Ossining Crowned at Somers Tourney; Haldane on Fire

Panas Sends Message in Rout of Yorktown; Huskers Upend Hornets

OSSINING junior F Dominique Bautista went from goat to hero at SOMERS’ 25th annual Michael DePaoli Memorial Tournament last Saturday night where his fourth-quarter technical foul with 6:03 remaining allowed the host Tuskers to take a five-point lead (51-46). But the 6’3” Bautista and the Pride continued to scratch and claw their way back into the game before finally taking the lead on a Bautista put-back off a missed free throw with 25 seconds left for the 65-64 tourney-title victory.

Somers (0-2) missed a three in the waning seconds to close the game out, and Ossining (4-1) went home with the hardware after knocking off CARMEL, 60-46, in Thursday’s opening round behind an MVP performance from Pride senior G Jaeden Carr.

“It was a very exciting win against a very tough Somers team, we’re very proud of our guys, who were so resilient,” Ossining Coach Mike Casey said after the Pride won their second tourney title this season (Sleepy Hollow).

Somers went down by a point late in the third quarter, but five unanswered points – three off a Matt Fitzsimons bomb and two off a Bennett Leitner steal and deal at the other end – gave Somers a 48-44 lead at the end of three quarters.

Coach Chris DiCintio’s Tuskers had a rough time with Carr, who is one thick, stout object. The silky smooth shooter foiled Somers’ chances by scoring a team-high 23 points. Bautista finished with 13 points and 11 boards. Isaiah Ahlers (8 points) had a big Euro-step finish to follow the Bautista technical, and All-Tourney choice A.J. Caparelli (10 points, five rebounds, 4 assists) spotted the Pride a 62-61 lead with 50 seconds left. Brady Leitner followed with a three for a 64-62 Somers lead with 39.6 left, before Carr hit one of two at the line. He missed the second but Bautista wasn’t boxed out well by the Tuskers and he cleaned up for the win.

“It’s very frustrating,” Coach DiCintio admitted. “We had our bigs in there and they had to grab that rebound if they wanted to win. We’re still very inexperienced in these spots, but once we get our feet wet we’ll be tough to beat.”
Fitzsimons finished with a game-high 25 points for the Tuskers while Bennett Leitner (16) and Christian McGrane (12) also had double figures.

Carr had 26 points and five assists in the opening-round win over Carmel, which looked better than the final score would indicate, given the fact the Rams (0-1) have had very little practice time together due to their NYS football title run.

LAKELAND defeated Somers, 53-48, earlier in the week when Fitzsimons had 18 points and Bennett Leitner had 14 in a losing cause. Lakeland’s Chris Whyte-Luciano, a speedy Iona Prep transfer who coach Steve Fallo kept under wraps previously, is now a cat out of the bag. He was a terror for the Hornets (5-2), going for 22 points, eight boards and three steals. The point guard has had a terrific start to the season. Andrew Mendel (10 points, 7 rebs), Anthony Jennings (9 points, 4 boards) and Logan Shiland (5 points, 9 caroms) allowed the Hornets to bang and score in the paint.

PANAS did a little soul-searching prior to its 79-46 thrashing of YORKTOWN, and the results were just what Coach Mike Auerbach was hoping for. Junior sniper Alex Tavares led the Panthers (4-2) with 25 points on a night when five Panthers dropped double figures, including Cameron Nichols (13), Oliver Smith (13), 6’8” senior C Maleek McNeil (10) and 6’9” junior C Dillon Chenard (10).

“After the recent win against Yorktown, the team’s energy and chemistry is higher than ever,” Tavares said. “This will definitely carry into our upcoming game against Yonkers and throughout the rest of the season. A key factor to our scoring is the team’s ball movement and unselfishness on the court.”

Yorktown G Antoine Coles had 12 points and five rebounds while Justin Price and Eddie Brucaj each added seven points for Yorktown (4-2), which handed Lakeland a 54-48 loss last week before closing out this week with a 53-44 win over Hen Hud. Yorktown’s Justin Price dropped a career-high 17 on the Sailors while Brucaj (13 points) and Jack Prybylski (10) each reached double digits.

Gino Wamack led the Sailors with 12 points. HEN HUD (3-3) evened its record after a 45-38 win over Sleepy Hollow where Rocco Cappicotti (11 points) and Dean Hiltsley (10) both went for double digits.

After a rocky 1-3 start, MAHOPAC hoped to have righted the ship after a crucial 42-57 win over visiting Rye. Colum Ranaghan had 13 points and Ryan Reilly added 12 for the Indians (2-3), who come out of the break with key league tilts against Brewster, Somers and Yorktown.

After a 3-0 start, BREWSTER has fallen on hard times, including three-straight losses to Lakeland, Clarkstown North and Pleasantville. The Bears will try to get back on track with a rematch against Lakeland (Tues.) and a visit to Carmel (Thurs.) before the holidays.

CLASS B/C

Hard to ignore the start out of Cold Spring where Class C HALDANE High is off to a raucous 4-1 start, including last Thursday’s 57-53 statement win over Class B BRIARCLIFF. Coach Joe Virgadamo’s Blue Devils have emerged as the early favorites to win their first sectional title since 2016 when Haldane reached the NYSPHSAA finals.

The Blue Devils have shown great balance early on, including the win over Briarcliff (2-3) where Soren Holmbo (15 points), Matteo Cervone (11), Robert Viggiano (10), Tristen Reid (8) and Ryan Irwin (6) all filled the score sheet.
Haldane displayed similar equity in their 69-48 thumping of Hasting where Will Bradley led the way with 13 points. Ben Bozsik (10), Cervone (10), Viggiano (9), Reid (9) and Irwin (7) were in total command behind Bradley.

“We’re playing great team basketball,” the coach said. “Selflessness is creating great balance. The guys are enjoying playing defense and our intensity is one of a kind.”

Haldane will host one-win Peekskill (1-2) today.

Senior F Arthur Holtzman had 18 points and eight rebounds and senior G Cole Durocher had 16 points for PUTNAM VALLEY in the Tigers 58-49 loss to undefeated Blind Brook (4-0) before PV skipped the Somers tourney on account of COVID-related issues. The Tigers (0-4) are better than their record would indicate (opponents are a combined 13-7), but they’ve got to figure out how to close games.

NWE/Putnam area boys’ hoops coaches are encouraged to contact Ray Gallagher raygallaghersports@gmail.com for inclusion in our weekly notebook.