FHHS Boys Basketball Beats Robeson, 69-60

The Forest Hills High School boys basketball team overcame diversity — with their , and a lengthy layoff from competitive basketball, to win over ninth-ranked Paul Robeson High School 69-60 in the PSAL "AA" playoffs Tuesday night.

For much of the season, the Rangers have been playing with a chip on their shoulder. They lost their top scorer, Maurice Harkless, to prep school. After their loss against Bayside High School in the PSAL borough playoffs, the team received shattering news that their coach Ben Chobhaphand would be for a year.  But with all the trouble the Rangers have been through, the basketball court was where they found peace.

Hero:  Senior Jose Torres could not help but be the shinning star out the group. It was the last time Torres would be playing on his home-floor, and clearly the forward wanted to go out with bang. Torres scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and made on-court communication a top priority.

Turning Point: Going into the second half, already down by seven, Robeson High  scored five points in the first two minutes of the third to close the gap to 38-35. They pulled ahead at the end of the third, and that's when the Rangers aggressive defense came to shine. The group held Robeson to four points in the fourth, stifling their offense utterly.

Bottom Line: Robeson High made several strong attempts to close the Rangers lead in the second half, but ultimately were haranged by poor decision making down the stretch. Turnovers created fast break points for Forest Hills, and the home team capitalized on their opportunities.

Quotable: While interim head coach Robert Sprance is not use to sitting down and letting others do the coaching, he let Chobhaphand's assistant coaches do much of the heavy lifting.

"It feels great. I'm just here to help the kids," said Sprance. "They did well."

While Sprance sat most of the game, it was assistant coach Anthony Dulin who did most of the screaming from the sideline.

"You deal with what gets thrown at you," said Dulin. "You can't complain or cry about spilled milk, everybody knows what's going on here, but we just keep working hard and the results will happen." 

Guard Nick Padgett was happy about the win, and dedicated the victory to his former coach. 

"They took our coach away from us and we just came out to prove that we can play without our coach," said Padgett, who scored 12 points. "He taught us a lot and we just proved it here today."

Next Up: After a few days off, the Rangers will be in action against Lincoln High School at St. John's University on Sunday, March 6 at 5 p.m.

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