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Constitution advances to Class 'A' final with 78-49 rout of Sankofa

02/12/2015, 9:15pm EST
By Tom Reifsnyder
Chad Andrews-Fulton

Chad Andrews-Fulton (above) dominated the paint, scoring 15 points and blocking multiple shots as Constitution downed Sankofa on Wednesday night. (Photo: Tom Reifsnyder)

Tom Reifsnyder (@tom_reifsnyder)

In the third quarter of the Public League Class ‘A’ semifinal matchup between Constitution and Sankofa Freedom Charter, Verland Wayns exited the game to tend to his bloody nose.

On the previous play, Wayns drove to the hoop looking for a basket and, to his dismay, was met by Constitution’s Chad Andrews-Fulton, who had other plans for the Sankofa junior guard.

Without a second’s hesitation, Andrews-Fulton exploded into the air and batted Wayns’ shot attempt down with both hands, sending the ball right back at Wayns’ grill.

When asked if he would consider himself the team’s defensive anchor, he didn’t hesitate either.

“Yeah, I would,” Andrews-Fulton said quickly. “No easy buckets down there.

“If I get a block, it gets the team going and gets our offense in transition, all that.”

Andrews-Fulton completely dominated the paint on both ends, grabbing rebounds and blocking shots left and right as the Generals discarded the undersized Warriors, 78-49, at Ben Franklin High School on Wednesday night.

As Constitution honored its seven seniors before the game, it seemed fitting that the Generals’ senior leaders-Andrews-Fulton, Kimar Williams and Ahmad “J.R.” Gilbert-accounted for 53 of the team’s 78 points. Williams’ 22 points was good enough for the game-high while Gilbert and Andrews-Fulton added 16 and 15 respectively.

“I mean, it was ‘senior’ night; [Andrews-Fulton] stepped up, Kimar stepped up,” Constitution head coach Rob Moore said. “When Kimar, J.R. and Chad are playing well, I don’t know if there’s a better three guys in our league.

“With two starters still out injured, those other guys were able to step up. And it’s a playoff game; we were able to get a win and we move forward to the next round, that’s what it’s all about.”

With the win, Constitution punched its ticket to the Public League Class ‘A’ Championship game where the Generals will face Samir Doughty and Math, Civics & Sciences Charter this Saturday. Seniors Haneef Vaughn and Akeem Kingwho have been sidelined by injuries for multiple weeks, will be active for the team’s upcoming game, according to Moore.

No Constitution player seemed more intent on advancing to take on Doughty for the third time this season than Williams, who scored 16 of his 22 points in the first half as the Generals posted a commanding 36-17 lead at the break.

When Williams wasn’t scoring, he was finding Andrews-Fulton, who displayed a variety of difficult finishing moves throughout the night.

“The funny thing is Chad couldn’t make a layup when he was in the tenth grade,” Moore said. “When he first started playing basketball, it was a struggle for him to do a Mikan drill.

“If you heard what I said on senior night, I’ve never had a kid who has developed so much in three years as Chad has.”

Down by nearly 30 points heading into the fourth quarter, Sankofa’s odds of winning looked bleak to say the least, but that didn’t stop the Warriors from attempting to mount a comeback.

Wayns (14 points) and senior guard Stephon Brandt (12 points) led the charge on a 13-4 Sankofa run to start the final quarter, cutting Constitution’s lead below the 20-point plateau for the first time since the opening minute of the second half.

But the Warriors’ run was short-lived, as Gilbert, a George Mason-bound wing, knocked down two deep threes and a driving layup to neutralize Sankofa’s last efforts and push Constitution’s lead up to almost 30 points by the final buzzer.

Junior guards Naseem Brown and Terron Bacon each scored seven points in a losing effort for Sankofa (5-18), which failed to reach the Public League Class ‘A’ Championship game after upsetting four-seed Motivation 63-56 in the previous round.

Aside from Constitution’s ‘Big 3′, the Generals also got solid contributions from senior forward Isaiah Bradley and sophomore guard Tamir Green who scored six and eight respectively.

After the game, Moore couldn’t help but feel giddy about his team’s arsenal of talent.

“[Kimar] and J.R., there’s not a better one-two combination maybe in the city,” Moore said. “Even if you look at the Catholic League, there might not be a better one-two combination.

“Some of these schools have really, really good players…like Chris Clover is really good, but who’s his right hand? I don’t wanna say Batman and Robin ‘cause I got two Batmans; I got Batmen.”

Moore and the Generals (17-7) will take on MC&S for the third time this season in Saturday’s Class ‘A’ Championship, having beaten their Pub ‘A’ rival in seven of the teams’ last eight meetings.

As for defending Doughty, who many believe to be the most gifted scorer in the city, Moore plans on trying a little bit of everything to throw the St. John’s-bound senior off his game.

“We’ll mix it up,” Moore said. “I’ve got four kids with Kimar, [Anthony] Satchell, Haneef and King that can guard; that’s a great thing to have four guards that can guard anybody.

“I keep throwing guys at ‘em, and ultimately it wears everybody down. Everybody we’ve played that’s of that caliber, eventually we wear them down because we keep throwing bodies at them.”


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