Byram Hills Defeats the Tuskers to Reach the Sectional Final
the ball at the County Center.
There’s no telling how last Wednesday evening’s Section 1, Class A semifinal playoff game at the Westchester County Center might have ended for the Byram Hills boys’ basketball team had it not been for the timely contributions from an unexpected source.
Seldom-used senior guard Liam Nowlin came off the Bobcats’ bench to provide a pair of crucial 3-pointers in the final minute of the third quarter, helping third-seeded Byram Hills finally seize control against second-seeded Somers in a game that had been tied at halftime after 11 lead changes. The Bobcats went on to a 44-34 victory over the Tuskers, advancing to the sectional final against Spring Valley.
“Liam Nowlin was great,” said Bobcats coach Ted Repa shortly after his team had punched its ticket to the title game for the third time in five years. “You know, he’s a phenomenal shooter. It says a lot about a kid that he hasn’t played a lot all year, come into the County Center and make two 3s and make a couple free throws.’
Before the heroics from Nowlin, the Bobcats had been clinging to a precarious two-point lead over Somers. The second half began with the teams tied at 22-all, and even though point guard Ross Weinfeld began the third quarter with a 3-pointer that gave Byram Hills the lead for good, the rugged Tuskers never wilted.
They got an inside bucket from Ryan Grossman with 2:15 remaining in the third quarter to pull within 28-26. But just 15 seconds later, Nowlin delivered the first of his 3-pointers from the top of the key. He ended the period with another one, this time from the left corner, enabling the Bobcats to take a 34-28 lead heading into the final quarter.
“He’s one of the best shooters on our team,” said Repa. “So when they (the Tuskers) went triangle-and-two, that’s kind of a counter strategy. Put in one of our top shooters.”
Both teams struggled early in the fourth quarter, which remained scoreless until the Tuskers’ Matt Maloney connected on a trey three minutes in, slicing the Byram lead in half. But the Bobcats answered with back-to-back 3-pointers 35 seconds apart from Skylar Sinon and Jared Friedberg and suddenly had the cushion of a 40-31 advantage with less than four minutes remaining.
Even though three different Bobcats misfired on the front end of 1-and-1 free-throw opportunities in the waning moments, Somers never got closer than seven points again after Friedberg’s 3-point shot. Fittingly, it was Nowlin who added two clinching foul shots in the last minute as the large Bobcat student section cheered wildly in the baseline balcony right above him.
“It was a great battle,” said Repa. “It was a really tough-fought game. Thank goodness we hit some shots, they missed a few, and that’s kind of how sometimes it rolls.”
Both teams went on 6-0 spurts in the first quarter, which featured six lead changes. The Bobcats’ burst came with them trailing 10-5 and began with a pair of free throws from sophomore forward Matt Repa, who finished with a team-high nine points and, as Repa put it, “first half, kept us in the game.”
The Bobcats, trailing 15-11 after the first quarter, scored the first five points of the second, capped off by Groll’s short jumper in the lane. After a 6-2 Somers burst, another Groll jump shot with 2:15 left in the half moved Byram to within a point of the lead. A pair of foul shots by Weinfeld with 1:52 to go gave the Bobcats the lead before the Tuskers’ Tommy Gargiulo closed the first-half scoring with a free throw that left the teams tied at intermission.
But the second half opened with the Bobcats grabbing the lead for good on the 3-point basket from Weinfeld, who had missed the quarterfinal win over Hen Hud with a sprained ankle. His return to the Bobcat lineup made a huge difference on both ends of the floor and even Repa conceded without him his team would not be moving on.
“No chance,” he said. “We need Weinfeld. He just makes us click. He gets Skylar off the ball, and that’s the biggest thing for us because then Skylar can score a little bit more. But when he has to handle the ball, it’s too much to ask for him at this stage.”
Sinon, just a freshman, is new to County Center excitement. But senior center Andrew Groll, who hauled in 17 rebounds against the burly Somers frontcourt, has already played in championship games there before. Repa knows he’ll need a huge effort from him again if the Bobcats are to have any chance against top-seeded Spring Valley in Monday’s finale, delayed 24 hours by snow.
“Everybody knows Spring Valley’s the team to beat,” he said before the Tigers defeated Tappan Zee in the other Class A semifinal. “I’m just really happy that we’re here. We’re gonna play for a Gold Ball. That’s something you remember forever.”
Andy is a sports editor at Examiner Media, covering seven high schools in the mid-Westchester region with a notebook and camera. He began there in the fall of 2007 following 15 years as a candid photographer for the largest school picture company in the tri-state area.
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