Yorktown Picks up Steam; Byram Takes Tourney Honors

By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays

So, at this point, after resonating victories over Mount Vernon last week and FOX LANE Friday, it’s fair to assume YORKTOWN is poised to make some noise along the Section 1 circuit, particularly in Class AA after Coach Mark Pavella’s Huskers went ahead and whipped the visiting Foxes by a 51-28 final.

Husker wings Brandon Montero (20 points, 8 rebounds) and Kaden Gonzalez (13 points) had their way for the better part of the night, but the Huskers, on the whole, dominated from start to finish; minus a few moments when it looked like the Foxes belonged.

If it weren’t for Kevin New’s five first-quarter points, the Foxes (2-2) would have been chasing more than a 12-9 deficit at the end of the first quarter, which was dominated by Montero (dunk, block) and Justin Price (4 points apiece). Montero’s seventh point gave the Huskers (4-1) a 15-9 lead, which New cut to 15-11 after hitting his fifth-straight free throw with just over 5:00 before half.

Montero’s 11th point provided a 19-13 lead with less than 4:00 till half. Gonzalez, who hit a career-high seven 3’s in the recent romp of Clarkstown South, hit another 3 for a 22-13 lead with 3:30 before the half, and Montero hit another hoop for his 13th point to open up a 24-13 lead with at 2:38 on a 9-2 run. Montero’s 15th point of the half capped a great effort and provided the Huskers a 26-15 halftime lead before Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” got the crowd juiced with holiday joy. Fox Lane had just four buckets to Yorktown’s 11 in the opening half, but the Foxes did hit 7-of-7 free throws to hang around.

Yorktown came into the game allowing just 47.3 PPG while the Foxes came in averaging 54.7, so hoops were tough to come by for Coach Mike Tomassi’s Foxes. A Gonzo put-back at 1:45 of the third gave the Huskers a 35-21 edge, which they extended to 37-21 at the end of three quarters.

Costello’s turn-around jumper for his sixth point gave Yorktown a 39-21 lead early in the fourth. A back-door cut by Gonzalez (13 points) extended Yorktown’s lead to 19 points with 2:58 left, essentially ending any hope for Fox Lane, which needs work against back-door cuts.

Montero finished with a game-high 20 points and eight boards, but more impressive was the Huskers’ commitment to team defense.

“We knew we needed to stop their main guys and personally I think we made it happen,” Gonzalez said. “We played a great team game. We had players make plays like Brandon did. Some guys off the bench are stepping up. Leaving a solid team like them to just 28 points is great defense. All of us bought in.”

Kevin New (12 points, 2 boards), Arthur Shevick (5 points, 2 assists), Logan Mammola (4 points, 3 rebounds) and James Minotti (2 points, 7 rebounds) put in work for the Foxes.

While SOMERS senior F Mac Sullivan recovers from a shoulder injury, the host Tuskers (1-1) suffered a tough 55-52 opening night loss to reigning Section 1 champ Tappan Zee Friday before bounding back to knock off Kennedy Catholic, 65-43, in the consy round of the Somers tournament Saturday.

Somers, which is knocking off some hoops rust after winning the NYS Class A football championship in late Nov., made short work of Kennedy behind MVP Brady Leitner (20 points, 3 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals), All-Tourney choice Nate Cohen (14 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals), Andrew Violante (10 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals), Matt D’Ippolito (7 points, 5 boards, 3 assists) and Jacob Hauser (5 points, 9 boards, 6 assists).

Against TZ, Violante (16pts, 5 boards, 3 assists) paced an attack that was much better than last year’s loss to the Dutchmen in the Class A finals when the Tuskers scored but 15 points in a loss for the ages. Brady Leitner (12 points, 4 boards, 4 assists) and Cohen (10 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists) were essential to the cause.

Somers knows it will get better over time under first-year Coach James Loughran, and the reigning Section 1 champion Dutchies provided an early measuring stick, just as they did in last year’s sectional finals.

“(TZ Coach) Gaines is a phenomenal coach,” Loughran said. “He’s one of my role models, to be honest, so he gets them playing hard no matter what. He challenged me on my first game. We hurt ourselves with turnovers and bad shot selections and just being stagnant offensively. We watched film today before our game and just took note of it and fixed it. It’ll be a process with us. Losing the seniors this program had last year are big shoes to fill, and learning my system isn’t just an overnight thing, but the love we all got so far for one another is special. Can’t beat that.”

Class AA MAHOPAC improved to 3-0 after a 50-37 win over Class A LAKELAND (3-4). The Wolf Pac outscored Lakeland, 37-16, in the second half. Daniel Dedvukaj (19 points), Liam Scanlon (11), John Kearney, Danny Koch and Connor Ferrieri (6 each) paced Mahopac. Sean Perry led the Hornets with eight points, but they were off the mark in the second half.

BREWSTER (3-2) won its third game in a row beating, knocking off visiting  Carmel 59-54  in its home opener.  The game was played in honor of Zachary Schwartz.  Brewster led big early in this game but Carmel battled back and took the lead for a short time at 36-35 in the third . Brewster responded by taking the lead 40-38 going into the fourth.   Brewster was led by Matt Thompson, who had 13 rebounds and eight blocks to go with his team-high 16 points. Isaiah Lopez had his third consecutive big game for the Bears.  Senior grunt man Colin LaMoreaux was the X factor doing all the work that does not show up in the box score.  Brewster had 4 players in double figures in the win, including junior swingman Will Dignan (11 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and only 1 turnover).

Brewster evened out its record to 2-2 after beating Riverside, 62-30.  Brewster came out very sluggish and was down 10-0 to start the ball game and 13-7 to end the first quarter.  Brewster outscored Riverside 55-17 for the last three quarters. Lopez led the way with 15 points for the Bears. Greg Dunlap provided huge defensive minutes in the win. Dignan added nine points and seven assists.

“We started slow and were down 27-16 at half but fought back,” first-year Carmel Coach Doug Hills said. “We had the ball with ten seconds left down three, but could not complete the comeback.”

Carmel was led by Aiden White’s 21 points and another 17 from Joey Loughlin.

The Rams followed that up with a 65-44 loss to HORACE GREELEY, despite 21 points from White. The Quakers (2-1) were led by Benji Ricardo’s career high 23 points. Nicky Tasso (11 points, 8 rebounds), Filip Vujanic (10 points) and Zach Boyriven (8 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) were big contributors for the Quakers.

Class A BYRAM HILLS narrowly survived an overtime scare from Class AA PEEKSKILL, which gave the Bobcats (4-0) fits in a 61-57 Byram win. Bobcat Chris Amenedo stroked a huge 3 as time expired to force OT. He finished with 11 points. Peekskill had blanketed Bobcat sniper Tyson Repa, holding him scoreless in the first half, but the cream rose to the top in the second half when Repa ripped off 24 to aid the comeback. Byram F Zack Efobi added a double-double (10 points, 15 rebs).  Byram Hills got a game-tying 3 at the buzzer by Chris Amenedo in regulation before a Zac Efobi dunk sealed the win over Peekskill in the opening of the Bronxville Tournament, which the Bobcats went on to win with a 75-47 victory over Iona Prep B.  Repa earned MVP honors with 14 points, eight boards and eight while All-Tourney honors went to Amenedo (16 points) and Efobi (16 points, 10 boards, 3 blocks).

January 3rd, Yorktown will host Class A Byram Hills in what should be a big test for both.

CLASS A

PANAS took home top honors in the Harrison Tournament over the weekend.

“We needed to get a couple wins down there after a choppy first week of the season,” Panas Coach Mike Auerbach admitted. “It was a competitive tournament with solid teams, so to come away with the championship was huge.”

On Thursday, Panas (3-3) avenged its opening-game loss to Pelham by jumping out to a big lead and doing enough to hang on late.

“We led by as many as 19 in the second half on the back of Isaiah Wallace’s hot shooting,” the coach said.

Wallace hit four from beyond the arc, chipping in for 14 points while Tyler Greene added 15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assist and four steals. Logan Tolbert posted another strong double-double (13 point, 20 boards).

In the finals, Panas knocked off Hasting to secure the title by jumping out again early to build a 15-5 first-quarter lead.

“As a team, we hit five threes in the opening quarter, three from Tolbert and two from Greene, and junior Sean Coen was huge off the bench for us going 3 for 3 from the field for seven points, while also helping to lead a strong defensive effort. We think we can win games on the defensive end and Coen, Isaiah Wallace, Cory Williams and Cayden Turner are a big part of that.”

Greene finished the championship game with 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists, good enough for the all-tournament team.  Tolbert collected the MVP honors finishing with another double-double (21 points, 13 rebounds).

In HEN HUD’s 55-42 win over Sleepy Hollow, as part of a meaningful night promoting suicide awareness, Gino Wamack (10 points), Justin Parkes (10), Conor Prokopiak (10), Jeremy Heady (9), Joey Abboud (6) and Jack Hiltsley (6) were all featured in a balanced effort for the Sailors (2-3).

CLASS AAA

WHITE PLAINS made short work of Ramapo, 75-35, behind Logan McCormick (20 points), Luke Brooks (12), Daniel Herzner (11), Miles Johnson (8) and Nick Triolo (8). The undefeated Tigers (5-0) also worked a 77-63 win over John Jay EF behind McCormick’s double-double (22 points, 12 boards). Herzner (15 points, 5 rebounds), Triolo (12 points), Johnson (10 points, 5 assists) and Brooks (9 points, 6 boards) were all big in the win.

OSSINING improved to 4-0 after a 79-41 win over Yonkers behind 24 from Kris Singh (4 assists, 4 steals).

CLASS A/B/C

PUTNAM VALLEY was bested by VALHALLA, 74-70, losing its second heartbreaker in a row. The Tigers (2-4) were also beaten by Peekskill in a great come-from-behind effort by the Red Devils. James Apostolico led PV with 18 against Valhalla, and both Ricky Meister and Connor Flynn added 10 each. Mikaele Martinez (23 points, 10 rebounds) was a beast for the Vikings (3-2), who saw Julian Amorosa (19 points, 8 rebounds) and Antonis Paloungos (14 points) with major contributions.

CROTON-HARMON won the Mayclim Tournament with a 62-57 win over Edgemont behind an MVP effort from MVP Orlando Gomez (26 points) to improve to 3-2.

HALDANE sits at 2-1 after defeating BRIARCLIFF 56-40. Matt Nachamkin (17 points), Fallou Faye (13), Zane Del Pozo (7) and Mike Murray (7) paced the Class C Blue Devils while Luke Lawler and Jordon Kratz  each had 10 for the Class A Bears (1-2).

WESTLAKE (2-1) lost to Edgemont on a half-court buzzer beater and fell 47-46 in the opening round of the Croton-Harmon tournament. Nick Castellano finished with 18 points while Marcus Jackette (11) and CJ Prosperino (10) chipped in. The Wildcats (2-1) ended up third in the tourney after defeating Lincoln, 80-53, in the consy game. Castellano had 21 points and was named to the All-Tourney team. Jackette ripped off a game-high 27 points while Prosperino (11), Brayden Lingeza (7) and Luis Beato (7) chipped in.

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