Father Judge tops Roman Catholic in a squeaker

REGGIE CHARLES and his Father Judge High basketball teammates turned in a thumbs-up performance.

. . . Eventually.

We added the adverb because they trailed by 36-24 with 11 minutes remaining, and we went with the thumbs-up description, as opposed to red-letter or wonderful or heartwarming, or something similar, because of the condition of Charles' right one.

OK, so it's not exactly twice its normal size, but it's providing minor discomfort, and Friday night, he blamed the injury for causing him to miss a one-and-one with 9.4 seconds remaining in a Catholic League game vs. Roman Catholic at Philadelphia University.

If the miss had preceded a loss, the 6-3, 200-pound Charles, a senior point guard, likely would have kept the ding quiet. An excuse wouldn't have been the manly choice.

But, hey, since the Crusaders won, 49-48, after Roman junior guard Montana Mayfield failed to connect on a somewhat lengthy, buzzer-beating trey from a shade to the left of straight-on, and since Charles knew his story would entertain the multitudes reading our smallest Daily News edition of the week, he let it pour out.

"It happened before [Thursday's] practice," he said. "I was heading down to the locker room to get my ankle taped and walked right near the basket. The freshman team was in there. Some guy took a shot from the bleachers, just messing around, and airballed it. I didn't even see it coming. Hit me right on the thumb.

"I was hissed. I was chasing all the freshmen out the gym left and right. I didn't want them in there no more."

He laughed as he delivered those last three sentences.

Charles finished with eight points, four assists, two steals and a team-high five rebounds. Like pretty much always, he was a master at controlling the tempo and making good decisions, and, as was especially needed in this one, making sure the 'Saders kept their poise.

"I knew our deficit was double digits," Charles said. "But I also knew Roman would let us back in the game. They don't hold the ball out too much. They keep taking shots.

"I knew we weren't going to get back in it all at once, but if we played good defense and did the right things on offense . . . "

Charles went scoreless in the first half, going only 0-for-3. Matter of fact, he wasn't quite Mr. Launch in the second, either. He shot 3-for-4, with two of the makes being treys.

Charles can score. Don't doubt that for a second. But he's most effective when he's mixing his occasional buckets with perceptive passes to teammates.

Exhibit A: Late in the second quarter, Charles drove hard along the left side of the lane. Roman's bigster, Fortunat "Junior" Kangudi, came over to challenge. Standing in the left corner was Joe Kehoe. On the left wing was Nick Sullivan. Kehoe, often a quality sniper, was 0-for-4 on treys to that point. Sullivan had hit one already.

Sometimes, you need to know not to feed the cold hand. (Kehoe, meanwhile, drained two big treys in the fourth quarter.)

Judge broke a 44-44 tie with 1:58 left as Seamus Radtke turned a drive into a three-point play. Roman responded at 1:36 on Shafeek Taylor's short bank shot and Charles was called for traveling at 44.9. Radtke then intercepted an entry pass toward the top of the lane and converted a one-and-one at 26.4.

As Roman passed the ball around the perimeter, coach Chris McNesby twice yelled, "To the rim! . . . To the rim!" Finally, Mayfield did go hard and was hacked at 11.8. He hit both shots, edging the Cahillites within one.

"I tried to line up my foul shot," Charles said. "Almost had it, but these rims are tight. Couldn't get that bounce. Off by maybe an inch.

"If they'd hit that last shot, oh, yeah, I would have been blaming myself. I don't know what I would have done. It helped us when they had that little bobble. [Mayfield] had to rush his shot, then."

This win could wind up proving to be gigantically important for Judge, looking ahead to the state playoffs, and prevent Roman from even going. The two could meet again in a Catholic League quarterfinal, but that win would not be worth as many strength points (15) as this one (18). They were tied headed into this game.

Steven Griffin and Sullivan halved 24 points for Judge. Radtke, also scoreless at halftime, finished with 11.

Kangudi scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half, and grabbed six total rebounds. Raquan Brown-Johnson added 10 points.

Charles, who lives near Lawncrest Rec Center, received early interest from UMBC and St. Francis (Pa.), but is now mostly being pursued by Division II schools.

Oh, almost forgot. His miss was Judge's only one at the line (11-for-12).

"I'm usually a good foul shooter," he said.

Dang freshmen. They mess up everything. Thumbs down on them. *