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McFadden’s steal and basket gives East English 71-70 victory over Collegiate Prep
Detroit – Like politicians, basketball teams in Detroit have their establishment and those on the outside.
Detroit Collegiate Prep at Northwestern is the latter. The Colts compete in the Detroit Public School League Division 2 unlike teams like Detroit King, Detroit Renaissance, Detroit Western and others that compete in the upper division, Division 1.
Collegiate Prep upset defending PSL champion Western, 64-63, on Wednesday and Detroit East English Village Prep, another PSL Division 1 heavyweight, awaited the Colts in Friday’s semifinal. Twice the Colts led by 12 points and led 70-69 with 7.7 seconds left, and had possession underneath their basket.
But a city championship wasn’t meant to be. Not this season.
Jaylin McFadden stole the inbound pass at midcourt, drove down the right lane and banked in the winning shot with 2.4 seconds left to give East English (15-3) a 71-70 victory at Detroit Cass Tech.
East English will play Detroit Renaissance (15-2) for the PSL title next Friday at Calihan Hall at 7:30 p.m.
“I played safety,” McFadden said. “I got a good steal and coach told me to go get it.
“I was waiting for the best basketball decision. They gave me the lane and I took it.”
McFadden didn’t score until the second half and had five points, nine rebounds and one block.
Kamari Newman led the Bulldogs with 28 points, 17 in the first half. Cedrick Lattimore added 15 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
“I wanted this bad,” Lattimore said. “I haven’t been in a championship game since I’ve been here.
“Jaylin stepped up and got a steal. I was guarding Terrance (Sewell on the inbound pass), me and Elliott. He had to throw over us.”
Kylan Shipp led Collegiate Prep (12-4) with 24 points and he was nearly the hero. He stole the ball from Newman and scored with 27 seconds left to give the Colts a 70-68 lead.
McFadden made one free throw before his huge theft.
Collegiate Prep coach Matt Blount had a difficult time consoling his team afterward. But he reminded them that the state tournament is still ahead.
“It’s definitely not over,” he said. “Whether you win the city or not you still have the districts. I was told never to get too full on a victory. When I was with (Derrick) McDowell (at Detroit Redford), he told me March is the big picture.”
Blount also took the heat for the last turnover.
“We never worked on the last-second, home run play,” he said. “I put it on myself. We didn’t even draw it up. We just went on the fly.”
Sewell had 15 points and nine rebounds, and John Ivory added eight points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks.
“We just find a way to win,” East English coach Juan Rickman said. “The kids don’t get down.
“We worked on the last play. We want to pressure the inbound. You have Greg at 6-3 and Cedrick at 6-5. It’s tough to get it over them.”
