Home cooking for Sewanhaka

Indians roll past Carey

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While a brand new gym is under construction at Sewanhaka High School and expected to open in January of 2018, its boys’ and girls’ basketball teams are making things extremely difficult for visitors nowadays. 

Junior forward Rahim Akinwunmi scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the first quarter as the Indians raced to a double-digit lead over Carey on the way to an easy 58-23 victory in a Conference A-I boys’ basketball game on Jan. 3. It was the fourth home win in as many tries for Sewanhaka, which didn’t allow more than eight points in any quarter during this game.

Junior Giovany Brice added 11 points, while classmates Kamaal Chin, Ricardo Jean and Jaydan Boyd chipped in six apiece for the Indians (6-3 overall, 1-1 in A-I), who led 30-11 at halftime and never let off the gas. Senior Sincere Nelson and sophomore Nick Giacalone had six points apiece to lead the Seahawks, who lost for the eighth time in nine games.

“We’ve played very well at home and we didn’t want to drop to 0-2 in the conference,” Sewanhaka head coach Jason Allen said. “Our coaching staff scouted Carey and we knew we needed to put pressure on them to be successful. The kids brought a high level of intensity and kept a fast pace going all game.”

With the Lady Indians passing their first two home tests, Sewanhaka teams are a combined 6-0 on their quirky throwback court featuring stands behind the baskets. Akinwunmi got the crowd buzzing early against Carey by sinking three shots from behind the arc in the opening quarter. He added another trey in the second and has 21 threes through nine games.

“Rahim has been great,” Allen said. “Last season we struggled shooting the ball from the outside. To have Rahim locked in now is huge. He always had the ability to shoot and put a tremendous amount of work in during the offseason improving his perimeter game.”

Carey was unable to hit any shots from long range after draining nine treys in a hard-fought 51-47 overtime loss to Kennedy in its previous game. “Outside shooting is a big part of what we do and we need to be a lot better,” Seahawks head coach Marty Kelly said. 

With Carey paying more attention to Akinwunmi in the second half, Brice picked up the scoring slack with seven points in the third quarter as the lead swelled. Quick ball movement at the top of the key by Chin and Boyd, another key to Sewanhaka’s offense, had the Seahawks frustrated. “Those guys may not show up in the boxscore a lot, but they do so much,” Allen said. “It’s like we have two point guards.” 

Carey will look to give the Indians problems in the rematch on Jan. 27 on its home floor. 

“We were expecting them to play their best,” Allen said. “There’s somewhat of an animosity, if you want to call it that, when schools close to each other play. We don’t want to lose to those guys.”