Photo courtesy of Captured by Mikee.
By David Cordova
Throughout the past several years, there has been two schools that have been holding down the entire state of New York when it comes to the basketball scene. Both have been consistent in producing high-level talent that have gone on to play Division I basketball and then also professionally in the NBA.
Another thing to note is that both are private, religious schools located not in the five boroughs of New York City, but rather in the suburbs. Two different areas to be exact. And they both have the same nickname: the Crusaders.
Long Island Lutheran and Archbishop Stepinac have been neck-and-neck since before the COVID-19 pandemic. But in 2025, both are still thriving and being successful on the court.
In the recently-released preseason SportsCenter Next national rankings from ESPN, Stepinac is rated at No. 8 and LuHi is rated at No. 10.
No matter how they do nationally, they both represent the Empire State, and never let anybody forget it.
When one wants to go to Long Island Lutheran High School, they have to take the LIRR train from Penn Station or Grand Central and get off at Hicksville, which is in Nassau County. Then after that, there’s a $10-15 Uber or Lyft ride to get to the school. And then from Jericho Oyster Bay Road, you take a left into Brookvillle Road, which is a 1.3 mile drive into campus. It’s a long road where your cellphone service goes out, as it is an area filled with mansions belonging to wealthy people.
And then at some point, you will see what looks like a campus with a sign that says,
“Long Island Lutheran Middle & High School,” and there is a 32-acre campus where there are basketball courts, parking spaces, and also fields for other sports. And then there is the main building, where all of the classes are held. It’s a beautiful building, with a cafeteria that serves plenty of great food, along with sweets and treats, kind of like a college-like type of situation. It’s as great of a campus life as one can get.
Since its inception in 1960, the co-educational school has been serving students in grades 6-12, with students from all of Long Island also from the five boroughs of New York City, with an enrollment of 478 students and a tuition price of about $19,950 and also have boarding options for international students and domestic students. The school gives their students opportunities for academic excellence as they graduate 100% of their students and also send 100% of their students to college.
After you get to the school, you get to the main gym, which is located to the basement. That’s where the magic happens. Before you get to Visscher Gymnasium, named after the late Rev. Ed Visscher, who was one of the first coaches of the program and brought it to national prominence in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, there are pictures of some of alumni that played at LuHi, as well as their graduating classes and where they went to college.
And inside the gym are the banners for all of the sports programs, especially both the boys and girls basketball programs, which are both national powerhouses. Both teams have had McDonald’s All-Americans, players that have won the Gatorade Player of the Year award and also New York State Federation championships.
On the boys side, they have produced plenty of NBA players such as Bill Chamberlain (class of 1968), Reggie Carter (class of 1975), Bill Wennington (class of 1981), and most recently Ryan Dunn (class of 2021), who is in his second season with the Phoenix Suns and V.J. Edgecombe (class of 2024), who was selected as the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft by the Philadelphia 76ers and has gotten off to a quick start.
On the college level, there are plenty of high-level players from LuHi that are currently hooping on the Division I level, such as TCU guard Jayden Pierre (class of 2022), UConn forward Jayden Ross (class of 2024), Northwestern guard Jayden Pierre (class of 2023), Pittsburgh forward Amdy N’Diaye (class of 2024), Florida State forward Alier Maluk (class of 2024), Seton Hall forward Gods’will Erheriene (class of 2024) and also last year’s senior class, which included Kayden Mingo (Penn State), Nico Onyekwere (Villanova), Kiyan Anthony (Syracuse) and Nigel James (Marquette).
With a large assortment of talent these last few years, one must think about the two people that are mostly responsible for the success of the program for the past decade.
The first person is none other than the head coach John Buck, a 2002 graduate of LuHi who also played collegiate basketball at Wake Forest University, where he graduated in 2006 and was also a teammate of NBA superstar Chris Paul, who is currently with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Since his appointment as head coach in 2010, he has been not only the most prominent coaches on Long Island, but also in the tri-state area and on the national scene. He led the Crusaders to four New York State Federation Tournament championships in 2011, 2012, 2019 and 2023.
Aside from coaching, he’s also served in capacities at his alma mater, such as a Math teacher, Ethics teacher, and also Dean of Students. Today, he’s now the Head of School, as he is the chief executive responsible for the overall management of the school, as he oversees everything from finances, daily operations and also academics. It’s safe to say that one thing about Buck is that he’s giving back to today’s youth, just like his predecessors did for him when he was a student-athlete. Everything is working out tenfold.
The other coach in this story is none other than Jay David, the associate head coach and also the general manager of the program. He is well-known in the grassroots basketball scene, as he is the director of the New York Jayhawks, which has been a part of the Under Armour circuit, the Adidas circuit and currently, the MADE Hoops circuit.
For about three years, David was also the East Coast Grassroots consultant for Adidas Basketball. And he also is the CEO of Eleve11 Events Management, which has been around since 2019 and specializes in camps and events such as The Preview, which is a preseason event for high school teams during the month of October and also The Collision, which is a grassroots event during the month of June.
Given his resume, David is a very driven person that is known for his business acumen off the court and also his coaching style on the court, and the ability to develop talent and help players gain opportunities.
Two other members of the LuHi coaching staff are Josh Corbin, also a member of the LuHi graduating class of 2002 along with Buck, who also doubles his role as assistant coach with that of a Physical Education teacher and also Mike Clark, who has also been a part of the Crusaders’ staff for several years.
This year’s team has plenty of talent on the floor, including two highly-touted returners in senior guard Dylan Mingo and junior forward Moussa Kamissoko.
Mingo, rated as the No. 9 recruit in the Class of 2026 by ESPN, is a 6-foot-5 guard out of Farmingdale, Long Island that is known for his dynamic scoring ability, as well as his ability to see the floor. Since his freshman season, he has been holding his own with the Crusaders. At the present time, he is being recruited by some of the nation’s finest programs such as UConn, Baylor, Alabama, Miami, Washington and Penn State. Back in June, he was named the MVP of the NBPA Top 100 Camp out in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
When he decides to commit to the school of his choice, he will be the fourth player in his immediate family that will play Division I college athletics. The other three are his father, William, who played football at Delaware State University in the 1990’s, and his two older brothers: Dalique, who played basketball at Howard University and is now the CEO of Rare Breed Training, and the aforementioned Kayden, who is currently in his freshman season at Penn State.
Kamissoko, a native of the Melrose section of The Bronx, is a 6-foot-8 forward with plenty of skill and versatility in his game. Since transferring in from Trinity-Pawling, a prestigious school in upstate New York, he has continued to excel in his game with the higher-level of competition. At the present time, ESPN has him rated as the No. 8 overall prospect in the Class of 2027. Offers are piling up more and more, and it is only a matter of time before one lucky suitor lands his services.
However, the story doesn’t end with those two, there’s a lot more personnel out in Brookville.
Other returners on the squad are 5-foot-10 junior guard Peyton Howell, 6-foot-11 senior forward Omar Essam, 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Maxx Tjogondjoza and 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Abraham Taiwo.
Now, there are other pieces in the fold. Two transfers from the legendary DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland are 5-foot-10 junior guard Jamaal McKnight and 6-foot-7 junior forward Christian Proctor. Both are welcome additions that have been battle-tested in another one of the best high school leagues in the country, the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC).
From Moreland Hills, Ohio, there’s a thoroughbred of a player in 6-foot-7 senior forward T.J. Crumble, who was a force at Lutheran East High School in Cleveland Heights, where he helped lead them to a state championship last season. He is a force in the post area and is a great rebounder. More than a week ago, on Oct. 26th, he committed to play for the University of North Texas.
Speaking of the Lone Star State, there’s another hooper that’s a force in the low block in 6-foot-7 senior forward Henry Beckett, a native of Dallas who has also committed to Cal State Fullerton.
From Lilburn, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, there is 6-foot-6 senior guard Kayden Allen, who transferred from Montverde Academy, a national powerhouse in Montverde, Florida, just outside of Orlando. He is currently rated at No. 72 in the Class of 2026 by ESPN and is also currently committed to the University of Cincinnati.
From Great Britain, there is 6-foot-11 junior Ike Davids, who has played in FIBA competition for the past couple of years.
From Greenwich, Connecticut, there is 6-foot-4 junior guard Myles Duckett, who is formerly of Greenwich Country Day School, a private school that also produced NBA All-Star Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
And lastly, there is 6-foot-9 senior forward Kaur Tomann, a dominant inside presence in the post and hails from Estonia, a country in Northern Europe. Tomann has also been a part of the Estonian national team, when they played in FIBA international competition.
During the preseason, they had plenty of great showings at The Preview, which took place around Columbus Day Weekend, when they beat NEPSAC powerhouse Newman School out of Boston in a close game and routed Long Island public school powerhouse Uniondale and also The Program Classic on Oct. 25th, when they routed Xaverian, a CHSAA powerhouse Xaverian, out of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
This season, they will be a force nationally once again, as they have a huge schedule, as far as games in the Nike EYBL Scholastic League, such as:
- The NBA Cup in Las Vegas during the week of Dec. 12-13th, as they will be playing both Link Academy (MO) and Sunrise Christian Academy (KS).
- The La Porte Invitational at the LaPorte Civic Auditorium in La Porte, Indiana during the weekend of Jan. 9-11, where they will be playing against La Lumiere School (IN) and CIA Bella Vista (AZ).
- During Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend (Jan. 17th & 19th), they will be playing against Arizona Compass Prep (AZ) and Montverde Academy (FL) at the prestigious Hoophall Classic at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts.
- During the weekend of Feb. 13-15, they will be making a trip up to Boston to play in the CATS Invitational event against CATS Academy (MA) and Oak Hill Academy (VA).
- During the weekend of Feb. 20-22, they will be making their way in Geneva, Ohio, where they will be playing the hosts, Spire Academy (OH) and the new Tennessee Collegiate Academy (TN), which is playing in their inaugural season.
Potentially, if LuHi were to have a successful season in the EYBL Scholastic League, they will be able to punch their ticket to the conference tournament during the weekend of March 12-14 at the Riverview Park Activities Center in North Augusta, South Carolina, the site of the Nike Peach Jam, the grassroots tournament where the best teams play during the month of July in pursuit of a championship.
As far as local games are concerned, LuHi will only be playing one in-state opponent this season, which will be Eagle Academy II out of Ocean Hill, Brooklyn on Jan. 24th.
They will also be playing other home games inside their gym, as they will be playing hosting the Bob McKillop Invitational during the weekend of Feb. 5-7, where they will be playing EYBL Scholastic League games against Christ School (NC), Brewster Academy (NH) and Wasatch Academy (UT). There will also be one final home game prior to them playing in North Augusta, which will be a game against the St. James Academy (VA) on Feb. 27th.
When it comes to games in the five boroughs of New York City, they will also be playing in two events, such as the NYC Invitational on Dec. 7th at Cardinal Spellman High School in The Bronx and also two games in the Jordan Brand Holiday Classic at Achievement First Brooklyn High School on Dec. 27-28 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Two other events that they will be playing at will be the prestigious City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Florida during the week of Dec. 19-23 and A Very Melo Classic in Baltimore on Jan. 31st.
One thing that can be said about the Crusaders is that they are definitely true road warriors. Their schedule suggests as much. But it’s all for one solid goal. To get to the Chipotle Nationals in April. No matter what, the boys from Brookville always rise to the occasion.
The city of White Plains is a nice suburban town that resembles a city outside of the big city. It’s a place that is about 30 mins away from the borough of The Bronx and is sort of a hub for multiple modes of public transportation such as the Metro-North Railroad, the Westchester Bee-Line Bus, the Hudson Link bus and also the CT Transit I-Bus express bus.
People come various places such as Grand Central Terminal in downtown Manhattan, The Bronx and other areas of New York City, and other places such as cities in Westchester County such as Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Yonkers, Dobbs Ferry, Mamaroneck and many more, as well as neighboring counties such as Rockland County & even neighboring states such as Connecticut.
In White Plains, there is the Mall at Westchester, where there is plenty of places to dine at and also shop, as well as the Regal Cinemas and also the Westchester County Center, which is also the home of the NBA G-League’s Westchester Knicks, the affiliate team of the NBA’s New York Knicks and also a site for many events.
However, there is one place, one school in that town that is very prestigious and is a great place to learn for many young men.
The school in question, is none other than Archbishop Stepinac High School, which is an all-boys Catholic high school that has been in existence since 1948, and is located in the Gedney section of White Plains at 950 Mamaroneck Avenue.
To get there, aside from driving, there are multiple ways to get to the school from the Bee-Line 60 bus, which is the only mode of transportation in that part of town. Either from the Bus Terminal in downtown White Plains or from Fordham Plaza in The Bronx, which is about an hour & a half away and takes them through areas such as Boston Road, and also towns such as Pelham, New Rochelle, Larchmont and Mamaroneck before they get to the school. And when you get closer to the school, the automated announcement goes like this, “Approaching……Archbishop Stepinac High School.”
Once you get to the campus, you will see grass that is cut with flowers in front of the school’s blue sign that announces the school’s name. Once you get into the building, you see a place with a beautiful hallway with plenty of religious artifacts and also plenty of things in the school’s colors of blue & red.
The enrollment of the school is around 800 students and has a tuition price of $17,950, which is the fourth-highest amongst schools in the CHSAA. The school boasts a 98% graduation rate and all of their graduates go on to college.
Not to mention, the school is also the alma mater of actors such as Jon Voight, Erik Palladino and Alan Alda, former wrestler “Captain” Lou Albano.
They also have dramas and also musicals at the school and also are prominent at other sports such as football, where they are also a powerhouse, having won plenty of state championships within the last decade.
When you think about it, Stepinac is a special place where many things have happened and continue to happen every day.
After getting into the school, you must make a right turn until you see the gym. When you walk into the gym, you see a vintage gym with a balcony, which is where some of the alumni sit for the big games.
But also in the gym, there are plenty of banners from championships of past decades from various sports. There are also retired jerseys of various alumni, some of whom have even played in the NFL or even Major League Baseball.
There is also a scoreboard that shows plenty of advertisements and also introduction videos made by the program’s media team.
With a capacity of 636, when there’s a big game, it always gets to rocking and can get filled very quickly. On many nights during the week, especially in games in the CHSAA Archdiocesan division against foes such as St. Raymond and Cardinal Hayes, these prime time games will always be filled with spectators and many media.
In the past, the program has had many standouts. To date, the Crusaders have only produced two NBA players. Marty Conlon (class of 1986), who went on to play at Providence College, where he was a part of the Friars’ 1986-87 Final Four team and despite goin undrafted in the 1990 NBA Draft, spent nine seasons in the NBA with eight teams.
Then there is also Adrian “AJ” Griffin, Jr. (class of 2021), a nationally-ranked player in his class who along with his older brother, Alan (class of 2018), helped lead the Crusaders to a successful season during the 2017-18 season, as they won the school’s first CHSAA championship of any kind since 2010, but the first in the highest classification since 1960 and also the first and only New York State Federation championship. After graduating from Stepinac, he went on to play for a year at Duke University, where he made the all-ACC Freshman team, and was selected as the No. 16 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, with whom he played two seasons before electing to retire to pursue ministry.
Other players that have gone on to play professionally are two other members of the 2017-18 team.
Joel Soriano (class of 2018), who went on to play collegiate basketball at Fordham University and also St. John’s University, where he was a second-team All Big-East selection and the conference’s Most Improved Player as a redshirt junior during the 2022-23 season. After a season with in the NBA G-League with the Greensboro Swarm, the affiliate team of the Charlotte Hornets, he is now playing professionally for Basket Zaragoza in Spain.
R.J. Davis (class of 2020), the program’s floor general and the first McDonald’s All-American in school history and also the recipient of the New York Mr. Basketball award as a senior, went on to play five seasons at the University of North Carolina, where he led the Tar Heels to the national championship game as a sophomore, was the 2024 ACC Player of the Year and was the winner of the Jerry West Award in his final collegiate season. He is now currently playing professionally in the NBA G-League with the South Bay Lakers, the affiliate team of the Los Angeles Lakers.
To date, the program currently has several players currently playing college basketball, especially on the Division I level.
Most notably, there is Johnuel “Boogie” Fland (class of 2024), a Bronx native that was a torchbearer for the NIL wave, as he was one of the first players to sign an NIL deal while still at Stepinac.
During his time at Stepinac, he helped lead the Crusaders to two CHSAA “AA” championships as a junior and a senior and a win in the inaugural PSAL vs. CHSAA Champions Challenge as a senior. He was a five-star recruit and was the 2024 New York Mr. Basketball award winner, as well as a McDonald’s All-American and was selected to play in the Jordan Brand Classic and the Nike Hoop Summit.
Last season, he played at the University of Arkansas and had a successful season, helping to lead the Razorbacks to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Over the summer, he went and transferred to the defending national champions, the University of Florida, where he is starring as a sophomore.
Other players of note are Boston University forward Malcolm Chimezie (class of 2021), Quinnipiac University forward Braylan Ritvo (class of 2024) and Marist University forward Jordan Gabriel (class of 2024).
A recent graduate, Danny Carbuccia (class of 2025), who was a part of three CHSAA “AA” championship teams is now a freshman at the University of Massachusetts.
Other players that are currently college basketball at prestigious schools are Benjamin Little (class of 2023), who is playing at Division III Wesleyan University and also Joel Baez (class of 2022), who is at Division III Moravian University.
Whether standout hoopers or great academic scholars, many have come through Archbishop Stepinac and flourished. But there is one person who is responsible for the culture of said program.
It’s a beautiful thing when a person comes back to coach at the school that they graduated from. When you’re coaching at your alma mater, everything is personal, everything means more. It’s a certain type of pride that one has for their school.
Patrick Massaroni knows that more than most. A Stepinac graduate from the class of 2006, he is still making an impact at his alma mater, not just on the sidelines, but also in the community and at his school. By day, he is also the Vice President of Institutional Advancement, which is a senior leadership role at the school which deals with fundraising, alumni relations and other activities at the school.
But for many who know him outside of the school, he’s known as a tactician on the sideline, a player’s coach and one who can get the best out of his players and mold them into a great unit.
But his journey started from the ground up. His journey into coaching started out as a student manager at Marist University (then Marist College), where he graduated in 2010. From there, he was a graduate assistant at James Madison University for two seasons before receiving his master’s degree.
Following his college days, he came back to Stepinac and was the head coach of the varsity “B” program, until he took over in his current role in the spring of 2015, replacing Steve Herman.
He took over a program that had only won 20 combined games over the previous two seasons and turned it around. By his third season, he went 27-5 and led them to a CHSAA championship and a New York State Federation championship.
Now in his 11th season at the helm, he has built a powerhouse on Mamaroneck Avenue. As the 12th coach in school history, he is now the all-time leader in wins with more than 200 on his resume. He is now responsible for four CHSAA “AA” championships, a state Federation championship and two wins in the PSAL vs. CHSAA Champions Challenge, which is the official end of the season event in which the champion in the public schools in all of New York City play against the champion of the Catholic League, in which there are 25 schools in the five boroughs and five in Westchester County.
Nationally, he has become one of the most prominent coaches on the high school scene and as a result the Crusaders have become a flagship team with the Under Armour brand.
The Crusaders have also played at plenty of national events over the years under his leadership, most notably the City of Palms Classic and the Hoophall Classic, as well as the Hoopfest in the Bahamas, and always play some of the nation’s finest teams.
Another thing about Massaroni that sets him apart from most coaches is his experience on the college level and also his being media-savvy, as he is very welcoming to members of the press and has provided many publications the opportunity to cover his players.
As long as Coach Massaroni is around, the Crusaders will always be a top-notch program.
When you have a great head coach, you have to have a great staff to go along with it.
There’s the three assistants that compliment Massaroni and are also key to the success of the Crusaders.
The longest tenured of the three is Rodney Swain, a Mount Vernon native that is well-known for developing talent along the tri-state, especially players from Stepinac. With his tutelage, many of the players have gone on to flourish in college basketball and eventually in the pros.
Next up is Allan Sheppard, a Harlem native that was a standout player for many years, as he was a standout at A. Philip Randolph High School and then went on to play collegiate basketball at Division I St. Francis College. While in college, he was the selected as the 2005 NEC Rookie of the Year and averaged more than 10 points per game.
“Al Shep,” as he’s commonly referred to, was also a standout on the streetball scene, as he also played in various tournaments in New York City, and was even a member of the illustrious 2011 Team Nike squad that had the city buzzing throughout that summer’s NBA lockout and won the Dyckman championship and the Nike Tournament of Champions.
These days, when Shep isn’t on the sidelines on the varsity, he’s also the freshman coach at Stepinac, and also led them to the championship last season for the second time. Since 2016, he has been a player development specialist, training players that have gone on to succeed at the next level. Aside from the oasis on Mamaroneck Avenue, he has also taken on a new role as an athletic director at Democracy Prep Public Schools. One thing that can be said about Shep, is that he’s a true leader. Judging by his track record, that is definitely a fact.
And last, but certainly not least, there is Alexis Nunez, a native of White Plains that has been one of the city’s crown jewels since his youth, as he was a standout at White Plains Senior High School, the other high school in town and played for a coaching legend in Spencer Mayfield, who is a New York State Basketball Hall of Famer.
Nunez went on to play collegiate basketball at Division III SUNY Cobleskill from 2011-15 and was a team captain, and all-time leader in three categories: points, steals & assists. He also led them to the conference tournament and also the NCAA Tournament during his senior season.
Prior to coaching at Stepinac, he has also been a coach at the college level at both SUNY Purchase (2015-18) and at Misericordia University (2018-20). Outside of Stepinac, he is also an athletic director and teacher at Atmosphere Academy, a charter school in the Riverdale section of The Bronx.
A true Westchester native at heart, he is also one-third of the crew of the “Westchester Talks,” podcast, alongside Greenburgh native Fred Bowers and New Rochelle native P.J. Torres, who went on to play collegiate basketball at Duquesne University & LIU Post, respectively. In the podcast, all three talk about the basketball culture in Westchester County, which is often overlooked.
With Swain, Sheppard and Nunez, you have three great coaches making an impact and showing the youth the way. They’re all proof that experience is a great teacher.
Now that you know about the head coach and his staff, there’s also the players that you have to know about.
This season, the Crusaders will be returning a dozen players from last year’s team, as well as some newcomers.
Of the 11 returning players on the team, there are nine seniors on the squad. Five of them seniors on the team will be playing Division I next season.
They are:
- 6-foot-5 guard Hassan Kouriessi, a native of Central Harlem who is now signed to play at Fordham University. He will be the third player in his immediate family that will play Division I basketball alongside his oldest brother, Souleymane, a former standout at Iona Prep who went on to play at the University of Richmond and his other brother, Oumar, who is currently a graduate student at Texas Southern University. He is a very skilled player with a nice jumper and can score in many ways.
- 6-foot-5 guard Jasiah Jervis, a native of the Castle Hill section of The Bronx, who is rated as the No. 50 overall prospect in the Class of 2026 and is currently signed to play at Michigan State University. Throughout the summer on the Nike EYBL circuit with the New York Rens, he made his presence felt on the court with his scoring ability and continued to raise his stock with every game.
- 6-foot-7 forward Dylan Perry, a native of New Rochelle who is signed to Monmouth University. He is an athletic player that can make plenty of noise when going to the basket and is also a defensive presence.
- Lastly, there is twin 7-footers Darius Ratliff and Adonis Ratliff, both of whom are natives of New Rochelle and are originally from the Buckhead section of Atlanta, Georgia. If the last name is familiar, it’s because they have that pro bloodline attached to them, as they are the sons of former NBA All-Star Theo Ratliff. Both twins are a force in the low post and are very versatile on the floor, as they are also able to shoot from long-range. Darius is rated at No. 52 and Adonis is rated at No. 86 in the Class of 2026 by ESPN. Both are signed to the University of Southern California.
All of the names mentioned are part of the first team. Now here’s the second set of players.
There’s 5-foot-9 guard Ameer Smith, 6-foot guard Jack Coco, 6-foot-2 guard Andruway Rosario, 6-foot-5 forward Sean McKenney and 6-foot-11 forward Patrice Piquant. All are players that all contribute in a myriad of ways when they get time on the court.
And then there are the underclassmen in 6-foot-5 junior forward Josh Rivera, and also three sophomores that will also be the future of the program in 5-foot-11 guard Jourdan Archevald, who was on the varsity last season and two call-ups from the freshman team in 6-foot-8 forward Elijah Novotny and 6-foot-6 forward Larry Jenkins.
With that assortment of talent, these Crusaders are definitely a team worth watching.
This season, they have a gauntlet of a schedule as they have plenty of major games. As far as their non-league schedule of games, as they will open on the road in Baltimore on Nov. 29th against Baltimore Catholic League perennial powerhouse St. Frances Academy. On Dec. 11th, they will be making a trip to Chantilly, Virginia to play against WCAC (Washington Catholic Athletic Conference) powerhouse Paul VI in a nationally-televised game that is set to air on ESPNU.
Around the Christmas holidays on Dec. 27th, they will be playing at the Jordan Brand Holiday Classic against a dominant powerhouse in Montverde Academy. And lastly, on Jan. 17th, they will be playing at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts in a matchup on NBA TV against Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California.
As for league matchups, there will be definitely be a few games worth watching.
The home games to watch will be Holy Cross (Jan. 13th), last year’s CHSAA AA championship game finalists, St. Raymond (Jan. 23rd), Cardinal Hayes (Jan. 30th) and their senior day game against Mount St. Michael (Feb. 7th).
Some of their best road games to watch will be their first league game against Cardinal Hayes in The Bronx on Dec. 5th, a game against Nazareth in Flatbush, Brooklyn on Jan. 10th, as the Crusaders have been designated as the Kingsmen’s Homecoming game. Then there’s a couple other games in The Bronx against other teams in the Archdiocesan division in Mount St. Michael (Jan. 20th), Monsignor Scanlan (Jan. 27th) and St. Raymond (Feb. 3rd), as well as the final game of the regular season against Christ the King in Middle Village, Queens on Feb. 10th.
And lastly, there will be two other events that the Crusaders will be hosting away from their home gym.
As is part of the mystique of Stepinac, they will be hosting two events at the County Center, with the first being the William Plunkett Christmas Classic on Dec. 7th, which will be played as a tribute to a late graduate of the school. There will be four games taking place that day, as there will be matchups featuring teams from both the CHSAA & the PSAL. The Crusaders will be the headliners, as they will be playing in fourth & penultimate game of the event in a rematch of the CHSAA vs. PSAL matchup from last March against last year’s PSAL AAAA champions, Thomas Jefferson Campus out of East New York, Brooklyn at 5:15 PM.
The second event will be taking place immediately after the New Year during the weekend of Jan. 2-3, as it is the Slam Dunk x Crusader Classic, which is two events in one card. The first event will be the Slam Dunk Tournament, which has been a staple at the County Center since 1999 and features some of the best boys & girls talent in all of Westchester County and surrounding areas, as well as the Crusader Classic, which will be the annual rivalry game against the Crusaders’ rivals, the aforementioned Iona Prep, which will be played on Jan. 3rd at 7 PM.
With a loaded team and loaded schedule, the Stepinac World Tour is due to be a grand success. And another thing to note, they are on the verge of something historical. Last season, Stepinac became the fifth team in CHSAA history to win three titles in a row, alongside other great teams such as St. Francis Prep from 1955-57 and most recently, Christ the King from 2013-15 and also two schools whom no longer exist such as Power Memorial Academy from the Upper West Side of Manhattan (1963-65), when they had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was then known as Lew Alcindor, and also St. Nicholas of Tolentine of The Bronx (1980-82).
If all goes well with the assortment of talent that they have, they will be the first team in history to have won four in a row. That will definitely be an accomplishment in itself. But they have four months to make it happen, to be one of the last two teams standing on March 8th. All in due time. But for right now, practice is in session.
Now that the resume of the two programs has been established, here’s the history between them.
Both teams have played each plenty of times, in scrimmages and actual games, including during the playoffs. During the 2018 New York State Federation Tournament up in Glens Falls, New York, both teams played each other in the semifinals with the chance to play in the championship.
With the score tied at 8.3 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, LuHi would call a time out. But in a scene reminiscent of the 1993 national championship game between Michigan and North Carolina, officials declared that they didn’t have any timeouts remaining, and as a result, a technical foul was called and Stepinac was awarded two free-throws and the ball. In the end, Stepinac would wind up sealing the deal with two more free throws and would go on to win, 76-72, and would set up the matchup between them and South Shore.
But the situation left LuHi stunned and disheartened, and as a result they had a silver banner in their gym for a few years as a reminder of the controversial decision.
However, they would get their chance at revenge just five years later in the 2023 New York State Federation Tournament at Shaker High School in Latham, New York, a town just outside of Albany. But this time, it would be LuHi that would take over and dominate, winning convincingly, 81-57, in what would be the final state Federation tournament before it was discontinued months later for a variety of reasons, including costs for sites, lack of spectator interest and diminished interest in team and association participation, killing off a tradition for the state of New York that had been taking place since 1979.
Fast-forward to the present day. Due to the State Federation tournament being discontinued, both Crusaders have a different way of finishing off their seasons. Throughout the last two seasons, Stepinac has been finishing off their season as the best team in the state according to the New York State Sportswriter’s Association rankings.
As for LuHi, due to them not having a team to compete against in the NYSAIS, they finished off the last couple of seasons playing in events such as the Nike EYBL Conference Tournament, where they made it to the championship game last season, where they lost to Link Academy and the quarterfinals of the Chipotle Nationals to Prolific Prep.
Being that both teams represent the Empire State, but no longer get the opportunity to battle it out in March, the subject of which of these two titans is the No. 1 team is usually up for debate.
Both teams will be playing in City of Palms in December out in Fort Myers, Florida, and are also in the same side of the bracket. Could a chance meeting happen then? If all goes well, it’s possible. But this month’s battle is one for the state.
One thing is for certain, both teams have received national acclaim and have gained respect of the New York City basketball community, as they have dethroned teams in both the CHSAA and PSAL.
Aside from their play on the court, both teams have great marketing on their social media with some prominent content creators. On LuHi’s marketing team is Queens-based Vintage Vizuals, which has been with the program for the past couple of years. At Stepinac, there is outstanding content coming from Bronx-based Moving Pictures and Captured by Mikee. With all three entities, you see plenty of great visual content and quality pictures.
One thing that sets schools like these apart from schools in the five boroughs is the resources and community support from those in their counties. When Stepinac won their state Federation championship in 2018, they were greeted by the city of White Plains as they had a parade given to them by Mayor Thomas Roach, who has been in office since 2011. Also, last season, on the day of the Crusader Classic matchup against Iona Prep, there was a motorcade of officers from the White Plains Police Department. It’s a beautiful thing when you’re the toast of the town.
Another thing, and maybe the main thing, that sets LuHi and Stepinac apart from the city schools is the fact that they both receive heavy coverage from newspaper publications in their respective counties such as Newsday (Long Island) and the Journal News (New York City).
Unfortunately for the schools in the five boroughs, there is very little coverage from mainstream publications, as many of the major publications, such as the New York Daily News and the New York Post, have shifted away from high school sports in favor of college sports and professional sports. Being that New York City is a major media market and has two organizations for every sport, such as basketball (New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets), football (New York Jets & New York Giants), baseball (New York Yankees and New York Mets) and even hockey (New York Rangers and New York Islanders), it is difficult for high schoolers to even gain mention in the major papers, unless they are exceptional talents.
Both Crusaders teams have proven to be exceptional enough.
At LuHi, they have had multiple events throughout the season, which is the Bob McKillop Invitational, which is now in its third season, and is named after Bob McKillop, who was the head coach at LuHi from 1979-89 and then went on to become the head coach at Davidson College on the Division I level from 1989 through 2002, and even coached 11-time NBA All-Star and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who helped lead them to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 2008.
.In the first year of the event in February 2024, the matchup between the Crusaders and Montverde Academy, which was a duel between Edgecombe and Cooper Flagg, this year’s No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft to the Dallas Mavericks, and had the David S. Mack Exhibition Center on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island, filled to the rafters with more than 5,000 spectators.
And also, the LuHi Holiday Invitational, which was an event that took place at the UBS Arena in Elmont, Long Island, which is the home arena of the NHL’s New York Islanders, was the first high school basketball event in the venue ever since its opening in Nov. 2021. The two games that took place was the opening act between Holy Trinity and Chaminade, two Catholic schools from the Nassau/Suffolk CHSAA. The headlining matchup between was between LuHi and Sierra Canyon, the powerhouse from Chatsworth, California, which was nationally-televised on ESPN.
Now, given all of that, LuHi and Stepinac are two programs that are trendsetters and torchbearers. No matter the competition, they both represent New York State proudly. Not the city, the state.
Which brings us to this conclusion: The city game is flourishing and so is the tri-state area. But in reality, the top two teams in the area reside not in the five boroughs, but outside of it. They say that the game of basketball is a suburban game now: Maybe it is. However, this success shows that the Empire State is still on top. Whether upstate or down state, whenever there’s another state competing against them, New York will always rise to the top.
Dave's JOINT 
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