Syracuse Basketball: 5-star target Boogie Fland, Stepinac fall in state final

On Sunday afternoon, Syracuse basketball 2024 five-star target Boogie Fland and his teammates came up one victory short of capturing a New York state Federation championship.

The 6-foot-3 point guard, who has proven stellar in his junior season for Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, N.Y., tallied 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in an 81-57 setback for Archbishop Stepinac to Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y.

That result on Sunday at Shaker High School in Latham, N.Y., gave Long Island Lutheran the Class AA title in the 2023 Tournament of Champions, an event put on by the New York State Federation of Secondary Schools Athletic Association.

Archbishop Stepinac finishes at 22-10 overall in the 2022-23 stanza. In addition to the runner-up finish at the Tournament of Champions, Archbishop Stepinac was the New York Catholic High School Athletic Association (“CHSAA”) “AA” state and city champion, the team said via Twitter.

Syracuse basketball 2024 five-star PG recruit Boogie Fland was fabulous in his junior term.

For Long Island Lutheran, per a tweet from scout Ray Teodora, 2024 four-star small forward V.J. Edgecombe produced 18 points. On Sunday, I wrote a column on the 6-foot-5 Edgecombe, who was recently named the 2022-23 player of the year in the loaded National Interscholastic Basketball Conference.

Long Island Lutheran has put forth an impressive 2022-23 stanza. According to reports, it has won 22 games in a row and is the No. 2 seed in the 2023 GEICO Nationals, which will take place from Thursday, March 30, until Saturday, April 1, at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Ft. Myers, Fla.

On Saturday in the semifinals, Boogie Fland had 24 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks as Archbishop Stepinac defeated the Eagle Academy from the Bronx, N.Y., by a final of 75-70.

Long Island Lutheran, in the other semifinal, crushed Victor Senior High School from Victor, N.Y., by a wide margin, 81-52. The Crusaders, by the way, are the relatively new home of Syracuse basketball 2025 four-star target Kiyan Anthony.

At the beginning of February, the 6-foot-3 shooting guard said he would transfer from Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village, N.Y., to Long Island Lutheran, although he reportedly isn’t playing in games for the Crusaders until the 2023-24 stanza, which will be his junior season.

Boogie Fland, offered a scholarship by the Orange coaching staff this past January, is a consensus top-15 national prospect in the 2024 class. Some recruiting services rate him as the No. 1 point guard across the country in his cycle.

Per reports from recruiting analysts, college coaches from Kentucky, St. John’s, Michigan, Seton Hall and other groups watched Fland on Saturday. I have not come across any reports that Syracuse basketball coaches were in attendance for his games on either Saturday or Sunday.

That being said, earlier this month, the ‘Cuse coaching staff did watch Boogie Fland in person. In February, he was named to the CHSAA “AA” All-League first team.