VJ Edgecombe leads confident LI Lutheran boys basketball over Stony Brook School
VJ Edgecombe #1 of Long Island Lutheran dunks for the first two points in a boys basketball game against Stony Brook School at Long Island Lutheran High School on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. Credit: James Escher
From the opening tip, VJ Edgecombe and Long Island Lutheran set an emphatic tone.
“We feel good right now, very confident,” Edgecombe said. “We’ve played against great teams and have good opponents ahead, but we feel confident going against anyone.”
The Crusaders forced four turnovers on their first five defensive sequences, two of them by Edgecombe, as they cruised to a 91-27 win over The Stony Brook School on Tuesday night at Visscher Gymnasium. Edgecombe, a 6-4 forward with multiple Division I offers, scored 18 points.
“We take defense very seriously, you can’t win without it,” Edgecombe said. “We really tried to lock in on defense, because we know the offense is going to come."
The Crusaders started the game by scoring 16 of the first 18 points in the first three-and-a-half minutes, thanks to active hands and strong finishing at the basket. The Bears closed the quarter on a 7-2 run to pull back within nine points.
“I tell them a lot in practice, just about getting 1% better each day,” coach John Buck said. “If you start developing poor habits then you won’t do that, so they’ve pretty much bought into that.”
The Stony Brook School (1-5) got a boost from freshman guard Orlando Morris, who came in off the bench. He converted two three-point plays and scored a team-high 10 points.
“We like to emphasize that we’re trying to build men, we want to build to where LuHi is,” Bears coach Joe Calabria said. “We have to emphasize that we work on doing things right, no matter what the score is.”
Jayden Reid scored 20 points for the Crusaders (4-2) and made four three-pointers. He connected on a trio of three-pointers in the second quarter as Long Island Lutheran jumped out to a 46-17 halftime lead.
“My goal is to not lose another game this season,” Reid said. “I want to beat a lot of these teams that they have ranked above us, because I think we’re better than them all.”
In the fourth quarter the Crusaders reserves entered and brought more excitement. Preston Appel got everyone on their feet with a sweet spin move to lose his defender and Keenan Emmanuel (14 points) hit his third three-pointer of the fourth quarter, turning his back before the shot went through the net.
“Our chemistry is off the charts, we love playing together,” Reid said. “We hang out a lot off the court and things click for us on it.”
Christopher Matias covers high school sports for Newsday after spending time in Athletic Facilities and Operation at St. John’s and in Sports Information at CUNY York college.
