Nawrocki Sparks Chaminade Win
Chaminade went on a 13-3 run over a three-minute
span midway through the third quarter, keyed by a pair
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of Danny Nawrocki lay-ins, to pull away from visiting
Long Island Lutheran 69-51 Tuesday night in Mineola.
The disciplined Flyers, an excellent passing team,
crashed the boards all night and scrapped for loose
balls in outdoing Lutheran, perenially one of the top
programs on Long Island. Lutheran, a school that has
produced a slew of Division I players over the last
twenty years, most recently Maryland's Drew Nicholas
and Seton Hall's Alex Gambino, are an athletic bunch
but struggled in trying to contain Chaminade's
deliberate, disciplined approach.
The Flyers move the
ball well and feature a number of strong passers, a
formula that translated into scores of hoops off
backdoor cuts and finely placed feeds into the low
post. The main recipient of those passes, burly 6'6''
junior Danny Nawrocki, hit for 28 points, the majority
of which were lay-ups and putbacks.
A nip-and-tuck contest early, both teams shared the
lead early, with Chaminade taking a 27-26 lead into
the locker room, keyed by Nawrocki's board work and 12
first half points.
A frenetic first couple of minutes in the second
half proved, as two Nawrocki putbacks and a
three-point by the junior boosted the Flyers' lead to
36-30 at the four minute mark in the third quarter.
The frenzied pace continued late into the third, as
Chaminade's lead reached double-digits, 43-34,
bolstered by a three and turnaround jumper by crafty
guard Dan Montegari in the last minute and a half of
the third quarter.
The Flyers would watch their lead wither away midway
through the fourth, as Lutheran senior guard Brandon
Wilson helped bring coach Ronn Hall's club back with a
steal and dunk and a long-range jumper, slicing
Chaminade's lead to three, at 45-42, with 5:37 to
play.
Lutheran would get no closer, however, as a Nawrocki
putback and feed to Brendan Hurley for two stretched
the Flyers lead to nine, and Hurley's slick lookaway
feed to Nawrocki in the low post upped the Flyers'
advantage to 13, at 58-45, with 2:25 to play, and the
ballgame was over.
Nawrocki's 28 points and slew of rebounds led
Chaminade, while Hurley and forward John Hauser
chipped in 11 and 10, respectively.
For Lutheran, wiry 6'5'' forward Arthur Onuara
tallied 19 points and at least a dozen caroms, as the
long-armed senior attacked the glass and showed an
ability to put the ball on the floor. Division I
target Brandon Wilson added 15 points, while Chakiris
McBrown contributed 10, including a pair of acrobatic
slashing drives.