MLK has a tough time against Cardinal O'Hara at the Times Union Center in Albany on Sunday.
ALBANY - Just one team across all three classes at the Federation tournament had yet to play a game entering Sunday. Martin Luther King HS, the PSAL girls Class A city champion, had a bye into the final in a three-team bracket. The Lady Knights arrived here on Friday and had to wait two days to play their only game.
It was far from ideal for the PSAL’s final hope for a win, and though coach Larry Williams didn’t want to use it as an excuse, the layoff, combined with early foul trouble for junior forward Thalia Rodriguez, doomed MLK in its 76-47 loss to Cardinal O’Hara in the ‘A’ championship game at the Time Union Center. The loss was the Lady Knights’ first of the season (23-1) and it dropped the PSAL to 0-6 for the weekend.
“It’s something we’ve been talking about all year: The guards up front were allowing penetration,” Williams said. “So the fouls she picked up were the result of our defense up front. We were in the game until she picked up foul trouble, and that sort of started the downhill slide.”
That slide was getting outscored 22-4 in the fourth quarter. O’Hara (26-3) had 61 rebounds, 36 of which were offensive. Had the 5-10 Rodriguez — who had eight points and 10 rebounds — been able to play more than 21 minutes, that issue would’ve been somewhat mitigated.
Martin Luther King's Thalia Rodriguez (l.) and Yamira Saez comfort each other after a blowout loss to Cardinal O' Hara in the Class A Federation title game in Albany.
“It hurt so much because I knew my team needed me out there, and I’m sitting on the bench because I got in foul trouble.”
Sophomore Shaliyah Graham tried to will the Lady Knights back into the game, constantly driving to the hoop and finishing with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Williams called her the most competitive player he’s ever coached.
“If you were shooting marbles. . .she will be the most competitive person in that game,” he said.
With all five starters returning from their first ever city championship campaign, the Knights expect to return to the Federation tournament.
“No doubt we will be here next year,” Rodriguez said. “Believe that.”
The PSAL had a rough weekend. On Friday, Cardozo held a five-point lead late in regulation but fell in overtime to Christ the King in the boys ‘AA’ semifinals, and Francis Lewis made just 11 shots in a loss to Long Island Lutheran in the girls ‘AA’ semis.
On Saturday, WHEELS led after three but struggled in the fourth and fell to Holy Trinity in the boys ‘A’ semis, East Harlem Pride trailed wire-to-wire in the girls ‘B’ semis against Utica Notre Dame, and Brooklyn Community Arts & Media lost its first game of the year in the boys ‘B’ semis to Regis.
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