ESPN

After years of searching for a home in the streets of New York City, Cardozo senior forward Marquis Barnett has found one at the foot of the Sleeping Giant mountain in Hamden, Conn.

Barnett verbally committed to Quinnipiac on Monday, choosing the Bobcats over Central Connecticut. Barnett has persevered through a tough home life that has included multiple homeless shelters and the death of his little brother.

“It’s just basically, like -- finally,” Barnett said. “Like everything that went wrong, it’s like a new beginning for me. It’s like a good start. Something good is happening when basically everything in my life is bad, basically. It’s like I’m refreshed.”

In his young life, Barnett has already faced plenty of adversity. He has lived in four different homeless shelters and lost his little brother Tavon Turpin to a fire in Coney Island last February. To help him stay well nourished, a teacher at Cardozo, Nina Tricarico, makes him lunch every day.

Commuting to school is also a tall task for Barnett. To get to Cardozo in Queens from his current Staten Island home takes three hours. When he used to attend St. Raymond in the Bronx, it would take him three hours from one of his old homeless shelters in Far Rockaway.

“Just living in a homeless shelter, it’s not a place you want to be,” Barnett said. “Commuting six hours back and forth, it’s just too much.”

On the basketball court, Barnett has continued improving and it helped land him his scholarship. He played for St. Raymond for two seasons before transferring to Cardozo. After playing on a stacked Cardozo team his junior year and averaging just three points and 7.5 rebounds in 13 league games, Barnett bettered himself and became a key cog for the Judges last season.

In 14 league games, he averaged 6.1 points and 12.6 rebounds for the Judges while helping them to the semifinals of the Public Schools Athletic League Class “AA” playoffs. In the playoffs, he upped those stats to 8.2 points and 13.3 rebounds.

Cardozo coach Ron Naclerio said that Barnett started opening some eyes over the last eight to 10 games of the regular season as he took his play to another level and continued to raise his stock as he plays with New Heights on the AAU circuit.

He described his senior forward as a power player who plays great defense and is a shot blocker and said Barnett reminds him of former Knick Charles Oakley.

“Scouting services are saying how good he’s playing and he’s putting up great numbers and starting to score in the high teens,” Naclerio said. “So many people are starting to say that they think something is there.”

He later added: “I’ve had guys play in the NBA and I’ve had guys play in the Final 4, I’ve had it all. To see this kid do what he can do and what he’s been through, it’s bringing a tear to my eye.”

Barnett said that Quinnipiac and Marist saw him as a potential recruit when he started playing for New Heights, but his grades when he was at St. Raymond scared them away. When he transferred to Cardozo and improved his marks, as he now has about an 85 average, he said that schools came back into the mix. Central Connecticut and Quinnipiac were his two biggest suitors and Marist never re-offered after pulling the scholarship offer.

The forward visited Quinnipiac and Central Connecticut, rivals in the Northeast Conference, on the same day but liked Quinnipiac more. He called it beautiful and liked the players and head coach Tom Moore. Barnett even connected with one of the Bobcats who used to play for New Heights.

He made his decision earlier Monday, saying he had always been leaning toward Quinnipiac. When Moore called him to check in Monday, he gave the coach the news.

“It’s real exciting. I wasn’t going to tell him today but it’s a big step in my life,” Barnett said. “I just told him. I was thinking for the right moment. I told my mother and girlfriend, told other people I’m close to so I just told him, too.

“Coach Moore was real excited, he said it made his day.”

NEW YORK -- Lincoln’s goal all season has been to get to the finals at Madison Square Garden.

That goal was in trouble as with under a minute left Tuesday night in the Public Schools Athletic League semifinals, it trailed Cardozo. The Railsplitters needed a hero and they got one in an unlikely freshman who was struggling, with just five points all night.

Isaiah Whitehead stood on the free throw line with just 19 seconds left to go in regulation and his team up just one point 54-53. He took two shots that gave his team a 56-53 lead. He followed that up just seconds later with a big rebound that kept Cardozo from having any chance to mount a comeback.

“The freshman played like a freshman,” Lincoln head coach Dwayne Morton said. “I stuck with him the way he was playing today because he was playing so well the entire season that I couldn't let a bad three quarters force me to lose my confidence in him.

“He deserved it. He played well all year. So I wasn't going to sit him on the bench just because he had some jitters.”

It was an exciting end to an exciting game as the no. 1 Lincoln Railsplitters (28-2) beat the No. 4 Cardozo Judges (28-3), 56-53, to advance to the PSAL “AA” finals this Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

HOW THE GAME WAS WON: The first two quarters were close. They were tied at 16-16 after one and Lincoln had a slight edge, 33-28, going into the half.

Lincoln got that lead largely thanks to Shaquille Stokes who scored 18 first half points. He was doing it all, hitting jumpers, shooting threes, and even getting it done from the free -hrow line. He was being matched though by Cardozo’s Christopher Gayot and Jermaine Lawrence who had eight and seven first half points respectively.

The second half of the game was a lot more defensive. Lincoln was able to quiet Lawrence in the second half and they effectively took Cardozo’s Shelton Mickell out of the game.

The new defensive tempo actually hurt Lincoln in the third quarter as Cardozo battled back to take a 44-43 lead after three, but it made all of the difference in the fourth. The biggest difference in the fourth quarter was Gayot at the free-throw line. The senior struggled to hit his shots going 2-of-8 from the line that included two missed shots on the front end of a one-and-one.

“Defense and free throws,” Morton explained. “That was the difference in the game. We hit ours and they didn’t. I put (Shaquille) Davis in the game to guard (Shelton Mickell) and he didn’t even touch the ball in the final minutes.”

TURNING POINT: Cardozo grabbed the lead with just one second left in the third quarter and held it going into the final minute of the game. Gayot could have broke open the game, but he left the door open with his missed shots from the line.

Lincoln grabbed a slim one-point lead with just 33 seconds left thanks to a pair of free throws from Kamari Murphy. Cardozo’s Marquis Barnett was at the line 13 seconds later and missed the front end of a one-and-one. Just one second later, Whitehead hit his pair of free throws and Lincoln proved the old cliché right that free throws win games.

STAR OF THE GAME: Stokes was once again the star of the game for Lincoln. He scored 22 points including 18 in the first half. The low score total in the second half wasn’t exactly Cardozo adjusting to Stokes’ game, but more of a strategy of Lincoln’s head coach.

“I was scared about that,” Morton said of Stokes’ big first half. “I told him he can't be the only one scoring. I told him to slow down a little bit. He needs to spread the offense around. I like when Stokes comes up big early, but it's not great for the team sometimes.”

Stokes responded by spreading the ball around well, picking up eight second half assists. He also played strong defense, picking up a pair of steals.

“He's one of the best guards in the city,” Murphy said of Stokes. “To me he's Mr. basketball. So you have to give him his props.”

Morton’s plan for Stokes to spread the ball around more was more beneficial to Murphy than anyone else as he scored 14 points. He also added 16 rebounds and four blocks.

QUOTE OF THE GAME: “That was a big win," Morton said. "You want to play a hard game, a battle tested game before you go to the Garden and that was it right there. Now we get Boys and Girls who have done a great job in the Garden.

“That's their house right now so we're going to have to beat them in their house.”

OTHER SEMIFINAL GAME: Boys and Girls got its star, Mike Taylor, back just in time to help it beat Wings Academy 53-48 in a close game that came down to the final quarter.

Taylor only scored eight points in the contest, but his presence was felt as he helped open the court up for other players to score. Malik Nichols was the biggest beneficiary of Taylor coming back as he scored 18 including nine in a big fourth quarter. Nichols also had 12 rebounds.

“Just having Mike on the court makes us a better team,” Nichols said. “He opened the floor for the rest of us and I thought he shot the ball well.”

Boys and Girls are returning to the PSAL “AA” finals for the fourth time in the last five years.

UP NEXT: The entire PSAL “AA” season comes down to this Sunday’s game at the Garden. Lincoln will face Boys and Girls, a team its beaten twice this season, at 1 p.m.

NEW YORK --Two of Chris Gayot’s last three baskets were jumpers than sent him screaming halfway downcourt. It was like the bubble had finally burst. Cardozo finally took control the game and Gayot had finally taken control himself as he led top-seeded Cardozo to a 66-50 win against fourth-seeded Campus Magnet at home Thursday in the Queens AA semifinals.

“I just had to take the team on my back,” said the Judges senior point guard. “That’s what the team needed. That’s what I needed.”

HOW THE GAME WAS WON: Gayot had the big shots down the stretch but Cardozo beat the Bulldogs on defense.

For two and a half quarters, Campus Magnet rattled Cardozo with full-court pressure. The Bulldogs trapped Gayot and Shelton Mitchell relentlessly and forced the Judges backcourt – one of the best in New York City – into 17 of Cardozo’s 24 turnovers. They combined for 11 of Cardozo’s 18 in the first half.

But Cardozo turned up the pressure in the second half, using its own full-court press and forcing Campus Magnet into rushed jumpers or into the paint where its giant front line, led by Marquis Barnett and Jermaine Lawrence waited like mountains in front of the basket.

Campus Magnet and Campus Magnet head into halftime tied at 31. . But after Jordan Parks, who finished with 18 points, scored a layup to cut Cardozo’s lead to 36-34 with 4:07 left in the third quarter, the Bulldogs went without a field goal until 5:56 left in the game when Tarik Raynor’s tip-in made the score 46-41.

“That’s who we are,” Barnett said. “We win with defense. They gave us a good game. We have to know that anything can happen.”

TURNING POINT: Even after Campus Magnet went cold from the field, the team still threatened to steal the game. That’s when Gayot woke up.

Gayot scored six straight points after Mitchell hit the second of two free throws in a 7-0 run that decided the game. Cardozo outscored the Bulldogs 15-5 in the final five minutes.

“They’re better than us,” Campus Magnet coach Charles Granby said. “They have the best talent in the borough. They’re bigger than us. They deserve to go to the final.”

STAR OF THE GAME: Gayot may have closed the door on the game, but not before Barnett essentially built a fence and a moat around in. Cardozo’s most dominant and consistent big man scored just eight points but finished with 16 rebounds and 9 blocks.

“He’s the most under-rated big man in the league,” said Cardozo coach Ron Naclerio, who was also celebrating his birthday. “We needed guys to step up and that’s what he does.”

QUOTE OF THE GAME: “I was definitely frustrated but Coach calmed me down. He told me, ‘We’re going to win this game with or without you.’ I had to help the team.”--Gayot on his turnover troubles

BIGGEST SURPRISE: That the Bulldogs’ Duquan Lawson and Devon Lynch were able to handcuff Gayot and Mitchell throughout the first half. Mitchell never found a rhythm and picked up three fouls, two offensive, in the third quarter and fouled out with 2:22 left. Gayot was able to find his offensive and finished with 21 points.

UP NEXT: Cardozo will play in the Queens Borough Championship Saturday at 4 p.m. against third-seeded Bayside at City College Of New York.

NEW YORK -- Regardless of where Marquis Barnett sleeps at night, regardless of any address change his family makes, the Cardozo senior can always call that painted area underneath the basketball home sweet home.

Barnett led a domineering crew patrolling the paint, snatching rebounds and smacking shots out of bounds in No. 6 Cardozo's 45-29 road rout over rival No. 10 Bayside on Thursday to remain undefeated.

HOW THE GAME WAS ON: Cardozo (8-0) held Bayside to just four second-quarter points and just one field goal in the third quarter to open a 16-point lead headed into the fourth. Guards Chris Gayot and Shelton Mitchell stifled the Bayside guards on the perimeter and when the Commodores (10-4) were able to penetrate, Barnett, Tyrel Hunt and Jermaine Lawrence made it nearly impossible to find an easy shot.

Cardozo coach Ron Naclerio called it his best defensive team since his 1999 PSAL city championship squad.

"We have size defensively," Naclerio said. "We have Marquis Barnett back there. He takes away so much. We can overplay and if we get beat backdoor, he's there for a block. He's there for a charge."

Cardozo outrebounded Bayside 46-26 while Barnett, Lawrence and Hunt combined for 16 blocked shots.

Bayside coach Cory Sumpter said Cardozo didn't do anything the Judges haven't always done on defense. He said his team was simply too excited.

"We played on emotion," Sumpter. "That was emotion. That wasn't basketball. You see guys out there trying to hit 50-point shots. Those don't exist."

TURNING POINT: The Cardozo front line was so good at cleaning up on the glass that Naclerio may be getting calls from the Department of Sanitation by morning.

Back-to-back follow-up layups by Barnett and forward Tajay Henry ignited an 18-4 run that gave Cardozo a 29-15 lead after a pair of free throws by Hunt with about four minutes left in the third quarter.

STAR OF THE GAME: Mitchell said that Barnett is always smiling and always joking despite the many struggles he has been going through away from the court. Barnett's family has been living in a shelter on the Lower East Side since late November because his family's Far Rockaway apartment was damaged by mold and flooding.

None of that affected him on the court. Barnett finished with nine points, 16 rebounds and eight blocks.

"I give him a lot of credit," Mitchell said. "I don't think I could do it."

Mitchell himself provided an offensive spark for Cardozo finishing with 16 points.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Bayside wouldn't even let Cardozo students in the building for the game. That's how hostile the atmosphere was in the gym. Couple that with the fact that Bayside played the Judges close up until the buzzer last month and Cardozo still managed the kind of shutdown effort against Bayside that proved the team is better than many originally projected.

"I almost feel bad for kids," Naclerio said. "You can go 18-0, 16-0, and because you're beating Queens teams, it's looked at like your record is bad. The standard is just set so high. But these kids are starting to realize a refuse-to-lose mentality."

A REAL CLUTCH PLAYER: Barnett said he has been both surprised and overwhelmed by the support of his teachers at school. He said his history teacher, Nina Tricarico, brings him a homemade lunch everyday to school.

UP NEXT: Cardozo takes its undefeated record back home to face Forest Hills on Friday. Bayside will play Eagle Academy for Young Men at St. Francis College in Brooklyn on Saturday.