Photo courtesy of Dave’s Joint.
By David Cordova.
Every year in the CHSAA, there’s plenty of teams shining in the historic league that has produced countless players that have gone on to the college ranks and also to the NBA. But when one thinks of that storied league, they usually think about the “AA” division, where the top 14 teams from both the Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan division and the Archdiocesan division (teams from The Bronx, Staten Island & Westchester County) all compete against each other.
But then there are 16 other teams in the league, as well. But they play in the “A” and “B” divisions, respectfully. These are the teams that are underrated, mostly the kids that end up at Division II or Division III schools, most of them the academically-elite institutions. But what most of these schools in these two divisions have is spectators with school spirit, many of whom show up in droves to support their respective teams.
St. John’s Prep has one of those teams that are always ready to give any team a good game whenever they’re on the floor. This has been proven throughout the past year, as they’ve made a name for themselves as a team that is fearless and not to be taken lightly.
Maybe if you read more about them, then maybe you’d understand them a little more. Here’s the story.
Astoria, Queens is a nice area that has plenty of upscale businesses and plenty of restaurants. From the N train, you can see Manhattan, which connects to the borough of Queens via the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, which was once known as the Triboro Bridge.
At the last stop of the N train in Queens, which is Astoria-Ditmars Blvd, you must get off and then make an 11-minute walk to this beautiful campus at 21-21 Crescent Street, with a nice front lawn and see a school building with the religious cross and windows.
This place is St. John’s Preparatory School, or St. John’s Prep, as it is commonly referred to. It’s a co-educational Catholic high school that has prided itself on educating the youth of New York City. For the grand price of over $9,000 a year, you can get a quality education at this great institution. This is a school that has a 100% graduation rate and all of its seniors go on to college.
With such a great reputation on the academic side, you can’t help but notice the history behind this great school. The original St. John’s Prep opened in 1870 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn and was an all-boys school that closed in 1972.
The current site was once the home of the now-defunct Mater Christi High School, which was opened in 1961 and had been a powerhouse in basketball, producing players such as Vern Fleming (class of 1980), who went on to play at the University of Georgia and then more than 10 seasons in the NBA and also Tony Bruin that (class of 1979), who went on to play four years of collegiate basketball at Syracuse University. The program was led by Jim Gatto, Sr., who coached at Mater Christi and St. John’s Prep, and won more than 500 games in almost 40 years of coaching and won three city championships in 1978, 1979 & 2005.
In regards to the school, due to its affiliation with St. John’s University, which is located in Jamaica, Queens, Mater Christi was renamed St. John’s Preparatory School, which was opened in 1980.
There’s one other significant hooper that came out of St. John’s Prep. He is Taliek Brown (class of 2000), a guard that hailed from the Lefrak City Housing Complex in Rego Park, Queens, which also produced famous players such as Kenny “The Jet” Smith, Kenny Anderson and Hamidou Diallo and also famous rapper and the host of the “Drink Champs” podcast, N.O.R.E.
While at SJP, Brown was one of the city’s best players and a part of the Holy Trinity of point guards, alongside Andre Barrrett, a native of The Bronx who starred at Rice High School in Harlem & Omar Cook, a Brooklyn native who starred at Christ the King High School in Middle Village, Queens. All three went on to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game that year in Boston and all three went on to play in the Big East, including Brown, who spent four years at the University of Connecticut, where he would win a national championship as a senior in 2004. Currently, Brown is back in the borough of Queens, ironically, as an assistant coach at St. John’s University.
Just like the defending Big East champions, the high school and the university both share the same nickname: the Red Storm.
As for the gym, it’s a beautiful place that seats up to 2,200 spectators, which makes for a rocking place for the right game. Back in the spring of 2022, the Battle in the Apple event, which was put together by Gold Level Sports, had some of the best grassroots teams in the tri-state area in the New York Rens, the New York Gauchos, the PSA Cardinals and the Wiz Kids, compete against Strive for Greatness, a team based out of Los Angeles, California, that was started by NBA superstar LeBron James and featured his eldest son, Bronny James and some of the nation’s best players.
The gym has also been featured in a film called, “Boogie,” which was released in 2021, and is about an Asian-American basketball phenom named Alfred “Boogie” Chen, who was played by Taylor Takahashi and also had actors such as actress Taylour Paige and the late rapper Pop Smoke.
It’s safe to say that some great things have happened there, but the gym is only a part of this story. There’s more, much more. You also have to get to know about the coach, their point guard and their team.
By day, John Kiggins is the dean of students at St. John’s Prep. But when that’s all over, he wears a different hat at the school: the boys varsity basketball coach.
He’s one of those coaches that kids love to play for. He’s definitely a player’s coach, one that works with his student-athletes and makes sure that they excel when on the floor and also off of it.
A native of Manhasset, Long Island, he has been around the game for as long as he can remember, playing CYO basketball at St. Mary’s Elementary School, and also AAU for the Long Island Lightning, and even played at St. Mary’s High School, the same school that produced Danny Green, the three-time NBA champion who played with the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers, respectively.
Kiggins was also on the 2010-11 team that won the Nassau/Suffolk CHSAA championship, the Catholic state championship and made it all the way to the New York State Federation Tournament in Albany. The Gaels, which featured former Marist College star Chavaughn Lewis, former LIU Post forward Charles McCann and Dante Agnew, who is now a skill development specialist, finished 29-1 on the season.
After high school, Kiggins went on to become a student manager at Iona College (now Iona University as of 2022) in New Rochelle, and went under legendary head coach Tim Cluess. During his time with the Gaels, they won two MAAC championships and went to the NCAA Tournament twice, as well as two NIT appearances.
Fast-forward a couple of years later, in 2018, he went on to become the head coach at St. John’s Prep. Now entering his eighth season at the helm, he has pretty much mastered the A division and has built a solid program with a good foundation. He used all of the tools that he was taught by Cluess and has used it to his advantage.
And he has a great staff around him in veteran coaches Frank Abreu, Josh Hernandez and Cedric Ellison, both of whom have been coaching youths in the New York City area for a long period of time.
The good thing is, Kiggins, and the program will only get better and better.
To have a great team, you need a good floor general to kick things off, to start the engine, to keep the machine running.
For SJP, there’s one player that can do that well, and his name is Da’Quan “Soul Food” Bryant. At 5-foot-6, he is a diminutive guard that can make great plays and dominate against players that are bigger than him. His quickness and his ability to involve his teammates in the game is something that is huge and crucial to his team’s success.
A native of the Rochdale Village section of Queens, he started out his high school career at Eagle Academy II in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn, the same school as his elder brother, Taj, who now plays at Sacred Heart University. Although he was a member of the 2023-24 PSAL championship team, Bryant didn’t get many opportunities to showcase his talent.
That’s when St. John’s Prep came into the picture. Last season, he averaged 14 points per game and was the second-leading scorer on the team, and helped lead the Red Storm to the CHSAA “A” championship and the second annual CHSAA vs. PSAL Champions Challenge and the Red Storm finished the season with a 25-4 overall record and were the kings of the CHSAA “A” North division with an 11-2 record.
After that, he proved to be a mainstay in many of the city’s summer leagues, such as the Lincoln Park Classic in South Ozone Park, Gersh Park in East New York, Brooklyn and even the Top of the Hill Classic in the Soundview section of The Bronx.
Now a senior, he looks to have a great season and plans to obtain an athletic scholarship, just like his older brother. However, with the way the college game is going due to coaches of all levels scouring the transfer portal, it can be a very difficult situation for high schoolers as they lie in wait, hoping that a school takes a chance on them.
But because of his skills and his ability to lead a team, it’s only a matter of time before one school takes a chance on the kid they call “Soul Food.” Whoever that coach is, will inherit something special of a gem in him. But for now, his focus is on going out with a bang.
Now that you’ve heard about the floor general, it’s time to know about the rest of the team.
From last year’s team, they lost forward Pat Rouse (Daemen College) and Jacob Gomez to graduation and Ryan Edwards transferred to PSAL AAAA finalist Eagle Academy I.
But they still have some solid returners in seniors Nykiel Naggie, Louis Ikama and Chase Inniss, all of whom provided some solid minutes for last year’s team as juniors.
However, they have some nice pieces in the fold as far as transfers in senior Myles Perry (Canarsie), junior Chris Wilson (Cardozo) and sophomore Carter Smith (Thomas Jefferson).
And they have some new players from different countries in junior Richard Jefferson Fernandez (Dominican Republic), sophomore Nifonas Tryonos (Cyprus) and junior Jon Slyaj (Kosovo). Both Tryonos and Slyaj have both played in FIBA competition for their respective countries.
Throughout the summer, the Red Storm made their presence felt in summer leagues such as the NYC Prospects Summer League in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn and also the Smartball Classic in Harlem.
This fall, they also made a splash at the Test the Waters Invitational at St. Raymond High School in the Parkchester section of The Bronx, the MADE Hoops Northeast Preview out in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, the Positive Influence Preseason High School Classic in downtown Manhattan and also at the IS8 Fall Classic in South Jamaica, Queens, where they made it all the way to the championship game against the defending PSAL AAAA champions, Thomas Jefferson Campus.
In their quarterfinal matchup against the Mount Vernon-based Unsung Yutes, the IS8 Spring Classic champions, they took control of the game in the second half, due to the exploits of Bryant and a couple of other players.
This season, the Red Storm will be making plenty of noise in league play when they play against foes such as Fordham Prep, St. Joseph by the Sea, Moore Catholic and also Queens foe Monsignor McClancy.
As far as non-league affairs, they will be playing in two events around the Christmas holiday in the borough of Brooklyn. During the week of Dec. 26-29, they will be participating in the Monsignor King Tournament at the St. Thomas Aquinas CYO gym in Flatbush. In between that date, they will also be playing in the Jordan Holiday Classic against Long Island powerhouse, Amityville, on Dec. 28th at Achievement First in Crown Heights.
But the biggest test of the season will come during their last game of the regular season on Feb. 13th, or rather Friday the 13th, as they will be playing against a major perennial powerhouse from Queens in Christ the King.
Whatever obstacles may come in their way, St. John’s Prep will not back down from any challenges whatsoever. After all, it’s their time to shine. They’re definitely ready for anything that comes their way.
A new storm is brewing out in Astoria, Queens.
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