Photo courtesy of Dave’s Joint.
By David Cordova
In this installment of The City Game, we will focus on the defending PSAL “AA” champions, Eagle Academy II, as they have regrouped following a groundbreaking season. So far, the defending champions are looking stronger than ever, and have added some new pieces.
If you take the C subway train to Rockaway Avenue and walk down and then turn the corner onto Herkimer Street in the Ocean Hill section of Brooklyn, you will find the oasis called Eagle Academy for Young Men at Ocean Hill, or Eagle Academy II. It’s a school that has been in existence since 2008 and serves many minority students from the inner-city. It’s an all-boys, public school with grades 6-12, something that is a rarity in New York City, and is one of six schools under the Eagle Academy Foundation, the network that also has schools in the South Bronx, Southeast Queens, Harlem, Staten Island and across the bridge in Newark, New Jersey. It is a place where dreams are realized for many young Black & Latino males.
It is also the home of a varsity basketball program that has become a powerhouse in just a few short years. In the last couple of years, they have produced a number of players that have gone on to play Division I basketball, such as Zaire Williams (Wagner College), Jacquel Morris (Miami-Ohio), as just recently, Eric Acker and Treshawn Sheppard, who are now freshmen at LIU Brooklyn.
The last two seasons, the Eagles have made their presence felt in the city, as they have been in the title game twice in the same venue. Two seasons ago, they made it to the finals against a foe from the Brooklyn “AA” division, South Shore, in which they were dismantled, 77-52, on the Barclays Center floor.
Then last season came and the Eagles were back and better. They even dethroned the then-defending champion Vikings in the PSAL semifinals, and then made it back to the finals on the same home court in which they suffered a dreadful defeat. Only this time, they would be matched up against another foe from the same division, Thomas Jefferson. Throughout the game, both teams went neck-and-neck and matched basket for basket. Although the Orange Wave reached a period of the game where they almost had the game in the bag, fate reared its ugly hand to them and luck was on the side of the Eagles. With just a few seconds left, Eddie Munyak came off a screen and got off a shot, which hit nothing but net, and time had expired, and the Eagles became the champions for the first time in school history.
When the shot went down, it was like something that could be seen in the NCAA Tournament every year, the Brooklyn crowd went crazy. While the Jefferson crowd was in disbelief, everyone in attendance erupted in pure joy for the new champions. Although they would lose to nationally-ranked Archbishop Stepinac the following weekend in the New York State Federation Tournament semifinals, the job had been done either way, as they made their presence felt all season long and finished out the year as city champions.
Today, the Eagles are still one of the city’s most powerful teams in the PSAL’s new “4A” division. The only thing that is different for them this season is that they are now the hunted. There will be no easy games for them anywhere, especially not in their league.
The story starts with head coach Kevin Hamilton, Jr., a promising player in his own right in his younger days, as he is a 2002 graduate of Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, Queens, where he played for the legendary Jack Curran, who won more than 40 championships in the CHSAA in both baseball and basketball. Hamilton also played Division I basketball for the College of Holy Cross, where he is also a part of the school’s Hall of Fame after winning the Patriot League Player of the Year award as a junior in 2004-05 and scored 1,492 career points in four seasons. He also is the all-time leader in school history with 292 steals. After college, he went on to play professional basketball in Poland, Puerto Rico, France and Germany. With his resume as a player and now as a coach, it is already understood that winning is a must.
This year’s team definitely has a lot of grit and firepower and a lot of new players added to the fold. Despite losing senior guard Taj Bryant to national powerhouse, The Patrick School, in the fall, Eagle still has some talented returning players in the fold from last season’s team in the aforementioned Munyak, who is a senior and also junior guard Xavier Ceasar, who hit some clutch free throws down the stretch in last season’s championship game, and also senior guard Ajani Flemming.
However, there are plenty of newcomers that are now a part of the family. There’s senior forward Ahmed Ibrahim (Thomas Edison), junior forward Jeremiah Jacobs (Manhattan Center), senior guards Chase Beasley (Canarsie) and Jakai Sanders (Bishop Loughlin. All four are valuable transfers that have contributed mightily so far on the court. Also, two other newcomers that have made an impact on the court are junior forward Mangok Lok and freshman guard Amir Dockery,
Lok, a forward that is also nicknamed “Manute,” for his resemblance to the late NBA player Manute Bol, is a terror on the glass and is known for his ability to throw down powerful dunks on the court.
The emergence of Dockery, who is fresh out of middle school, has definitely been felt, as he has been quick to pick up lessons and is playing like a veteran on the court. Despite his small frame, he is able to get past bigger, taller players when he drives to the basket.
As far as Sanders, his history with Eagle runs deep, as he initially started out high school there as a freshman. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Eagles did not have a season, which then led him to transfer to Loughlin, which then played in a shortened seven-game tournament in the spring of 2021. As a sophomore and junior, he dominated in the CHSAA and was one of the focal points of the Lions offense. But now, he is back in the blue and white and ready to lead the Eagles back to the city championship game for a third straight season.
On Nov. 30th, the Eagles had their ring ceremony, where they presented hardware to their current players, coaches and even the graduates who were seniors last year. After the ceremony, they matched up against a familiar foe in the Orange Wave of Thomas Jefferson, in a rematch of the title game. But unlike the title game, this year’s Eagle team was in full control from start to finish, as they were up for a majority of the game, even leading by double-digits at one point in the game, and ended up winning, 88-74.
This season, the Eagles are off to a good start, as they are 5-3 on the season, and 4-1 in their division, as those defeats came against Neumann-Goretti of Philadelphia and CHSAA powerhouse St. Francis Prep and Staten Island’s own Susan E. Wagner.
However, there are some good games left for the Eagles to look forward to as they will be playing in the BABC Holiday Classic in Braintree, Mass., during the Christmas holiday and will also be playing Newton North High School on Jan. 7th at the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., nationally-ranked powerhouse Long Island Lutheran on Jan. 27th in Brookville, Long Island and also South Jersey’s own Life Center Academy at the Gotham Hoops Invitational on Feb. 4th at Adlai Stevenson Educational Campus in The Bronx.
As far as PSAL play goes, they will have matchups with other foes such as Brooklyn Collegiate (Jan. 19th, on the road), Curtis (Jan. 9th, at home), Susan E. Wagner (Jan. 13th, at home), Canarsie (Jan. 11th, at home), Thomas Jefferson (Jan. 30th, on the road) and their lone matchup against South Shore on Jan. 6th, a league game which has also been made a part of the Swoosh Classic, an event being run by Nike Basketball & Game Seven Marketing, at Christ the King High School in Middle Village, Queens.
Another great thing that happened to the Eagles this season, is that they are now one of five schools in New York City that are now sponsored by the Jordan Brand, alongside Eagle Academy I, Nazareth, Monsignor Scanlan and Canarsie.
Thus far, Eagle has been battle-tested and the games that they have lost will only make them stronger for the games that are coming up. It’s better that the struggles come early, for that will ensure their triumphs later on. As the old adage says, “Real Eagles Fly High.”
In the next installment of “The City Game,” we will be talking about the Fordham University men’s basketball program and the impact that the Rams had on their college campus throughout the previous season and the current season.
davesjoint.net 
NICE story Dave!
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