Class A Hoops Notebook: Somers Ventures to County Center for 1st Time Since 1992

No. 2 Tuskers Bounce No.10 Pelham, Face No. 3 Byram Hills; Yorktown, Hen Hud Ousted

The last time a kid from Somers touched the Westchester County Center hardwood in a Section 1 Final 4 was 1992 when former Tuskers Derek Hyra and Willie Dietrich were doing so under then first-year Coach Dennis Gallagher. There were many lean years between then and now, but Coach Chris DiCintio’s 2015 Tuskers have suddenly erased 23 years of basketball misery after second-seeded Somers rattled off a 43-36 victory over No.10 Pelham in the Section 1 Class A quarterfinals last Tuesday night.

Hyra remembers what it was like because he never forgot the surge of adrenaline while leading Somers to its lone Section 1 title, carrying that high all the way to Colgate University, where he balled for four years, before becoming an Associate Professor at American University.

“It was a thrill to play in the County Center and I hope the Tuckers are able to bring home another gold ball, but it’ll take a total team effort like it did with us,” said Hyra, recalling the efforts Matthew Goodman, Dietrich, Brian Zuban, Brian Stroh and the ’91 Tuskers.

Somers trailed Pelham 12-5 early on and appeared to have a serious blind-spot as they fired away from downtown with reckless abandon (emphasis on reckless) until the key turning point of the game; a pair of 3-balls from side pocket by senior swingman Anthony Maestri, giving Somers a 28-22 lead they would never relinquish with 2:35 left in the third.

“You know it and everybody else knows that we’ve lived and died by the 3 all year,” Coach DiCintio said, “but we’ve only died three times and we lived 17 others, so I like our chances. This is a special group of kids, just like the last two I’ve had here at Somers. They really wanted to put their stamp on what we’re trying to do here. Nobody really had them on their radar (except you, Ray). ”

Tied 15-all at the half, @Tusker_Nation looked frazzled and Pelham fans thought they had made a wrong turn at the corner of 139 & 202 and found their way to a bad Somers rec. league game, possibly the Team Smith vs. Team Tuosto event (won by Tuosto by a point). It was hard on the eyes for a half. Air balls were fired and clangers were rung, but the Tuskers turned to their defense to salvage their offense in the second half, dialing up the pressure and using their athleticism to their advantage.

Tusker senior wing Ryan Grossman, who had been mired in a shooting slump for a couple of games, didn’t have his best stuff but still led Somers with 11 points and never let one end of the floor affect the other.

“It’s the best feeling in the world to be going to the County Center, man,” Grossman said. “I’ve been dreaming of this ever since I was a little kid. There were plenty of media guys telling us we were going to be upset, that we couldn’t do this, but we did it. We’re finally going back there.”

The state-ranked (No.24) Tuskers (17-3) relied on a wealth of different scorers, with six players scoring at least four points, as the shots were not dropping with regularity. Somers F Tom Gargiulo, as usual, was a catalyst, getting Somers out in transition off the boards and granting second- and third-shot opps.

“All season we dreamt of getting to the County Center, this is the best moment of my sports career” said Gargiulo, who finished with eight boards, four steals, two last-minute free throws and a game-saving block. “We worked hard and did what we had to do in the regular season and we came through in the playoffs and we’re finally there. Our shots weren’t fall early on, but our defense keeps us in the game, and we know if we play solid D we’ll come out with the win.”

Up next for the Tuskers is a state-ranked (No.20) Byram Hills club they are somewhat familiar with. Somers and Byram Hills last played two years ago in the sectional quarterfinals when the then-18-1 Bobcats saw hotshot Brian Skelly’s drop four 3’s in the second half of a76-58 Byram win, despite Tusker John Decker’s game-high 37 points and one of the best regular seasons in Somers history.

“Our accomplishments are just a reflection of the guys before us,” senior All-Section G Matt Maloney said. “They were able to set the foundation for us. We just got over the hump to get to County Center. This is a reflection of what Coach DiCintio has been able to do with this program, taking it to another level. We just got more physical with them in the third and started hitting some shots and we didn’t look back. We said before the game, ‘let’s get Tusker Nation to the County Center’ and we finally did.”

Twenty-three years have passed since Somers’ last trek to County Center where prohibitive shooters often go to die on account of the vast depth perception issues and arena-like setting many players are not accustomed to. Somers, which takes as many 3’s as any team in Section 1, will need to account for this and the throng of Bobcat fans expected to rival @Tusker_Nation at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

The semifinal survivor will face the winner of No.1 Spring Valley (19-1) vs. No.5 Tappan Zee (15-5) in Sunday’s 7:00 p.m. championship. SV is ranked No.3 in NYS while TZ is No.22…

Be forewarned: HENDRICK HUDSON will not be anybody’s punching bag over the course of the next few seasons. After falling 50-49 to No.3 Byram Hills in last Tuesday’s Class A quarterfinal of the Section 1 tournament, the 11th-seeded Sailors (14-7) served notice that the future is bright at Hen Hud.

Byram Hills C Matt Groll (6 points) sank the winning basket off a put-back with 11 seconds left and host Byram Hills hung on when rangy Skylar Sinon (12 points, 7 rebounds) blocked Hen Hud’s final shot. Senior G Jeremy Morris hit two 3-pointers in the waning moments to give the Sailors a 49-48 lead, but the 6’7” Groll was a force on the boards all night and found his way to the iron in the end.

“This one was tough in the way it ended for obvious reasons,” Sailor skipper Jordan Hirsch said. “Not the result we wanted, but not for a lack of effort or passion. We’re fighters and we ask a lot of these guys. They have accepted the challenge of being a basketball player at Hen Hud, which now means something very different than it may have meant years ago. This team made it a priority in their life to make our program relevant in the Section 1 basketball world and they have set the bar very high for the teams that will come in the future.”

Those teams will include a J.V. unit that went 15-3 this season under the tutelage of venerable veteran Coach “Pistol” Pete Kelly.

“We talk so often about opportunity and how the best opportunity is the next one and that couldn’t have been represented better than Jeremy Morris, a senior captain, who is a very cool customer and hit two big time shots in that game coming off the bench,” Hirsch said. “His example is one of many that I see daily with our guys inside and outside of the gym. We will learn a lot from this season and do what we do best: Go back to work and get better.”

Nobody in any school district likes a “not since” quote, so maybe the 2016 Sailors end the dry spell next season and put an end to the “not since 1991 when Tim McNulty’s Sailors went to the County Center has a Hen Hud team graced the scene.” We can only hope…

YORKTOWN’s final score, 67-45, is not indicative of how hard Coach Kevin Downes’ 9^th-seeded Huskers (13-8) played against top-seeded host Spring Valley. Yorktown senior Mason Dyslin led Yorktown with 16 points and G Nick DeGennaro added a 10-spot. While falling short of their ultimate goals, these Yorktown seniors – led by All-Section F Dyslin — suffered through a couple lean seasons as underclassmen, but put Yorktown back on the Section 1 map, serving up the best season since 2009.