The only thing better than one “Samson” is two “Samson’s.”

Nazareth R.H.S., East Flatbush, juniors Samson Usilo and Samson Akilo led the Kingsmen to a 46-41 victory over Cardinal Spellman H.S., the Bronx, to capture the CHSAA Class ‘A’ city championship, played at the historic Rose Hill Gymnasium on the campus of Fordham University, the Bronx.

Usilo led the team with 18 pts. and grabbed six rebounds, while Akilo recorded a double-double with 12 pts. and 14 rebounds.

“I came out with a good mentality,” said Akilo, who played his first year of organized basketball this season. “I said, ‘We are the best in the city right now.’ We are a chemistry team.”

A 13-1 Nazareth run spanning the first and second quarters gave the Kingsmen the lead, as the team was able to hold Spellman to just three pts. in the second quarter.

Nazareth’s defense was stifling on the perimeter all game – holding the Pilots to just over an average of 10 pts. per quarter. For the season, the Kingsmen only gave up 44 pts. per game on average.

“Our goal is never to have a team score over 50 points,” said senior point guard Naquan Chandler, who added four points and three steals to the winning effort.

“This was one of our best defensive games all year,” Akilo said.

The Kingsmen led by as many as 11 pts. in the third quarter, but a 13-3 run by Spellman cut Nazareth’s lead to two in waning minutes of the fourth.

But a late 6-0 run by the Kingsmen secured the championship crown.

“The game was really tough,” Usilo said. “It’s a great win for us, our school, my family and my teammates.”

For Spellman, junior guard Domenic Arena finished the game with 21 pts., six rebounds and three steals.

Nazareth was coming off a Class ‘B’ city championship from last season and now experienced the same result this year in Class ‘A.’ That is quite an accomplishment for a school that was ready to close it doors last spring.

“We’ve always persevered as a school,” said Nazareth head coach Todd Jamison, who has coached the varsity program for 16 years. “We’ve always come through, and it showed tonight. Last year they were talking about closing us, and we stuck it out to the end. The same parallel can be said about tonight.”

Nazareth improved to 22-5 on the season with the win and will represent downstate New York in Saturday’s CHSAA high school state championships, also to be played at Fordham.