[Video: Before we get to high school playoff action, we’ll start with reaction from Manhattan College head coach Steve Masiello after his team’s disappointing 70-64 loss to Siena on Valentine’s Day. And just a week after we featured them in the Bronx Sports Report! Hopefully this won’t turn into an SI jinx type of thing.]

Representing the Boogie Down
The borough playoffs are over. It’s time to find out who are the top high school hoops dogs in New York City.

The Public School Athletic League playoffs kicked off this week with a slew of early round match-ups. But now we hit the tournament pause button as the city’s schools take next week off. It will give some teams a chance to regroup, while slowing the momentum of others.

With perennial powers — Brooklyn’s Lincoln on the boys side and Manhattan’s Murry Bergtraum on the girls — having less than dominant season, this could be the year a team bring a city title back to the Booggie Down. Here’s a breakdown, by division, of all the Bronx contenders and Cinderellas.

Boys AA Division

Overview: The PSAL is broken up into divisions based mostly on competitiveness, not size. The AA Division is the best of the best. There are seven Bronx teams in AA and all but the worst team, Harry S. Truman, didn’t make the Big Dance. Even Eagle Academy, which was forced to forfeit 13 games because it allegedly used an ineligible player, and only compiled three wins total is in.

Early Action: Without the forfeits, Eagle was enjoying an outstanding season. They ended up being seeded 20th out of 23 teams, but pulled out a gutty 55-53 win over ENY Transit on Wednesday, setting up another showdown with Wings Academy. Wings beat Eagle twice this season: an early-season route (while playing with an ineligible player) and then by just four points (after they stopped using the ineligible player) in mid-January . . . Monroe (seeded 22), which slid into the tournament with just five wins on the season, lost 65-30 to Campus Magnet . . . After a furious late comeback, Lehman (17) lost a heart-breaker, 41-40, to Paul Robeson . . . John F. Kennedy (10), fresh off its convincing victory over Wings in the borough championship, routed Forrest Hills, 86-55.

Bronx Contenders: Wings (4), JFK (10). Wings finished the season undefeated (16-0) in league play before falling to JFK in the borough title game. They are led by superstar guard Justin Jenkins, one of the city’s best players, who can score from anywhere on the court and has proven clutch when the game is on the line. He and senior forward Steven Gomez (averaging 16 points and 9 rebounds per game) provide Wings with one of the most explosive 1-2 punches in New York. JFK just barely missed a first round bye (the top nine seeds automatically advanced to the second round), but the Knights appear to be peaking at the right time, kind of like the Giants. They have the talent to make an extended run deep into the playoffs and possibly cut down the nets at MSG.

Bronx Cinderellas: Gompers (15), Eagle Academy (20). If not for two extra wins forfeited to them by Eagle, Gompers would have finished the season at .500, 8-8. They play at 2-seed Boys & Girls in the second round. Barring a miracle, (which is always a possibility with scoring machine Carlos Galan, who dropped 31 in the first round win) their season will end in Brooklyn. Without the forfeits and if they were allowed to continue playing point guard Gerard Carty, Eagle would have earned a first round bye or at the very least a first round home game. Even without Carty, Eagle is dangerous. Coach Rodney Plummer said the team deserved to the penalties for what he called “a mix-up,” but added that his team won’t be intimidated going forward.

“We’ve beat people on the road all year long,” Plummer told the NY Post. “I’m confident my team can go into any gym — we could play in the park — and they’ll win.”

Bronx AA Girls

Overview: The girls AA division is even smaller than the boys. There’s a Bronx/Queens/Manhattan division, two Brooklyn AA divisions and a A Division team (McKee) from Staten Island that is included in the AA playoffs. Murry Bergtraum has won 13 city championships in a row. This year they’ve shown some chinks in their armor. Tayshana Murphy, their best player going into the season, was murdered in September.

Early Action: The AA playoffs don’t start until after next week’s break. JFK Coach O’Neil Glenn isn’t concerned about the long layoff. “I don’t think it matters,” Glenn told the Post. “Once you start playing, you start playing. It gives the girls a chance to refresh their legs. I like it. We have time to work on things.”

Bronx A Boys

Overview: In the A Division, the road to the Big Dance is simple. If your team wins as many games as it loses, you’re in. That means there are 45 teams in the A Division tournament, eight from the Bronx. Last season, DeWitt Clinton, seeded 29th, came out of nowhere to crash the Final Four before falling to eventual champion Midwood.

Early Action: All of the Bronx teams who didn’t earn a first round bye lost in their tournament opener, including Roosevelt (26), Columbus (31) and Morris (42). (One caveat: It’s unclear what happened in the Bronx Science-Francis Lewis match-up on Wednesday night.)

Contenders: Mott Haven (1), Evander Childs (5), Clinton (11). Mott Haven, which is moving up to the AA Division next year, has been the best A Division team all year and will be tough to beat in the tournament. Their high-powered offense routinely hits triple digits, a rare feat in high school hoops. If they don’t take the title, it will be an upset. Evander enjoyed an exceptional season, finishing 16-3, including two close loses to Mott Haven. They face Grand Street Campus in a second round game on Feb. 28. Up-and-down Clinton can’t be counted out after last season’s unlikely run. After a four-game mid-season losing streak, Clinton reeled off six straight wins before falling to AA contender JFK in the borough playoffs. They play Stuyvesant at home on Feb. 29.

Cinderellas: Adlai Stevenson (17). Stevenson is another interesting team that may make some noise. They were trounced by Evander at the beginning of the season, then came back to beat them later on. Mott Haven destroyed them twice, but they also have a win over Clinton on their resume. They have a tough second round match-up, playing at High School for Graphic Communication (14-2 on the season) on Feb. 28.

Girls A Division

Overview: The girls A Division is off to an early start, having already completed most of the first two rounds by the break. Out of the Sweet 16 still remaining in the field, three Bronx Schools remain.

Contenders: At this point in the girls A Division, everyone is a contender. Third-seeded Wings Academy takes on Mott Haven (14), while Lehman (15) awaits the winner of Curtis (2) and West 50th Street Campus (31).

Enjoy the action. We’ll be following as best we can on Twitter, @norwoodnews.