NEW YORK — When Jermaine Sanders hit a difficult turnaround jump shot over a defender during overtime of the SNY Invitational title game on Saturday, he felt the spirit of cousin Ronald Washington Jr. surge through him.
“I think that fade-away shot, it must have been him because that was a tough shot that I made,” Sanders said after scoring 12 points to help Rice beat Cardozo, 63-58, to win the SNY Invitational championship.
A 6-foot-5, 210-pound junior wing player with interest from numerous Big East and Atlantic Coast Conference teams, Sanders has played with a heavy heart since his cousin was shot seven times in the back in Far Rockaway, Queens Sept. 14. He died a week later at Jamaica Hospital.
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