Eagle Academy Middle School Basketball (7th Grade)

by Stefan Allen

The EAB (Eagle Academy Basketball) middle school has one of the top ranked middle school basketball teams in the league. During the 2014-2015 season, we were in 6th place in the overall Junior Varsity standings and 2nd in our division and we made the playoffs.

The first team we played in the playoffs was MS 72, and we beat them by a lot. The second team we faced was MS 455, one of the best teams in the league. They were undefeated, but we beat them on their home court. The third team we faced was MS 166. We won, and after that game, the 8th grade team had a game. They lost, but they kept their heads up and they never gave up.

We went all the way to the championship, but came up short. We lost the championship game to MS 355, but we had a good season and a good team. The 7th grade had a better record than the 8th grade team but both teams had good seasons.

Our 2014-15 team had good chemistry. We had chemistry on the court, before the game and in school. If we lost, then after the game we sometimes started arguing with each other. But we are brothers . EAB doesn’t only mean Eagle Academy Basketball!! It also means Eagle Academy Brotherhood!! We love each other as brothers. We are going to go all the way and win the 8th grade championship this year.

Eagle Academy Wins Intense Overtime Triller

Our coverage team was courtside for Eagle’s overtime thriller!

by Kesean Cooper and Jaione Ford

Last week, the Eagle Academy varsity basketball team played Monroe Campus in an exciting game that went into overtime.

In the first quarter, the Eagles were losing badly to Monroe Campus. They were not doing well on defense, they were letting them get in the paint and letting them shoot. The Eagles were sloppy on offense, shooting unnecessary shots and committing turnovers.

In the second quarter, the Eagles were starting to get back in the game. They were being smart on defense and offense. They were forcing turnovers and stopping the ball. On offense, they were starting to make smart shots, they weren’t settling for jump shots right away. They were taking it slow.

In the third quarter, the Eagles were starting to lose it. They were taking bad shots again, and on defense they were fouling like crazy. Close to the end of the quarter, two Eagles got technical fouls. They were getting frustrated by this stressful game. Eagle was losing 50-45 at the end of the third.

In the fourth quarter, the Eagles went up a bunch of points but Monroe Campus came back by being smart with the ball. Close to the end of the fourth, the game was close. Monroe and Eagle were going back and forth, and the game was tied at 62 with 29.2 seconds left. The Eagles made a three pointer with 9.4 seconds left in the game. When Monroe inbounded the ball, they took two dribbles and shot a three and the Eagles fouled a three-point shooter with one second to go! When the Monroe Campus guard went to the line, he made all three free throws. After the free throw, Justin inbounded the ball to Teshaun Beckles at half-court. Beckles passed it to Shane Neal, who shot the three and made it off the glass but it did not count! The buzzer rang before he got the shot off. Eagle fans were devastated because they thought it should have counted. Now we were going to overtime!!!

With four minutes to go in overtime, the Eagles had to play smart and they did. With a minute left, the Eagles were down by three points and they had the ball. Senior guard Justin Jones got a bounce pass and made a trey to tie the game up. On defense, they were being smart and stopping the ball but Monroe was fighting it and made shots to stay in the game. Monroe and the Eagles traded threes in the last minute, and the Eagles beat the Monroe press and Jaquan Strong made a layup to give them the lead with 9 seconds to go! Monroe Campus was able to get it down the court, and their big man got a rebound and was fouled with 1.6 seconds left!! With their big man at the line they were praying to tie the game with two free throws. Monroe’s big man missed the first one and then took his time with the second and missed! Beckles got the rebound and passed it and the game was over! The Eagles won!

Final score: 75-73

Eagle Varsity Basketball: Season Debut

Jaione Ford & Kesean Cooper, reporting from the sidelines.

by Jaione Ford & Kesean Cooper

In the first game of the season, Eagle Academy played Lehman high school and they blew them out 95-46.

Eagles defense was good, and our offense was spectacular. Lehman’s offense was really bad, because they had a lot of turnovers. Eagle’s lead scorer was #35, Junior Tashaun Beckles, with 26 points. Their second lead scorer had 16 points. Number 10, the point guard for Lehman, was nice. He had a sick crossover and a good left hand shot.

Eagle Academy’s transition offense was amazing, their defense led to easy scoring. I think the Eagles will be successful down the road, and maybe win the championship.

Varsity Basketball Recap: first preseason game

by Jaione Ford

Eagle Academy vs George Westinghouse was the first varsity basketball game of the preseason. It was a scrimmage where they played six quarters and the score was reset to zero after each quarter. George Westinghouse BLEW them out! Westinghouse’s offense was really nice, while the Eagles defense was horrible. The Eagles defense allowed lots of threes and open shots.  Westinghouse’s big man was dominating, scoring 9 points in the first quarter and hitting six threes overall. Malcolm Martinez, number 24 for the Eagles, got a crazy board and had a good game. Junior Tashaun Beckles, number 35 for the Eagles, also had a really good game and scored their first 2 points. Eagle’s biggest problem was that they had a lot of turnovers. They had a tough start, but I think the Eagles are going to do better in the future.

Middle school baseball: Eagles vs. MS 219, playoffs game 2

by Eagle Academy sideline reporter Christopher Canales

The Eagle Academy middle school baseball team played its second playoff game against MS 219. The weather was perfect for the best game of the season. Giordany Mendoza was the starting pitcher for the Eagles, and he pitched pretty well. The game seemed easy starting out, but it got pretty rough. We were down two-zip, and it was getting pretty hard to hit. Charlie Zhanay hit the ball over the right fielder’s head, but he got thrown out at second. Then the Eagles made their greatest comeback of the season. Sammy Fleet hit a home run for our first run of the game, all the way across the street and across a fence on the other side of the street. In the top of the last inning, the Eagles scored two runs to take the lead and won the game! They advanced to the Bronx semifinal round.

Middle school baseball: Eagles vs MS 296, playoffs game 1

by Eagle Academy sideline reporter Christopher Canales

On Tuesday, May 20th, 2014, the Eagle Academy middle school baseball team played an amazing game against MS 296. MS 296’s coach would yell at them every time they did something wrong. He did not give them time to correct themselves or focus. It made them less confident, so we had an advantage. It looked like it was about to rain, but the weather was nice for most of the game. Alex Santos was the starting pitcher for the Eagles, and he pitched a very good game, striking out six players. Sammy Fleet hit a long fly ball out of the park, but it was a foul ball. Elijah Powell got on base because he was struck by a pitch. Once he was on base, he stole second, third, and home. This made the game one to nothing, and the Eagles won the game by that score. The Eagles had a great game, Alex pitched an amazing game, and they advanced to the second round.