QUEENS — Wings Academy just keeps on winning.
Wings (16-0, 1st place Bronx AA,) withstood a fierce comeback from the Curtis Warriors (12-0, 1st place Staten Island A) to bolster its playoff resume, 52-50, to cap the Steve Simms Memorial AA Division Showcase at York College in Queens on Sunday.
Coming off a week in which the team beat JFK, Eagle Academy and Wadleigh — a stretch Wings coach Billy Turnage described as “hell week” — Wings did just enough Sunday to fight off a gutsy underdog Curtis squad. Curtis quickly fell behind 11-1 as Wings guard Justin Jenkins hit jumpers and dished out assists while forward Damien Davis dominated the boards.
The schools were among eight of the city's top high school boys teams in the tournament. A primer for the upcoming PSAL playoffs — borough championships begin Tuesday, Feb. 7 — the all-day showcase featured a handful of ranked squads as well as teams from every borough except Brooklyn.
Curtis did everything it could to pull off the upset. Senior Dashawn Richmond ignited the near comeback with a couple of baskets, including a fast-break dunk. Teammate Jermaine Huff knocked down a 3-pointer to close the gap to 16-14 and Kevin McIntosh drained another 3-pointer to give Curtis its first lead, which it carried into halftime.
Both teams cranked up the defensive intensity in the second half while trading momentum — and the lead — throughout.
Curtis also slowed the game down, eating up shot clock and working for high-percentage buckets and open looks. Led by Huff and senior Dontay Jackson, the Warriors made a barrage of 3-pointers to keep pace with Wings — and even grabbed the lead on a Richmond lay up with four minutes left in the game.
But Curtis didn't have an answer for Jenkins in the final stretch. Jenkins, who averages more than 17 points per game, delivered in the clutch, hitting a running bank shot to grab the lead and expanded it on the following possession with a driving lay up.
Down by five points in the final minutes, Curtis clawed back. Richmond knocked down a 3-pointer to close the gap and, after Curtis committed several intentional fouls to send Wings players to the free throw line — an effective strategy as Wings missed consecutive front-end free throws — the Warriors had the ball with 3.7 seconds left trailing by just two points. But going end-to-end proved too difficult; the Warriors’ last ditch 3-pointer landed well off the mark, handing Wings the 52-50 win.
Jenkins paced Wings with a game-high 21 points along with six assists, while Davis added a game-high 12 rebounds for the team.
Richmond led Curtis with 18 points, followed by Huff (13) and Jackson (10).
While coach Turnage was happy to get the victory, he wasn’t thrilled with the team’s performance.
“I don’t think we’re playing bad. I just don’t think we’re playing fast enough,” Turnage said. “That’s not us. We want to play [score] in the upper 60s, 70s, 80s.”
Turnage praised Curtis, even going so far to call them the top A seed. But even a victory over a talented team doesn’t cut it for Wings.
“You take the win,” Turnage continued. “But the players have to understand the things we need to do if we’re going to make a serious run at the city [championship]. We can’t have the poor shot selection and the careless turnovers.”
