Bronx Sports Column: Lady Mustangs are National Champs; Kemba's Killing It in the Big Dance

The Monroe Lady Mustangs won the national junior college championship last weekend.

 So much good basketball going on, it's enough to make your head spin. Before we get to the Big Dance, we'll start with the littler dances, which produced at least one Bronx champion.

Lady Mustangs Bring Home Hardware
With its 78-74 victory over Pima Community College (Ariz.) last Saturday night, the Monroe College Lady Mustangs basketball team took home its third national junior college title and first since moving to the Division II level two years ago. Sophomore Shanee Williams led the 11th-seed Lady Mustangs in scoring throughout the tournament, averaging 15.5 points per game and was named MVP.

"All year we talked about the difference between being great and being special," said Coach Goodman. "These players have worked so hard and now they can say they are truly special. Years from now people will remember that the Monroe Mustangs, an 11-seed, became national champions."

Meanwhile, Monroe's mens team finished third nationally.

Wings Takes Girls Title, Clinton Falls in Final Four
The Bronx's Wings Academy girls -- the Lady Wings -- team beat Curtis 46-43 for the PSAL Girls A Division title during a raucous championship game (bout) that featured a bleacher brawl. Just minutes after hitting the game-winning three-pointer with 2.3 seconds left, senior Aquillin Hayes announced she would be attending the University of New Haven to play hoops next yer. Here's photos from the game by the NY Post.

The Lady Wings were scheduled to play today at 1:30 p.m. in the State Federation tournament, but I haven't been able to find a score anywhere on the internet.

The 29th-seeded DeWitt Clinton boys team's shocking underdog run through the PSAL boys A tournament came to a screeching halt in the Final Four a week ago, as the Governors fell to eventual champion Midwood. 77-53.

Bronxites Move on to Elite 8
Soundview product and University of Connecticut point guard Kemba Walker is turning the NCAA men's basketball tournament into his own personal showcase. Walker, an IS 174 alumnist, absolutely abused the higher-seeded San Diego St. Aztecs last night, scoring nearly half of his team's points during the Huskies 74-67.

A dancer who performed at the Apollo three times as a youngster, Walker, a 6-foot-1, 175 puma of a ballplayer scored from everywhere and every which way imaginable. Plus, the kid's got personality.

The LA Times' columnist Bill Plashke swooned: "Just like that, the tiny guy with the wide-eyed smile and scraggly chin hair that he refuses to shave has become the best thing about this billion-dollar tournament. After a weekend filled with average basketball and questionable officiating, college basketball needs Kemba Walker, a star who is not too big to act like a child, a 20-year-old who laughs his way through giant games with playground guts."

Walker's UConn team plays Arizona, which features Bronx-bred forward Kevin Parrom (St. Raymond's High School), on Saturday for the chance to play in the Final Four in Houston. 

One final note: On Saturday afternoon, at 4:30 p.m. in Yonkers, the St. Brendan's School boys fifth and sixth grade team plays for some type of state championship.

Bronx Sports Update: HS Tourney Update; Monroe Teams Eye Nationals (Updated)

Monroe's Jeff Early

Quick update from the BxNN sports desk (which is shockingly close to the BxNN crime desk):

Both the men's and women's basketball teams from Monroe College -- strong junior college programs that routinely graduate players to bigger basketball programs -- took care of business last weekend and will be playing for births into the national junior college tournament this weekend.

Both teams will be tested on the road. The Lady Mustangs travel to Scranton, PA to take on Lackawana College, while the male 'Stangs, led by guard Jeff Early (pictured), will be in Maryland taking on a Hagerstown Community College team that defeated them earlier this year in double overtime.

Apparently, you can follow the games live on CyberSports USA. (UPDATE: The men's game, which starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, will also be streamed live on the website for Hagerstown radio station 1240 AM WJEJ. Click on the link on upper left-hand side of the home page.)

After a week off, the PSAL high school playoffs resumed last night. The Bronx fared decently.

Walton, which we wrote about last Friday, saw its championship dreams die after enduring a tough 60-64 loss to fifth-seeded High School for Graphic Arts Communication in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, DeWitt Clinton, Evander Childs, South Bronx and Alfred E. Smith all moved into the round of 16. Clinton and South Bronx face off at the Mott Haven Campus gym tomorrow night. Evander has the pleasure of meeting top-seeded Midwood on Midwood's home court, while Smith draws Brooklyn Collegiate at home.

In tonight's action, third-seeded Christopher Columbus hosts Manhattan's High School for Environmental Studies and Bronx Science stays home for its match against New Dorp High School. Both games start at 5 p.m. If both win, as expected, the Bronx will have six spots in the Sweet 16.

Monroe's Soccer Team Places Fourth at Nationals

Anthony Asante, Monroe's star striker, scored in the semi-final (Photo courtesy of Monroe College)

In its most successful season ever, Monroe College's men's soccer team came within two games of winning the NJCAA Division 1 Nationals.

At the tournment in Tyler, Texas, in mid-November, the second-seeded Monroe Mustangs won their first game against Otero Junior College (CO), before going down in the semi-final to Cinncinatti State, 2-1, in double over-time.

"We lost to a deep and classy team," Coach Marcus Dibernardo told the Monroe Mustangs website. "Yes, it doesn't feel very good now, but soon we'll realize that we had a great season."

Monroe then lost the third-place playoff game, leaving them with an end of season record of 19-2.

According to Dibernardo, the team is stacked with talent, and its success raises the bar for all future Monroe soccer teams. But as well as shining on the field, the players worked hard work and showed character and discipline off it.

"We set out every year to win the national championship," Dibernardo said in a telephone interview. "But education is first, getting their degrees is first. Then the sport."

Dibernardo and his team are already looking forward to next season.

"We wish we could start tomorrow," he said.

Monroe advanced to the nationals after winning the NJCAA Northeast Divison 1 District Championship in Massachusetts earlier in the month.

Monroe's Undefeated Soccer Team Off to the Nationals

The undefeated Mustangs with the trophy they won last weekend (Photos courtesy of Monroe College)

The Monroe Mustangs men's soccer team won the NJCAA Northeast Division I District Championship in Massachusetts last weekend.

In semi-final they had looked done and dusted, before a staging an astonishing comeback, scoring three goals in four second-half minutes. In the final they defeated Mercer County Community College of New Jersey 3-0.

The victory means they qualify, along seven other teams, for the Division 1 Nationals, to be held in Tyler, Texas next week.

In the tournament's opening game on Nov. 18, the talented Mustangs, which are 18-0 so far this season, will be up against Otero Junior College of Colorado.

If they beat Otero, and then win their semi-final, the team will advance to the championship final on Nov. 21. This year is the first time the Mustangs have made a run to the nationals.

Proud coach Marcus Dibernarndo (aka "Coach D") told the Monroe Mustangs' website that he's expecting a tough challenge. "Any team in this tournament is capable of going all the way," Dibernarndo said, "so we'll have to come out ready right from the start."



Freshman Anthony Asante (in white) gave Mercer CC a torrid time last Sunday, with two goals and an assist

Props for Bronx's Monroe College from State Regents Chancellor

Earlier today, on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC, Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the State Board of Regents, gave a shout-out to the Bronx's own Monroe College. The discussion, which comes at the 13:00 minute mark in the interview (we're embedding it here) centered on federal regulation of for-profit colleges. Tisch discussed issues pertaining to for-profit schools that do a bad job of preparing students for the next level, but she pointedly named Monroe College's "impressive track record," and used it as an example for why critics shouldn't with "one broad brush pillory an entire community of providers." Take a listen.

Bronx News Roundup, July 12

There were four shootings in the city on Sunday morning, two in the Bronx.

Seven months later, Glory of Christ Church in Parkchester has reopened after a satanic arsonist, who has yet to be apprehended, torched the place.

The NY Post reports that students at Monroe College are defaulting on their government-backed loans at an unusually high rate.

On BoogieDowner, a Norwood resident calls out people who have misused parking placards in Norwood and Bedord Park.

The family of Albert Hartzog, want the Bronx teenager suspected of murdering him, put to death.Apparently, the teen was upset that Hartzog, who lived the teen's mother, had canceled the cable TV.

Bob Shepphard, the Yankees' legendary public address announcer -- who Reggie Jackson called the "Voice of God" -- died on Sunday at the age of 99.

A doctor with the Bronx's Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine reflects on his program's success making sure HIV-infected mothers don't pass on the virus to their children.

[Note: thanks to intern Samantha Delgado-Perez for compiling these stories and links.]

Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 21

A collection of Bronx students and their parents are suing the city for alleged abuses on the part of NYPD public safety officers. The plaintiffs allege that the officers, who are supposed to protect students, have been wrongfully handcuffing, assaulting and arresting the teenagers they work with.

The Latin music group Aventura, whose members hail from the Bronx, are set to perform a series of sold out concerts at Madison Square Garden. The Bronx group's new album has been number one on the Billboard's top Latin albums chart for the last 20 weeks.

A would-be scammer has been calling Riverdale residents posing as Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, asking for credit card donations of $10. Recipients of the calls have so far been wary.

A rookie Bronx police officer has been suspended after being caught on a homemade videotape punching and kicking a suspect who was lying handcuffed on the ground on Davidson Avenue near Fordham Road. The cop now faces possible arrest.

Thanks to community pressure, city officials are backing off of their decision to completely close Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School. The vocational school's automotive program will now be spared.

The Monroe College School of Criminal Justice has opened a new courtroom at their Bronx campus which will be used for courses and community workshops.

Bronx News Roudup, August 3

A Bronx woman, Angela Murray, has been arrested for the murder and robbery of Guido Felix Brinkmann, a Holocaust survivor, Manhattan resident and owner of a popular nightclub in the 1970s. Police are still searching for Murray's male companion in the crime.

Monroe College graduate, Trina Thompson, is suing her college for her inability to find an appropriate job after receiving her degree in information technology. Thompson is demanding that Monroe repay her $70,000 spent on tuition because the college did not provide adequate career services. I wonder, does Thompson think she is the only college graduate struggling to find employment today?

On Saturday, a crowd of more than 150 South Bronx community members gathered to honor the late Hilton White, an inspirational community leader and basketball coach. During the celebrations, the playground where White once coached basketball was renamed Hilton White Playground and the adjacent street was renamed Hilton White Way. Many of White's protegees, including professional basketball players, doctors and lawyers, gathered at the event to reflect on White's positive influence on the neighborhood.

The New York Daily News declares Judge Sonia Sotomayor the Bronx's latest cultural icon. Her inspirational story is compared with those of other Bronxities Colin Powell and Jennifer Lopez.

Early Saturday morning police shot and killed a man on Southern Boulevard in the Bronx. The man, later identified as Oswaldo Sevilla, fired multiple shots at police before he was shot.

Bronx News Roundup Oct. 16

Several Bronx cops were honored yesterday for outstanding service, at an awards ceremony in Morris Park.

The first of two public hearings on Mayor Bloomberg's bid to extend term limits is being held today. The Times says the City Hall hearings are the most eagerly anticipated in years. Big crowds are expected. In other news, Bronx Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo now says she's "undecided" on whether she'd vote for an extension. Previously she was in favor. In the Bronx, then, four council members want an extension, two don't, and two are undecided. More here.

Federal investigators say the city may have inflated the estimated cost of the new Yankee Stadium and then lied to the IRS. On the back of these costs, the Yankees were able to secure $942 million in tax-exempt bonds, in the process saving themselves millions of dollars.

A man has been charged with the murder of his baby son in a West Farms homeless shelter earlier this week. Police say John Rodriguez punched 8-month-old Elijah because he wouldn't stop crying.

On Tuesday night a man was murdered inside his Mount Eden apartment, police say.

Monroe College is 75-years-old. The first in a series of celebratory events will be held next Wednesday.

Sustainable South Bronx has co-authored a study calling on city policymakers to implement an "Urban Heat Island mitigation plan." The study says "vegetated and highly reflective surfaces" would help combat global warming, reduce pollution, improve public health, and even strengthen the economy.

The Bronx picked up several awards in the Village Voice's annual Best of NYC readers poll, including best public tennis courts, best Jamaican food, best Latin music store, and, er, best strip club. Boogiedowner has more details.

Last but not least, Freddy, a beloved Fly River turtle who lives at the Bronx Zoo, recently turned 50. He's the oldest known turtle of his kind.