Dragons Boys Basketball falls short in playoffs

Courtesy of T. Henning

Making their first playoff appearance in five years, the High School for Math, Science and Engineering Dragons traveled all the way to Jamaica, Queens to face the High School for Law Enforcement & Public Safety Leopards Wednesday evening.

Eager to prove themselves after narrowly missing the playoffs last season, the Dragons entered the game with hopes of making a Cinderella-type run in the PSAL Class-B playoffs. Those hopes were quickly extinguished when the Leopards exploded with a 13-2 finish of the second quarter to extend their lead to 24-8 at halftime. Senior Chris Yates attributed the Dragons slow start to their inability to handle the pressure of a playoff atmosphere, "I think we could have played smarter because we were rushing our shots and letting the pressure of making it to the finals affect us too much.  We also could have been more patient in the first half to get our offense going because what really got us was that we couldn't set up our plays correctly."

The Dragons, however, did not go away quietly. They stayed within one point of the Leopards in both the third and fourth quarters, losing the second half of the game by only two points. The tenacity the Dragons showed in the second half was a testament to the resiliency that has kept them competitive the entire season.

The deficit they suffered during the first half though, proved to be too large to overcome, with the Leopards moving into the second round with a 52-34 victory.

For a team that didn't return any starters, Yates reflected on the Dragons unexpected playoff berth. "It feels really good and rewarding seeing as how in the beginning of the season I didn't think this would even be possible. I saw the whole team from last year graduate, so I thought we would have to start from scratch.  Honestly, I didn't even think we were better than last years team, but apparently we were good enough to make it to the playoffs."