Summit basketball team remains undefeated

The boys basketball team at Red Hook’s Summit Academy moved to 11-0 with their dominating 102-55 win over Brooklyn Collaborative Studies (BCS) on January 27. BCS, located in Carroll Gardens, dropped to 2-10 in the league.

If Summit Academy wins their final three regular season games, they will complete their second consecutive undefeated season in the B division.

Summit had a 14-point lead at halftime, but in the second half they truly excelled. The star of the game for the Eagles was senior Jeremiah Hewitt.

“Jeremiah played a hell of a game,” Summit coach Phil Grant said. “He had 31 points and 22 rebounds, both career highs. He had a great game tonight.”

Four other Eagles also finished in double figures. Senior Jordan Council had 18 points and four assists, senior Soumana Sylla had 15 points, junior Mohamed Elshiekh chipped in with 13 points, and senior Donte Howard had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Summit started the game strong by taking a 5-0 lead on a steal and then a layup by Hewitt and then making a 3-pointer. Later in the first quarter, Council was fouled shooting a corner three-pointer and made two of three foul shots to give Summit a 12-4 lead, and then two consecutive steals made the score 16-4.

The crowd at Summit got excited after Howard’s fast-break dunk gave the home team a 16-point lead. Hewitt, who would get a lot of second chance points, had a tip in off of a miss just as the first quarter ended to make the score 30-11.

BCS went on a 6-0 run to begin second quarter on a few fast break points but Elshiekh made a jumper in the key to give Summit some momentum.

Hewitt made a layup for Summit that made the score 38-25 after a big block by Council at the other end. BCS cut the deficit to 10 by bracketing Nicholas Mickens’s corner three-pointer with two three-pointers of their own.

Heading into halftime, Summit gathered momentum as Council got a steal and then made a three-pointer just before the buzzer to give the Eagles a 45-31 lead. Summit fired on all cylinders in the second half to extend the lead.

Coach Shamel spoke to the team at halftime. Grant thought the team came out of the break with new energy and increased their intensity, helping them open the game up in the third quarter. 

Elshiekh, a junior, also stepped up in the second half with his shooting from long range. 

“Mohammed came in and made some really good shots,” Grant said. “Mohammed is one of our younger players, and he had a great second half.”

The Eagles would go on a 12-0 run to open the third, highlighted by steals and fast-break layups capped by a Council corner three-pointer to make the score 57-31. Later in the 3rd, freshman Jonathan Felix made a layup off a miss to bring Summit’s lead to 29.

Summit had a 74-42 lead at the end of the third. More long-range shooting by Elshiekh helped Summit pull away even further in the final quarter.

An open three by Council pushed Summit over the elusive 100-point plateau in the closing moments. At 102-51, Summit was dribbling out the clock, but BCS decided to go for a steal and get a layup to end the game.

After their final three regular season games, Summit will be primed to enter the playoffs as one of the higher seeds. Summit went 5-4 in a very challenging non-league schedule, which helped them prepare for the second half of the season. In the postseason, they hope will to outdo their two playoff wins from last year.

Summit will face tough opponents in the playoffs, and Grant said they don’t take anyone lightly. 

Summit played four challenging games at the Bobcat Classic in Greensboro, North Carolina, right before Christmas. They went 2-2 and finished in fifth place, while the Summit girls team finished in first place. 

Grant thought the trip was amazing and that the team played well against difficult competition down in Greensboro. Summit stayed at the same hotel as the other schools in the tournament, and the Summit players enjoyed bonding with kids from different places.

The last three games of the regular season are against BCAM, Adams Street and Cobble Hill School of American Studies. Grant thought the first two, which are road games, will be good tests for the team before the playoffs. 

“Our goal is to go undefeated again in the league,” Grant said. “Our guys are poised to do it. We had a really good practice on Saturday.”