Syracuse Basketball: 4-star Elijah Moore vs 5-star Boogie Fland for NY title

This Saturday afternoon, a Syracuse basketball commit and an Orange recruiting target will face off in a New York state tournament championship game.

According to social media posts, on Saturday, Feb. 25, beginning at 1 pm, Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, N.Y., will suit up versus Archbishop Stepinac High School from White Plains, N.Y., in the New York “AA” Archdiocesan tournament title contest.

This encounter will take place at the Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx.

One of the standouts for Cardinal Hayes is 2024 four-star shooting guard Elijah Moore. In late January, the 6-foot-4 Moore verbally committed to the Orange over other finalists Alabama, Arkansas, Miami and Oklahoma State.

A star for Archbishop Stepinac is 2024 five-star point guard Boogie Fland. The ‘Cuse coaching staff offered a scholarship to the 6-foot-3 Fland last month.

A New York championship is on the line, and both finalists have Syracuse basketball connections.

In the recent semifinals of the New York “AA” Archdiocesan playoffs, Archbishop Stepinac defeated the Iona Preparatory School in New Rochelle, N.Y., by a final score of 55-47.

In that affair, according to the Archbishop Stepinac Twitter account, Fland tallied 10 points, six rebounds, four blocks and two assists.

Cardinal Hayes, meanwhile, won the other semifinal, 72-65, against the St. Raymond High School for Boys in the Bronx, per a tweet from the New York state Catholic High School Athletic Association (“CHSAA”).

One of the stars for St. Raymond, by the way, is 2025 four-star wing Brandon Stores Jr., who holds an offer from Syracuse basketball and recently vaulted into the national rankings for the sophomore recruiting cycle, according to Rivals.com.

In the New York “AA” Archdiocesan tournament, Cardinal Hayes is the top seed, while Archbishop Stepinac is the No. 2 seed.

Not too long ago, Cardinal Hayes and Archbishop Stepinac competed in an entertaining game that Cardinal Hayes won, 74-68.

Per various tweets, for Archbishop Stepinac, Fland collected an impressive 27 points.

Moore, on the other hand, stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of 18 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.

A few days ago, Moore, Fland and Stores were all named to the CHSAA “AA” All-League first team for the 2022-23 campaign.

I’ll certainly be keeping a watchful eye over Saturday’s enticing encounter between Moore and Fland in New York City.