Boys Hoops Notebook: Hen Hud Rocks 1st Playoff Win Since ’99, Beats Lourdes in OT

Basso Grand in Put Valley Win; Somers Fends off Panas; Yorktown Moves On

We witnessed a marvelous first round of Section 1 tournament action last Thursday; complete with riveting comebacks, overtimes and raucous, jam-packed houses. There were terrific storylines, including Class B Putnam Valley’s Ryan Basso scoring his 1,000th point off an and-1 late in the No.5-seeded Tigers’ 54-34 win over No.12 Valhalla; No.11 Hen Hud’s 66-64 double overtime Class A triumph of No.6 Lourdes, its first opening-round playoff win since 1999; No. 2 Somers rallying from a seven-point deficit with less than 3:00 to go to defeat No. 15 Panas, the reigning Section 1 champion, 46-44.

Combined, Hen Hud (24 years) and Somers (23) haven’t been back to the County Center in 47 year, making for a potentially epic Tuesday night.

CLASS A

Indeed, it was a compelling first round, and the biggest story might be Hen Hud (14-6), which has seen its program rises from the ashes of mediocrity under second-year Coach Jordan Hirsch. We haven’t given the Sailors the respect they are due, but they’re gonna get some now. First Peekskill in an outbracket win, then Lourdes. Who saw this coming after losing to Panas and getting gonged by Lakeland in the regular-season finale with a share of the League I-B title on the line?

Like most people, this scribe made the mistake of assuming this year was just going to be another disappointing finish at Hen Hud. Couldn’t have missed the boat more on the Sailors, who are just starting to scratch the surface this season, which is all about the next couple of years. Hen Hud basketball is in the best place it’s been since the new millennium, and Hirsch likes the direction the Sailors are headed in as they are just one win away from heading back to the County Center for the first time in 24 years when guys like Wilbur and Slack Mauro, Tim McNulty, Chris Talma, Keith Friedman, Chris “Smelly” Kelly and Ted Leshinski were facing Peekskill in the 1991 semis. Crazy days, indeed, and now No.3 Byram Hills lies in wait this Tuesday.

Senior F Carson “Gronk” Jacobs recalled days of yesteryear by dropping a career-high 25 points on a Lourdes club that gave undefeated, state-ranked Class AA Arlington fits just last week in a 77-74 loss to the top-seeded Admirals. Freshman G Dylan Fraser gave us a glimpse into the future when he dropped all 10 of his career-high points in overtime: Talk about a clutch effort. Coach Hirsch couldn’t stop.

“It has been a wild ride,” said Hirsch, the former Sailor. “The truth is, we need to earn respect and we needed to stick with a mindset of always looking to improve, we are just a grind-it-out type of team. We have come a long way, but I still think we have so many things to improve on. We ask a lot of these guys. On and off the court, we hold them to a pretty high standard, especially off the court. I don’t think that too many teenagers would want to sacrifice some common high school things the way these guys have; their buy-in has been the difference for us. I love coaching this team, I’m thrilled to be able to go to work each day and have an opportunity to keep this season going.”

State-ranked (No.20) Byram Hills is going to be a crazy environment and F/C Andrew Groll is going to be a load for Jacobs to handle. It’ll be a whole “next level” for the Jesse Breeding-led Sailors to deal with.

“He is one heck of a player and I gotta find a way to neutralize him the whole game,” Jacobs said.

Hen Hud ended PEEKSKILL’s dreary season in an outbracket game, defeating the Red Devils for the second time in a week when junior swingman Breeding dropped 21 points, including an alley-oop dunk that brought down the house.

PANAS (11-9) nearly busted up one side of the Class A bracket but the Panthers fell victim to SOMERS’ 2-2-1 full-court press down the stretch, which wrought havoc and turned the game on a dime.

“Give credit to my assistant, Coach Moshe Toledano; he pulled me aside and said it’s time to go back to our 2-2-1 and go full court on these guys,” Somers boss Chris DiCintio said. “They were beating us and we needed to change things up. It was a great call and it saved our season.”

Tusker F Tom Gargiuolo was a menacing freak, refusing to lose and spearheading the pressure with a gangly presence. Guards Matt Maloney and Nick Lombardo, who sank four clutch free throws in the final minute, were pivotal at both ends throughout the night for state-ranked (No.25) Somers.

“I’m just an enforcer out there doing what I can do to help the team,” Lombardo said. “I’m not usually the guy scoring the points in the end, but I’ll take it tonight.”

Wing Anthony Maestri scored a team-high 14 points to lead the Tuskers (16-3), who will host No. 10 Pelham at 7 in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, leaving Somers one win away from its first County Center visit since 1992 when Derek Hyra, now Dr. Hyra, guided the Tuskers to their lone sectional championship. This is the third-straight year Coach Chris DiCintio has brought the Tuskers within a single win of the County Center, and only the Pelicans stand in their way of a semifinal matchup against the No. 11 Hen Hud at Byram Hills winner.

Panas Coach Shawn Sullivan was proud of the way his Panthers summoned up their A-effort against a solid Somers club and admitted the pressure was tough to deal with down the stretch.

“I am real proud of my team this year,” Coach Sullivan said. “The improvement we made over the last four months is remarkable. The kids worked extremely hard and became a top defensive team in the section. I thought our defense was great against Somers, but they deserved the win because they made plays at the end of the game and we didn’t. There press changed the game and we weren’t able to overcome it. It was a great high school basketball, unfortunately we didn’t play well enough to advance. Somers proved they are one of the top teams in the section.”

YORKTOWN (13-7) is another feel-good story coming out of this season. First-year Coach Kevin Downes saw All-Section swingman Mason Dyslin drop a 20-spot and snag seven rebounds while G Nick DeGennaro added 13 points, six assists and four steals in the 9th-seeded Huskers’ 61-41 road win over No.8 Sleepy Hollow (13-7).

“We moved the ball real well and brought it defensively in the second half,” DeGennaro said. “We’re a tough team to beat when we play like that.”

The Huskers have been a tough team since the day Downes took over, according to DeGennaro.

“Best coach I’ve ever played for; seriously, he gets the best out of everyone, it’s crazy,” DeGennaro said. “He turned our whole program around.”

Much like he did at Mahopac, Downes has made the Huskers an instant success, but Spring Valley will be the staunchest challenge Yorktown has seen since losing to Mount Vernon in the 2009 AA semifinals when the Huskers were tied 39-all with the Knights after three before falling 54-47.

“I was very happy with our effort against Sleepy,” Downes said of the Huskers (13-7). I thought we played very well defensively. They really like to spread you out and I thought we were very good with our perimeter D. What I really liked was how we shared the ball and were able to get out in transition.

“Nick really got in a groove offensively and shot the ball well,” Downes added. “Matt Broder was also very good offensively and made some timely shots. Mason has just been a special player all year and he once again delivered s great performance. I have to give credit to Glenn O’Loughlin, who also played well and Mike Nardone and Nick DelBene once again were great defensively.”

Yorktown is going to have its hands full trying to counter state-ranked (No.3) Spring Valley’s Kai Mitchell and Rickey McGill. The match up problem that Mitchell creates affects all positions because he’s one of the most versatile threats in the section; a big guard who can handle and pass, dependable from 16-18 feet with a package of post moves that just might decimate any front line in the state. Yorktown needs to be able to bang with him or the Huskers are will miss the County Center boat.

“We certainly have our hands full this week but I know these kids will play hard,” Downes said. “Spring Valley is one of the two or three most talented teams in the state. To say it’s a challenge is an understatement but all you can do is compete and play hard. I am confident these kids will do that.”

No.16 LAKELAND suffered a heartbreaking 61-57 triple-overtime loss to visiting No.17 Nyack. Hornet G Mike Morelli scored 29 points in all, 23 of which came in the fourth quarter and OT.

CLASS B

The joint was jumping over in PUTNAM VALLEY (13-6) as the @PVVBSuperfans waited patiently to witness history with senior G Basso needing 21 points to exceed 1,000 to become the first male in school history to do so (joining females Kristi Dini and Christine Kemp). His left-handed and-1 with just a few minutes left in the fourth quarter ended the suspense and sent the packed house into a frenzy as the Tigers advanced to Wednesday’s Class B quarters to host No.13 Ardsley (7 pm), a 52-44 upset winner over No.4 Blind Brook.

“It felt pretty good to finally get it,” Basso said of the milestone. “It was a lot of hard work to get there, but my coaches and teammates are a big part of this. There are a lot of people to thank.”

The humble Basso has been a gym rat ever since his father, Gary, began coaching his older brothers, tagging along in rec. games before starring on his own teams. His passion for basketball was honed on the rec. and AAU circuits where he often played two and three games a day honing his craft. If the Tigers are going to advance to the Westchester County Center and the Class B Final 4, where they’ll face reigning Section 1 champion Woodlands, Basso will need another big game this Wednesday vs. Ardsley, and quite possibly the best game of his life if the Tigers are to get past the Falcons in the Class B semis on Feb. 25th.

Basso’s sidekick, senior G Zack Nolan, added 10 points in the win over the Panthers, and his presence will be mandatory if the 2014 Class B runner-up Tigers are to seize the days ahead. The 2014 Class B runner-ups have never been to the County Center from three-straight years and they won’t get their without their senior duo hitting on all cylinders, and equally important will be a full-bore effort from their juniors, who aren’t rookies any longer and need to prove just that.

No.7 CROTON will get its wish; a third playdate with No.2 Briarcliff with a trip to County Center on the line after Croton’s 50-31 thumping of No.10 Dobbs Ferry. The Tigers (13-6) saw great balance get them to this point and Charlie Goldberg (11 points on 3 3s), Owen Ackerman (11 points) and Peter Dinger (9 rebounds, four steals) were featured prominently against the Eagles, but it will take much, much more for the Tigers to close the 19-point gap the last time they faced the Bears in a 52-33 loss.

CLASS AA

No.16 CARMEL’s (6-14) season came to a close in a 49-35 loss to top-seeded, undefeated, state-ranked (No.18) Arlington. Josh Alexander had 12 points to lead the Rams. No.15 MAHOPAC (6-13) failed to get out of the outbracket round, falling 44-40 to White Plains, thus ending the finest four-year string of success in Indian history on a serious down note.