Put Valley puts Class A on Blast, Wins Somers Tourney Title

By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays

When PUTNAM VALLEY first-year Coach J.D. Apostolico sat down for his pre-season interview, one could sense a stream of hope and optimism from the mild-mannered mentor who had been around the block a few times as PV’s assistant coach the last few seasons and a longtime assistant to Ossining girls’ Coach Dan Ricci.

“We’re a young group for the most part, but we are a team of gym rats who really enjoy each other’s company and being around each other,” Apostolico said prior to the somewhat shocking outcome of the 28th annual Michael DePaoli Memorial Somers Tournament, in which the Class A Tigers (3-0) handled Class AA SOMERS, 56-44, in Friday’s opener before upsetting AA FOX LANE, 57-49, in Saturday’s title tilt.

Coach DePaoli was a servant to hard work during his time as Somers hoops coach and athletic director back in the late-80s-early 90s, and the time-honored tradition of his memory was proudly served in Put Valley’s gritty effort.

Coach Apostolico saw his son, senior captain, James, secure tourney MVP honors after dropping a career-high 39 points while limiting the number of lethal looks All-Tourney selection Arthur Shevick (13 points) would get. Shevick went for 35 points, two assists and six rebounds in the Foxes’ opening-round win over a game but shorthanded CARMEL club, which settled for a third-place finish after the Rams clipped the Tuskers 58-53 in Saturday’s consy round.

In the PV/Fox Lane battle, Shevick went backdoor on the game’s initial set for an easy two and Coach Apostolico adjusted immediately. Shevick was then shadowed throughout by Apolistoco, in a game some would consider an upset of the Foxes (3-2).

“Absolutely, James was the backup plan all along,” the PV coach admitted after the Tigers improved to 3-0 with a huge test upcoming against a more-than-solid solid Class B Dobbs Ferry club today (Monday).

Shevick still put up 13 points with an assist and five boards, but any coach in the section will take that kind of moderate production from one of the section’s top players.

“I don’t think we were overlooking them,” Fox Lane Coach Mike Tomassi said of the Tigers when pressed on that. “After watching them Friday night, we knew they were very good. We just didn’t play well and all the credit goes to them. They played hard, with passion and energy. We didn’t have it from the start, and we did fight in the second half to make it a game until it was too late. We need to begin games better and stop getting into holes. PV will be fine in Class A, they have some good players and play hard.”

Fox Lane (3-2) had additional contributions from Ethan Mayers (6 points, 2 rebounds), Max Keller (8 points, 2 assists, 7 rebounds) and Janak Bain (6 points, 2 assists, 4 rebounds). Put Valley senior F Dylan Tucker was a monster on the boards, leading the field in rebounds.

In the consy game, Somers had no response to Ram big man King Mercer. The junior C/F dominated the paint and finished with a game-high 24 points and 14 boards en route to All-Tourney honors. With injured Rams point guard Aiden White still on the mend, senior G Joey Loughlin (13 points, 7 assists), Connor Murphy (9 points), Aidan Luciana (6 points), Nick Kreatsoulas (4 points) and Alex Berardi (2 points) all chipped in. White, a flashy guard with All-Section potential, is set to return to the Rams (1-2) this week with the Mahopac tourney on the horizon.

Tusker Chris Spano earned an All-Tournament nod after scoring 18 points while Nico Quinones (13 points) and Ben O’Brien (12) were also in double digits.

In PV’s opening-round win over Somers, PV sophomore Logan Moriarty (eyes on!) dropped a career-high 24 points and earned All-Tourney honors while Apostolico went for 23, offsetting Tusker Phil Santore’s 24. Start to finish, PV dominated the Somers tourney for the first time in history.

The Foxes opened the week with a 64-58 win over Poughkeepsie where Shevick (20 points, 3 assists), Logan Mammola (9 points, 11 boards), Evan Mayers (8 points, 5 rebounds) and Eli Daglio (18 points, 6 boards, 3 assists) were off the hook.

 

CLASS AA

PEEKSKILL, the reigning Section 1 Class AA champions, looked every bit the part in Wednesday’s 64-32 win over visiting LAKELAND, putting a disappointing opening day loss to Tappan Zee behind them.

Red Devils Isiah Crawford (25 points) and Jaden Chavis (20 points) put a combined 45 points on the Hornets. Chavis, the shifty All-NYS swingman, scored 16 of his points in a blistering first half. The smooth finisher had it all going; the mid range pull up, the three-point efficacy and reliable shooting while triggering the transition game with a rip and run style that suits Crawford just fine.

“After the Tappan Zee loss we realized we are beatable,” Chavis said of the 66-44 beatdown by the Dutchmen, “and it was a wake-up call for the team and for me personally. I had to come out and attack the rim (against Lakeland) instead of settling on tough shots.

“As for Isaiah, definitely got him as a sleeper this year in the section,” he added.  “In my opinion, he’s one of the best guards defensively and offensively.”

Lakeland Coach Shawn Sullivan was impressed.

“Wow, Peeskill is really good,” said Sullivan, the former longtime coach at Panas. “Their size, speed and defense really took us out of our game. We really struggled to get in our sets offensively and defensively. They made a lot of tough shots and we struggled to keep them in front, they played great.

We need to use this game as a learning experience and get back in the gym and work to get better.”

Hornet Luke Lulanaj paced the Hornets with 13 points and seven rebounds.

“Luke provided a nice spark off the bench,” Sullivan said.

Lakeland was able to salvage the week with a 61-53 win over visiting Eastchester Monday.

“I thought the entire time showed great poise and patience after breaking the Eastchester press,” Sullivan stated. “We have been focussing on taking quality shots each time down and tonight we did, our shooting percentage was incredible tonight.”

Especially Anthony Attanasio, who dropped a career-high 27 points on the Eagles while Oban Rader (8 points, 10 boards) was a bucket away from a double-double. Luke Lulanaj added 13 points.

“Anthony Attanasio was unreal, getting 27 points and four assists,” Sullivan said. “He showed why he is one of the top guards in the section. I am looking for his stellar play to continue throughout the season. Oban Rader and Nick Ferrante controlled the glass and allowed us to get out in transition and get some easy baskets. Mike Lucia (sophomore) played great in his second varsity game with 11 points and great defense on Eastchesters top scoring guard. We are a young team, in terms of experience, we didn’t return a single starter. The guys are working hard and continuing to get better every day.”

The Hornets looked like they were doing so before squandering an eight-point lead in Saturday’s 51-50 loss to visiting MAHOPAC, which saw Swiss-Army-knife like junior F Matt Reilly (career-high 21 points) score the game’s final four points to preserve a come-from-behind win for the Wolf Pac (1-1). Reilly, working as a point forward at times, had to hold off Lakeland’s Anthony Attanasio (20 points) and Mike Lucia (11 points).

The Wolf Pac (1-1) had been previously beaten by GREELEY, 64-47, when Quaker senior swingman Zach Boyriven (26 points, 10 boards, 6 assists) had his way. Levi Sack added a for the Quakers (3-2) to help offset a 10-spot from Mahopac’ s Drew Larue.

GREELEY also suffered a one-point bummer, 68-67, against John Jay-East Fishkill, who had enough offense to fend off the Quaker trifecta of Levi Sack (22 points, 4 assists), Zach Boyriven (14 points, 6 assists, 6 boards) and Jake Sheehy (15 points, 13 caroms).

YORKTOWN came out firing on all cylinders in Thursday’s 58-48 win over visiting OSSINING behind a career-high 43 points, plus six rebounds and six steals from senior G Kaden Gonzalez #KidsOnFire.

“I was just feeling hot,” Gonzo admitted. “It was great team basketball. My teammates found me.”

Huskers Aidan Flynn (6 points, 6 rebounds) and Sander Stone (5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) were huge in the win over the Pride (0-3). Ossining was led by Donte Couch’s14 points.

Gonzalez has picked up where he left off last season. The senior guard dropped 22 points with five rebounds as the Huskers (2-0) upended Brewster in their season opener. Through the first two games, Gonzo played three halves and scored 65 points on 22 of 47 from the field (47%), 14 of 27 from distance (52%) and 13 of 14 FT% (93%) from the charity stripe.

Franklin Ringel added 10 points and five boards and David Marasevic scored seven in the win for Yorktown, which also knocked off visiting Brewster, 78-30, last Monday. Gonzalez (22 points, 5 rebounds), Ringel (10 points, 5 rebounds) and Marasevic (7 points) came up strong for the Huskers, who have been without the services of yeoman-like F Ryan Duffy, while sophomores Max Rivera and Brody Synder hit two three-pointers each for the Bears (2-2).

In BREWSTER’s 49-47 come-from-behind win over Ramapo, Billy Pappas knocked down 15 points and Harrison Schmitt added 13. Will Dignan and Schmitt each grabbed 10 rebounds. Dignan also added five assists. Luke Cunningham nabbed six boards and dished four assists.  Brody Synder provided a spark off the bench with seven points.

“The coaches feel that the team needs to play better basketball but gives the team a ton of credit for showing perseverance, grit and resilience to come out of Ramapo with the win,” Bears Assistant Coach Jay Weltman said.

 

CLASS A

Defending Section 1 champion BYRAM HILLS picked up right where the Bobcats left off, posting a 58-38 win over Nyack behind Brody Ceisler’s team-high 21 points. G Chris Amenedo (10 points, 5 assists, 5 steals did a little bit of everything while F Zach Efobi (7 points,P, 12 boards, 3 blocks) dominated the paint..

The Bobcats (4-0) knocked off a solid Sacred Heart team in the opening round of the Bronville tourney, 60-51.  Amenedo led the way with 24 points while Ceisler (15) sophomore Ben Wolf (12 points, 6 boards) were also in double digits.

PLEASANTVILLE was defeated by North Salem, 57-52, despite solid outings from Panthers  Declan Bruder (17 points) and Matt O’Neil (15). P’ville fell to 1-4 overall.

WESTLAKE has been shot out of a cannon, the Wildcats opening up the season 4-0 while getting Coach Chad Charney HIS 100th career win in a 71-27 hammering of CROTON-HARMON to win the Tigers’ Mayclim tourney title. MVP Marcus Jackette went for 27 points while Brayden Lingeza added 15 points  to receive an all-tourney nod.

Westlake advanced to the championship game of the tournament in Friday’s 69-44 win over Sleepy Hollow who had no answers for Jackette (27 points) and Lingeza (15 points)

Westlake also rocked Pleasantville, 61-37, behind another 20 points from Jackette and 10 more from Jayson Aprea.

Croton won its opening round game against North Salem, 57-55, behind Flynn (18 points) and Dugan (17), and gritty team defense.

HEN HUD is off to a 1-3 start after falling 54-41 to Nanuet despite double figures from Jack Hiltsley (14) and Nasir Emery (10). The Sailors followed that up with a 65-37 loss to a solid Pearl River club.

BRIARCLIFF (2-2) managed a strong 73-41 win over VALHALLA behind a sniping Luke Lawler (26 points) and Xavier Prekelezaj (13). The Vikings (0-1) were led by Brady Teter’s nine points.

 

CLASS AAA

WHITE PLAINS (1-1) forged a 49-37 win over Spellman where Otto Armstrong (12 points),

Bryce Thomas (11 points) and RJ Marcano (10 points) all reached double figures for the Tigers, who then got socked by Eastchester, 61-41, in a most concerning setback. White Plains Coach Spencer Mayfield, a favorite along the Section 1 circuit, was honored with former longtime girls’ Coach Sue Adams as the hardwood now dons their names in honor of their service to the Tigers’ highly respected basketball programs.

 

RAY GALLAGHER/DAVID TABER/ANDY JACOBS/CHRIS SMAJLAJ/GIL McMAHON PHOTOS