The Nazareth H.S., East Flatbush, varsity boys’ basketball team fought its hardest, though the Kingsmen fell 66-51 in the CHSAA ‘AA’ city championship game to Archbishop Stepinac H.S., White Plains, N.Y. 

The game — which was the 96th annual city title game — was played March 10 at the historic Rose Hill Gymnasium on the campus of Fordham University, the Bronx. The Kingsmen last won a ‘AA’ city crown in 1977 under head coach Bill Burke. In the ‘A’ division, Nazareth more recently won city titles in 2013 and 2018 under Todd Jamison. 

Nazareth, which finished the regular season 21-7 overall and 14-2 in Brooklyn-Queens league play, found itself down by double digits late in the second quarter. However, an emphatic 11-2 run to open the second half got the Kingsmen back to within one. 

“It was that resilience that we’ve been playing with all year,” said Nazareth head coach Gary Ervin. “We usually come out in the third quarter and play well. We did a good job of coming back against a tough team, and we were able to shift the energy back.” 

Stepinac though was relentless, hitting big shot after big shot to extend the lead once again to double figures en route to a championship victory. 

Junior guard Halon Rawlins, a CHSAA All- League selection, paced the Kingsmen with 12 points, six rebounds, and two assists. Senior guard Tristan Rogers tallied 11 points with four rebounds. Both Rawlins and Rogers were named to the CHSAA Postseason All-Tournament Team. 

Senior guard Elijah Witter scored 10 points with five boards, and junior forward Joseph Jennings contributed with nine points and six rebounds. 

In the semifinal matchup, Nazareth upset No. 1-ranked St. Raymond H.S. for Boys, the Bronx. In just Ervin’s third season, that game and the fight the team showed against Stepinac serve as important building blocks for the program. 

“Nobody thought we would be here, but we believed,” Ervin said. “Our goal is to always be playing in the last game of the year and to then be the last team standing.”