 GSC on top. The Wolves strategy going into the fourth was switching to 1-3-1 zone defense to stop Wilkerson. The Wolves had to work a little harder to score over the momentous Devils, but they nevertheless found a way to put points on the board. The Devils did a much better job of scoring off of misses. Grand Street's Assistant Coach Merced emphatically told his players that "everybody needs to rebound on defense" in a time out with 4 minutes to play. With that said, Allicock continued to clean up the glass and the Wolves caught their most exhilarating play of the game; after running Wilkerson off of the line into a tough floater the Wolves caught a block resulting in a fast break dunk from Nathaniel Wyatt. From that point the Wolves took complete control over the game--being up by 15 with 3 minutes left to play. The Devils run was over despite a three from Fullerton to end the game. The final score was 71-59 GSC.
      After the game Devil's Head Coach Patrick Gaffney said "Grand Street Campus jumped on us early and we never recovered... we couldn't handle their big man #15 (Tarik Allicock) inside. They are well coached and deserved to win". The Wolves would definitely agree as they celebrated their first win of the playoffs. Before the game, Coach Sharpe said that the magic number for rebounds was 40 and the Wolves came within 3 rebounds shy of that goal. The Grand Street Campus Wolves will head to Pathways College Prep to face the 5th ranked TrailBlazers on Thursday, February 28th, 2013. Point Leader- Glenn Wilkerson 22pts (HS GRAPH...) Assist Leader- Anthony Deese 9 assist (GSC) Rebounding Leader- Tarik Allicock 17 rebounds (GSC). Game Facts - GSC out-rebounded HS Graphic Communication Arts 37-16 - GSC had 19 total assist compared to HS Graphic Communication Arts 6

 ----Congratulations to the HS Graphic Communication Arts for making it thus far-----