BY ZACH SMART
WHITE PLAINS, NY–Prior to Christ The King’s 56-51 victory over Monroe HS during the Public v Catholic Schools Showdown at the Westchester County Center on Saturday afternoon, motivational sources were everywhere for Qin Pang.
The 6-foot-10, 240-pound behemoth learned prior to the game that he had been selected for the prestigious Nike Hoop Summit–an event which showcases the country’s top high school seniors against top-shelf international talent. The event has featured the likes of Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, and several others of the highly decorated NBA pedigree.
Iona head coach Tobin Anderson was also in the house to see Pang, who scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds while steering Monroe’s driving lanes clear, en route to garnering Game MVP honors.
Pang was also eager for recovery from a putrid 99-64 washout of a loss at Stepinac the previous night. It was a game in which the Royals were mired in an offensive fetal position after the first quarter. The Royals withered under the weight of Stepinac’s runs. They looked like a group of misfits in the second half.
Without head coach Joe Arbitiello ( serving a one-game suspension following his ejection during a loss to Nazareth last week) and high-scoring 6-foot-6 Iowa State-bound guard Dwayne Pierce, who is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury, the Royals floundered.
Not on Saturday.
Pang was the stabilizing interior influence which woke up the Royals’ offense the second half. He stuck a long corner 3-pointer to get CTK jump-started with 4:48 remaining in the third quarter.
Then, on the ensuing possession, Pang drew a hard foul at the rim and sank both free throws. He maneuvered his way into the post, inhaled a high low feed from CTK point guard Markell Alston, threw a fake and finished hard at the rim. And in that critical sequence, the Royals discovered the offensive flow which had been lacking.
CTK seized a 39-34 lead with 1:19 remaining in the third quarter, as 6-foot-5 Class of 2025 guard Jayden Ramirez picked off a pass, attacked the open court, drew a foul and connected on both free throws.
Monroe’s Alhasan Jallow, a versatile and underrated 6-foot-8 wing-forward who scored 16 points, stuck a a deep 3-pointer to slice the deficit to five points. CTK countered, as Pang finished left handed above traffic and then swooped in for a stickback with 5:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, as the lead lengthened to 48-39.
“Coach Arbs’ always tells me, ‘inside-outside,'” said Pang, who is hearing from Florida Atlantic, Clemson, Loyola-Chicago, Siena, and several others on the recruiting market.
“He saw that I was way bigger than the defenders. So I had to just play big, and take it inside.”
Cameron Zeigler and Ramirez, who scored 15 points (including 5-for-6 from the free throw line), each had critical fourth quarter buckets to sustain the thin margin on Monroe.
Arbitiello downplayed the notion of any lingering effects of the exasperating loss to league rival Stepinac on Friday night. It was mostly all forgotten about, five minutes after the bus chugged out of the parking lot and headed back to Middle Village. Arbitello was pleased with the resolve and fight his team showed following a tepid start to the game in the first two quarters.
“You take every game by itself, especially with this team,” Arbitiello said. “They’re very good. They don’t get too high, they don’t get too low. We’re playing without Dwayne. I thought there was a lid on the basket for a while there, but defensively they were great. The 50-50 balls we got, I think Pang and (6-foot-6 Class of 2025 forward) Julian Desir didn’t really give them an advantage. We controlled the glass. We controlled the interior. Then we started seeing what was working.”
Feeding the post worked to CTK’s favor smoothly.
“We were running the same play every time down the floor and just trying to get (Pang) isolated down low,” Arbitiello said. “We did that a whole bunch of times. That felt like it took Monroe out of what they wanted to do on their side of the ball.”
Jallow displayed translatable intangibles. The Class of 2024 prospect has a unique offensive arsenal, can put the ball on the deck comfortably at his size, and utilizes his long arms with defensive versatility.
“Jallow’s upside is tremendous and he can be whatever he wants to be honest with you,” said Monroe coach Christopher “Glasses” Salgado.
“The game is just starting to get put together for him. He’s a great shot-maker and he can defend. When he puts some muscle on him, I think he can be a mid to high major player. Honestly. He’s got a great feel for the game and it is just starting to click.”
Beyond Jallow, Monroe was paced by 14 points from 7-foot 2025 forward/center Harvin Guevara. A rim runner with a deft outside shooting touch, Guevara has improved incrementally over the last seven months. He’s a floor stretcher with an adeptness for scoring short range jumpers and creating shot space.
“I just want Harvin to be consistent,” Salgado explained. “I want Harvin to play harder, with a chip on his shoulder. Similar to Jallow. Jallow plays with a chip on his shoulder where, ‘I’m letting them know that I’m here. I think once Harvin plays at a consistent level, where he can’t really be messed with, he’s got the tools to be great.”
