Yousef Othman to the rescue once again. The opponent couldn’t stop him nor could a badly sprained ankle.
CSI/McCown and New Utrecht traded back-and-forth blows the entire contest, but in the end, the slick-shooting Othman had the final say in leading the Dragons to the school’s first-ever home playoff win with a 56-53 PSAL AAA play-in decision over the Utes in New Springville.
CSIM, the 27th-seed, moves on to face No. 6 Brandeis on the road Wednesday at 5 p.m., while the 38th-seeded Utes are eliminated. The Bulldogs finished at the top of the Manhattan II division with a 12-2 mark. The Dragons avenged a 56-52 non-league loss to the Brooklyn school during the regular season.
Othman, a junior forward and the Island’s leading scorer (28.2 ppg.), did a little bit of everything to extend his team’s season. He tallied a game-high 30 points, grabbed a team-high seven boards, dished out four assists, recorded three steals and a block. More importantly, he was 6 for 7 from the line down the stretch when the game was there for either team to take.
The Dragons gave away a ton of size to the visitors from Brooklyn and were outrebounded in the contest, 35-13, as the inside tandem of Afif Hazem (23 points 14 rebounds) and Mohammed Kadel (14 points, 11 boards) had their way in the paint and on the boards all afternoon long.
But, coach Danny Lee’s troops never gave in even with the height disadvantage. They applied full-court pressure all game long and scrapped and clawed their way to loose balls when given a chance.
Trailing by one entering the game’s final eight minutes, Lee’s club refused to let their season end on its home court and Othman was at the forefront as he has been all season long. After Carmelo Murat’s coast-to-coast layup gave NU a 45-42 lead Othman drove the baseline, scored and completed the three-point play to knot things at 45. Sami Lazrak (11 points, three treys) hit a pair of freebies and Othman followed with another pair to give CSIM a 49-45…
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