STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Their faces said it all.
Susan Wagner’s players walked off their Sea View court with looks of disgust shortly after the final buzzer sounded as they came to grips that they let one get away.
And as disappointing as it was to watch highly touted Canarsie walk away with a 70-69 PSAL 4A Brooklyn-Staten Island II division, come-from-behind victory over the host Falcons on Tuesday in Sea View, the Falcons did prove one thing: Do not sleep on them.
Wagner, which received a career-high 22 points from sharp-shooting senior Adem Djonbalic, pushed the bigger Wolfpack around for a good portion of Tuesday’s game. SW, which fell to 6-1 (2-1 PSAL), owned a 14-point lead early in the second half before one bad stretch helped Canarsie get back into the game and ultimately steal a victory.
“It was our 2025 goal to be undefeated at the (holiday) break and we were up 10 points at halftime against a team that has made some noise in the preseason and has a Division I player (Austin Peay commit P.J. Singleton) and a (Christian) Marbury transfer from Lincoln and we had 16 minutes remaining to win the game,’’ said SW head coach Danny Lanigan, who watched his team’s season-opening, six-game win streak come to an end. ”And unfortunately, in the first four minutes of the second half, we got very, very careless with the ball.
“I don’t think it was what they were doing,’’ the coach said matter-of-factly. ”I think it was what we weren’t doing.’’
In addition to Djonbalic, who finished with six three-pointers, the Falcons received contributions from their other starters, including Chris Albano (15 points), Clevi Hoxha (12 points, five rebounds), Charles Gambino (nine points, eight rebounds) and Darin Humes-James (nine points, five rebounds).
Susan Wagner senior Darin Humes-James (5) attempts to make a pass against Canarsie’s full-court pressure while the Wolfpack’s Justin Rodriguez looks on during Tuesday’s PSAL 4A contest in Sea View.(Advance/SILive.com | Charlie De Biase Jr.)
The Wolfpack, which features the 6-foot-6 Singleton (22 points, six rebound) and 6-8 Devin Clarke (18 points, 15 rebounds), improved to 5-0 (3-0 PSAL).
But it was the smaller Falcons who controlled the play for the first two quarters. SW forced seven turnovers, only committed four of their own and rode the red-hot shooting of Djonbalic and Hoxha (combined 22 points, four treys in the first half) to an impressive 38-28 lead at halftime.
“We shot it really well,’’ said Lanigan. ”We were finding the open man. Adem was on fire for two games in a row, Clevi was shooting it well and they have a big kid (Clarke) who hurt us in spurts, but we made him uncomfortable in the first half and forced some turnovers.’’
Clarke opened the second half with an interior bucket, but Djonbalic responded by burying back-to-back treys in a 34-second span to up the Falcons’ lead to a game-high 14 points (44-30) just 55 seconds into the second half.
Then, unfortunately, havoc struck. Canarsie’s 2-2-1 full-court pressure began to take its toll on the Falcons, who committed eight of their 14 turnovers in the third period.
The result was a game-changing 19-0 run over a 4:27 span. Singleton led the way with seven points — all in transition — and Clarke and Marbury added four points apiece as the Wolfpack built a 49-44 advantage.
Djonbalic finally broke the spell when he hit yet another trey with 2:15 on the clock, but Canarsie took a 55-52 lead into the final eight minutes.
Although Wagner returned to doing a better job handling Canarsie’s pressure, the Brooklyn school opened the fourth with a 10-4 spurt that was capped by Andrew Gundy’s three-point play. The Chiefs owned a 65-56 lead with 5:48 remaining.
But the Falcons responded with a run of their own behind point guard Albano. The senior scored the last eight points of a 13-5 run, including a right-wing trey off a pretty pass from Gambino that cut Canarsie’s lead to a single point (70-69) with 2:03.
Amazingly, that was the last time either team would score. The Falcons had multiple possessions, including two in the waning seconds. Albano’s three-point attempt from the left wing was off the mark and although Clarke grabbed the carom, he stepped out of bounds with just 4.4 ticks left.
Albano used a Gambino screen to get open at the foul line and although he couldn’t handle Humes-James’ pass cleanly because of the defensive presence of Rhoman Gittens, he eventually gained control. The three-year varsity player drove left and put up a short, fade-away jumper that was off the mark as the final buzzer sounded.
“(Albano) didn’t have his greatest 32 minutes, but there was a big stretch in the fourth quarter where he was instrumental in giving us a chance to win it at the end,’’ said Lanigan. ”He’s a confident senior and scorer and he didn’t have a great game (from his standards), but when given the opportunity to turn it around, he took it.
“We just wish we could have made one more shot at the end.’’
NOTES: Canarsie did a solid job from the free-throw line as it connected on 13 of 16 attempts, including a pivotal 11 for 11 in the second half (8 for 8 in the final period). Singleton (5 for 5) and Clarke (4 for 4) led the way. SW was 6 for 9 in the game (Albano 3 for 3) and only took one attempt after halftime … Both teams finished with 14 turnovers … Wagner had an 11-1 advantage in three-point makes. In addition to Djonbalic, Albano and Hoxha had two apiece … Canarsie owned a 41-27 edge in rebounds … SW freshman Brayden Louisson took the lone charge of the game.