Panthers Dethrone Briarcliff as Class B Sectional Champs

Several weeks into the 2016-17 season, the Pleasantville boys’ basketball team had already dropped three of its first seven games and there really wasn’t a growing suspicion the Panthers, despite the presence of one of the area’s most talented players, could challenge for a sectional championship.

A loss at Croton-Harmon in mid-January, their sixth of the season, did little to instill confidence in head coach Chris Welch that big things were just around the corner. “Certainly not then,” he would say later, asked when he realized his team could battle for a title.

Yet there they were on Saturday evening, jumping up and down in celebration at center court at the Westchester County Center, moments after dethroning top-seeded and longtime rival Briarcliff with a 58-49 victory in the Section 1, Class B championship game.

Star guard Mike Manley finished with 18 points and Quentin Lupo added 15, but it was a pair of 3-pointers by Nick Salzarulo, one of the Panthers’ formerly-reluctant-to-shoot role players in the midst of a 16-2 burst to start the second quarter that may have delivered the biggest blow to the Bears’ hopes of repeating as sectional champs.

“You know, Saz is a kid who never backed down from a challenge in his life, I don’t think,” said Welsh. “And he knew they weren’t going to be paying too much attention to him. He did a great job of stepping up there and shooting the ball with confidence.”

The second-seeded Panthers, now 17-7 this season and headed to a state regional playoff game against Section 9 champion Spackenkill, have only lost once since falling at Croton, a game, according to Welsh, in which his players spent far too long deferring to Manley, their do-it-all senior who scored 28 points in Monday night’s semifinal win over Woodlands at the County Center.

That lone loss came at Briarcliff nearly a month ago, when the Bears’ Jack Reish tossed in an improbable game-winning shot with his left hand while on the run and under pressure at the buzzer in overtime. Reish’s miraculous basket may have been crushing to the Panthers at the time, but it provided the motivation that has carried them into the postseason.

“When we lost to Briarcliff at the buzzer last time,” said Welsh, shortly after the Panthers had ended their 16-year hoop title drought, “we kind of had this game circled. It was the only way we were gonna get to play ‘em again. Right here. And we got it.”

Before a large and raucous crowd, with Pleasantville students up in the baseline balcony and Briarcliff’s near the court, just below the stage, the Panthers didn’t waste any time showing they came to play defense. On the Bears’ first possession of the game, Manley, better known for his ability to shoot the ball, went high in the air to block a jump shot by Jack Ryan beyond the 3-point arc.

Manley, named the tournament’s most valuable player, got the Panthers on the scoreboard with a 3-pointer nearly three minutes into the game. The lead changed hands four times in the opening quarter, which ended with the Bears leading 8-7 after Reish, who scored a game-high 25 points in his varsity farewell, connected on a 17-foot jumper in the final seconds.

But the early moments of the second quarter turned into a disaster for Briarcliff as the Panthers went on their dazzling 16-2 run that gave them the lead for the rest of the night. Lupo began the onslaught with a straightaway 3-pointer just 15 seconds in. Then Charlie McPhee stole the ball and went coast to coast for a layup. Salzarulo followed with his first trey with 6:34 left in the half, increasing P’ville’s lead to 15-8 and forcing a Briarcliff timeout.

The Bears came out of the break and got a bucket from Reish, but the Panther run was hardly finished. Manley soon answered with a three from the left elbow, then Salzarulo made another one, this time from the left corner. He never scored again, but the damage was done. A Manley jumper from the top of the key opened up a 23-10 Panther cushion with 4:52 remaining before halftime.

Briarcliff closed the half with its own 13-5 run, featuring a couple of jump hooks in the lane by junior center Jackson Gonseth and concluding with a Ryan 3-pointer just before the buzzer. The Bears retreated to their locker room trailing just 28-23, but never got any closer in the second half.

“Listen, that’s a good team,” said Welsh about Briarcliff. “That’s a good basketball team and our defensive effort was just phenomenal. It was off the charts.”

The second half began with Lupo draining a 3-pointer and then Jeremy Stone, who finished with 10 points, following with a layup. Suddenly the Panthers had regained a double-digit lead. Ryan made another 3-point shot to move the Bears within 33-26 with 5:48 left in the quarter, but they only scored four more points the rest of the period.

Manley’s 3-pointer with two minutes left gave Pleasantville a 42-30 advantage, and the lead grew to 15 when Ian Esliker made a steal, dashed down the court and turned it into a 3-point play, scoring on a layup while getting hit and adding the free throw.

“A lot of times, the first three minutes of a half play a huge role in a game,” said Welsh. “So we were ready for it. We were mentally prepared. And the best thing about this group is the mental toughness they’ve shown. They face adversity and they overcome it.”

In the fourth quarter, a Reish 3-pointer capped an 8-0 burst by the Bears that trimmed the Pleasantville lead to 49-40. But by then there was only 2:50 remaining on the clock. Reish added another trey and a lefty shot off glass in the waning moments to conclude his superb career, but the Bears never really threatened as time slipped away.

“Give credit to those guys,” said Bears coach Cody Moffett. “They made some shots, their role players. They played very unselfish. They were well coached, they were well prepared. All the credit goes to coach Welsh and his guys. They were ready. We didn’t do what we needed to do from an execution standpoint, and they were well prepared and did a fantastic job.”

Amid the pandemonium all around him after the Panthers had been presented their Gold Ball, Manley said, “It’s so special. It’s against our rival. It’s amazing. It’s what you dream of. It’s the best feeling in the world. I was so emotional after the game because we worked so hard to get to this point, and to win this game is incredible.”

“I’m extremely proud,” said Welsh. “It’s just a winning group of kids. They know how to win. They’re extremely, extremely cool under pressure. All I can say is I’m extremely proud. The way that they transformed themselves throughout this year has been phenomenal. You know, we didn’t play that caliber of defense earlier in the year that we played tonight.”

The Bears’ Moffett, denied a second championship after reaching the Class B title game for a third straight year, was disappointed for his players who won’t be wearing a Bears uniform again and offered some consolation during a lengthy postgame talk.

“I applauded my seniors and I told them thank you for everything they did,” he said. “And I told our younger guys that you’ve got to hold onto this feeling you have right now and realize how precious a moment it is to play in a championship game.”