FHHS Boys Basketball Falls To Undefeated Cardozo, 56-45

Forest Hills High School boys varsity basketball team faced the almost insurmountable task of playing a perennial Queens powerhouse — undefeated Benjamin Cardozo — at home in front of a raucous packed house.

Though they stood up to the challenge for most of the game, Cardozo’s physicality and clutch play, coupled with a tough fourth quarter for the Rangers, ultimately led to a 56-45 loss.

Hero: Shelton Mickell drained a game-high 15 points and Chris Gayot added 13 in the Judges’ victory.

Jermaine Lawrence (11 points) and Marcus Cruz (8 points) rounded out the scoring for Cardozo. 

Mickell went over 100 points on the season with his 15, and drove the Judges to the win.

Turning Point: Forest Hills cut the lead to seven points with 7:14 left in the contest, but lost all momentum when they went scoreless for almost a full five minutes. By then, Cardozo had increased its advantage to 51-41 with 2:17 ticks left on the clock. There wasn’t enough time for any Ranger late game heroics, as the Judges ran the clock out and dropped the gavel on the opposition for their eighth win of the season.

Bottom Line: Forest Hills missed several open looks at the basket and foul shots down the stretch, costing them a chance at overtaking their foes in the end, as Cardozo converted key free throws to seal the victory. The win drops the Rangers to 4-3 in the division on the season.

Quotable: "We had about four open shots in the last five minutes that didn’t go in or were just air balls," Rangers head coach Ben Chobhaphand lamented. "One-and-one, about three times down nine, we didn’t convert."

Chobhaphand refused to blame the referees for the loss, saying that the combination of missed foul shots and poor execution cost his team the game.

"We had some tough calls. We went to the hole, but you can never blame the refs," he said. "We didn’t get the calls, but you have to make lay-ups. They hit some free throws to kind of keep that lead going."

It also prevented Forest Hills from mounting a comeback.

Who’s Next? Forest Hills travels to Thomas Edison for a game on Tuesday, January 11 at 5.00 p.m.

Box Score:

Teams

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Final

Cardozo

13

17

14

12

56

Forest Hills

13

10

14

8

45