Byram Hills Edges the Quakers in a Friday Night Shootout
It’s anyone’s guess how loud it might have been inside the Horace Greeley gymnasium on Friday night if students had been allowed to witness what turned into a high-scoring rivalry battle between the host Quakers and the Byram Hills Bobcats.
In a game that had a little of everything except the high noise level created by several hundred cheering teenagers, the Bobcats earned their fourth win in five games this season, hanging on in the fourth quarter to defeat Greeley 71-68. Tyson Repa scored 21 points, while Bobby Chicoine added 13 to go along with an astounding 25 rebounds as Byram Hills bounced back from its only loss two days earlier.
“Yeah, it was much more quiet than I would’ve thought,” said Bobcats head coach Ted Repa shortly after his team had emerged victorious in an action-packed game in front of a limited, and mostly silent, audience. “The other game, versus Poughkeepsie (at home on Wednesday), was an awesome environment. This was quiet, even though the kids were playing well.”
For Greeley, now 2-3 this season, there was plenty of frustration over an outcome that might have been changed with a few different bounces and senior leader Connor Melis still on the floor in the fourth quarter. Sweet-shooting junior guard Justin Potack provided six 3-pointers en route to a game-high 29 points, but Melis had to leave the game in the final minute of the third quarter after being called for his second technical foul.
“It was a fun game,” said Quaker coach Matt Simone. “We’re disappointed we came up a little bit short, but I’m proud of our effort. We talk a lot about our effort and matching their physicality. There were lapses in that a little bit, but overall we brought our best effort in terms of toughness and physicality trying to match, if not exceed, theirs.”
There were four lead changes in the opening quarter as Potack and Tyson Repa took turns connecting on a trio of 3-pointers each. But after Potack sailed in for a lefty layup that gave Greeley a 21-17 advantage with just under two minutes remaining, the Bobcats proceeded to go on a 13-2 spurt that bridged the first and second quarters and they never trailed again the rest of the evening.
The big Byram run began with successive treys by Repa 30 seconds apart, both from the right elbow. Ben Dreilinger drove for a layup to conclude the scoring in the first quarter, giving the Bobcats a 25-21 edge. Early in the second period, junior forward Sean Siegel, who came off the Bobcat bench to supply 13 points, had back-to-back baskets and a free throw that capped the spurt.
The Quakers moved within 37-35 on a Melis 3-pointer with 1:54 left in the second quarter, but the half ended with the Bobcats getting a deep 3-ball from Repa off the dribble and then a driving layup by Dreilinger.
Greeley, using a 1-2-2 zone press to try to disrupt the Bobcat offense, trimmed its seven-point halftime deficit to 42-39 on baskets by Melis and Potack in the opening minute of the third quarter. But the Bobcats matched their largest lead of the game, eight points, just over two minutes later when Siegel made a steal and scored on a layup.
A pair of 3-point shots by Mikey Gecaj, one from the right elbow and the other from the left corner, helped the Quakers close the gap to 49-48 at the midway point of the quarter, but Byram closed the period with a 7-3 run to take a five-point lead. Even worse for Greeley, Melis, who finished with 12 points, was automatically ejected after he was given his second technical for ‘taunting’ an instant after connecting on a 3-point shot from the right corner over Chicoine’s outstretched hand.
“It’s tough, but we’ve got to be smarter on our end,” said Simone about losing one half of his high-scoring backcourt in a game still up for grabs. “You know, warranted or not, there’s no excuse for saying anything to refs or players. We’ve got to do a better job internally of just playing basketball.”
“Their best player,” said coach Repa. “It was a huge turn of events, very unfortunate. You never want to be talking about the officials after a game. So I feel bad for the kid. I feel bad for everybody who came here to watch the best players compete on the floor.”
Two straight buckets by Tyson Repa extended the Byram lead to 60-52 nearly 90 seconds into the fourth quarter, but soon Potack answered with back-to-back 3-pointers that cut the Quakers’ deficit to 62-60 with 4:15 left on the clock. Then with Greeley threatening to tie or take the lead, Repa made a key steal, leading to two Siegel free throws that gave the Bobcats a bit more breathing room.
The Quakers misfired on a pair of 3-point shots from the right corner down the stretch and Byram’s Danny Bernstein scored on a layup out of a timeout with 30 seconds left to stretch the Bobcat lead to 68-62. Potack scored his final two points of the game from the foul line with half a second to go, but it was too little and late.
“We have to do a better job closing out all quarters,” said Repa. “It’s something we’re aware of and we’ve got to make the adjustments.”
Despite the loss, the Quakers’ Simone liked a lot of what he saw from his players as they nearly matched Byram basket for basket.
“We’ve got a lot of newcomers,” he said. “I think we have a lot of potential. We’re still putting a lot of stuff together.
There’s a lot of inconsistencies, unfortunately. But I think once we tighten that up, hopefully we can start stringing a few wins together.”
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.
Read more of Andy’s full bio here.
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