Los Angeles power Dominguez held off Mount Vernon in the final minute and beat the Knights, 60-57, in tonight’s Les Schwab Invitational semifinal in Hillsboro, Oregon.

I watched the entire game on the streaming video, with my puppy sleeping on my lap.

The Knights certainly had their chances. The game was tight throughout. They played inspired in the first half, leading 28-27 at the break, before a sluggish third quarter allowed Dominguez to take control.

Mount Vernon fell into an early seven-point hole before tying it at the end of the first quarter and leading for all of the second.

Sherrod Wright didn’t have his best game. He did a great job creating his shot but he just couldn’t knock enough down. Jabarie Hinds and Vaughan Allen played well and kept Mount Vernon in the game down the stretch. The Knights, though, had too many empty possessions and weren’t patient enough in the final minutes and Dominguez simply hit just enough free throws.

Not a bad effort for Mount Vernon, which is 4-1.

John Calarco had 20 points and eight rebounds to lift New Rochelle to a 70-63 win over Herndon (Virg) in the Benedictine Capital City Classic Monday in Richmond, Virginia.

Nice bounce-back win for the Huguenots, who dropped a five-point heartbreaker to strong Calvert Hall team in Saturday’s opening round. New Rochelle will play host Benedictine on Tuesday at 4:45 p.m.

All the Huguenots need to do is shoot the way they did against Herndon. They made 20 of 38 shots and were 21 of 25 from the line. Travis Wright was 6 for 6 from the stripe to go with 14 points and six rebounds. A.J. Burton scored 15 points.

According to the New Rochelle basketball web site, Antoine Mason hasn’t played in the two games down in Virginia. I’ll try to find out why.

Peekskill knocked off a feisty Gorton team, 66-47, in tonight’s Slam Dunk tournament championship at the County Center.

Don’t be fooled by the score. Gorton is here to win and actually took a 37-36 with 2:50 to play in the third on a Corey Green 3-pointer.

It might have awoken a Peekskill team that looked exhausted, uninspired and in disarray offensively for most of the night.

Ralph Watts had 24 points for Peekskill, and Daquan Brickhouse had 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Chris Ranglin, Corey Green and Jiman Villafuerte each had 10 points for Gorton.

The Wolves were down by as many as 12 early in the second quarter but held Peekskill to just nine points in the period. They had the ball in the closing seconds but never got a shot off.

All-tournament: Brian Voelkel, Iona Prep; Corey Green, Gorton; Chris Ranglin, Gorton; Ralph Watts, Peekskill and Darien Thomas, Peekskill.
MVP: Daquan “Superman” Brickhouse, Peekskill

The Andre Pope-less Iona Prep Gaels cruised past White Plains 72-49 in today’s third-place game in the Slam Dunk tournament at the County Center.

Pope sat out because of a leg injury suffered in last night’s thrilling overtime loss to Peekskill.

Still, the Gaels overwhelming White Plains. Matt Lyde scored a team-high 12 points, and Jordan Bronner (11), Brian Voelkel (10) and Sandro Carissimo (10) were all in double-figures. Iona wasn’t all that impressive, which I think was a product of a hangover from last night

Darrell Ward had 20 points and seven rebounds for White Plains, which looked almost disinterested the entire game. It’s been a long weekend for the Tigers.

If you can’t make it to the County Center tonight, you can watch the games live online on our Mogolus broadcast.

The link can be found here. The White Plains-Iona Prep consolation game will tip-off around 5:30 and Gorton-Peekskill should start around 7:15. The schedule has gone pretty smooth today.

For stats on the game — and the rest of the tournament — check out this site.

There’s also a site for boxscores and live play-by-play of every game, which you can access here.

There was plenty of basketball action outside the Slam Dunk tournament. Here’s a quick look at the highlights from the last two days:

Sunday
Albertus Magnus 60, Clarkstown South 41: Now who’s the best team in Rockland County? I bestowed the honor on South based on the fact it was returning so much talent and was in a final four contender in AA. Albertus, though, proved how good it really is with that victory. The Falcons, who recently lost to Tappan Zee in the Pearl River tournament final, got 16 points from Floyd Leroy and 15 from Flynn McFadden to win its own tournament championship.
Manhattan Center 69, Stepinac 58: It’s hard to call this a bad loss for Stepinac because I know nothing about Manhattan Center. It’s going to be interesting to monitor the Crusaders the rest of the way. My feeling is that they can beat anybody — and lose to anybody, too.

Saturday
Calvert Hall 69, New Rochelle 64: The Huguenots ran into a very strong Calvert Hall squad in the opening round of the Benedictine Capital City Classic in Virginia. Travis Wright had 22 points and A.J. Burton contributed 11 points and nine rebounds. The Huguenots played Herndon.
Mahopac 61, Yorktown 59: Tim Taps wins the game with a buzzer-beating, giving the Indians are hard-fought win and a tournament title. I knew a few people at this game, including Journal News staffer Justin Jones, who left the game raving about Yorktown center Keith Thomas. Another friend said he’s a “definite Division I prospect” if he keeps maturing. Thomas is a player I’ll have to see very soon.
Greeley 61, Sleepy Hollow 43: The Quakers rebounded from a tough loss on Friday night to Yorktown. Matt Townsend had 16 points for Greeley.
Albertus Magnus 62, Clarkstown North 47: Wins like this will surely give the Falcons a boost in seedings come playoff time. Class B teams get an extra two points for beating AA teams. Magnus has also beaten AA Suffern and Ramapo.

Check out this video of the slam dunk contest at the Les Schwab Invitational, the tournament Mount Vernon is competing in in Oregon. There’s a great clip of Jabarie Hinds throwing down a wind-mill.

Mount Vernon plays Dominguez — and dunk contest champ Robert Mandingo — tonight at 11:30 Eastern in the tournament semifinal.

Peekskill already won the Slam Dunk championship, right? The Red Devils beat Iona Prep in an overtime classic in the semifinals, and tonight’s final against Gorton is a mere formality.

Or is it?

I wouldn’t predict Gorton to beat Peekskill. In fact, if Peekskill won by 25, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised. But if Gorton somehow found a way to keep this game close — or even win — I wouldn’t be shocked, either.

Here are five reasons why I believe Gorton has a fighting chance tonight against Peekskill:

1. Gorton has nothing to lose. Personally, and I’m probably not alone here, I figured the Wolves would be lucky to go 1-2 this weekend — with 0-3 was a strong possibility. But the Wolves made a statement by beating Long Island Lutheran in the opening round. They then pulled off potentially the program’s biggest win in two decades by beating White Plains at the buzzer yesterday, a game they trailed by 18 points in the third quarter. The pressure is all on Peekskill to finish the job here. Nobody expects Gorton to win, which should help its chances.
2. Fatigue factor. Obviously, coming back from 18 points down against a team like White Plains required a load of energy. But the Red Devils have to be dragging today after their overtime win against Iona Prep late last night. Daquan Brickhouse played every second of that game, and Darien Thomas, Kenny Bradshaw and Ralph Watts all saw 33 minutes or more each. It has to take a toll.
3. Nobody plays harder. The Wolves are a decent team. But they’re allowed to compete with the elite because of how hard they play. Gorton has scratched and clawed every second it has been on the floor in the Slam Dunk, and it’s the single reason why it’s playing for the title. I don’t know what Gorton coach Rob Rizzo has sold these kids on, but he’s gotten them to run through walls for him just eight games into the season.
4. No intimidation. As great a program Peekskill is, the kids at Gorton aren’t concerned. Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and White Plains are annually on the Wolves’ schedule and Peekskill is barely on their radar. If they weren’t intimidated by White Plains and were able to beat them Tigers on the County Center floor, they won’t be intimidated by anyone.
5. Let-down factor. The one problem Peekskill has had this season is that, at times, it plays down to its competition and turns games that should be blowouts into uncomfortable double-digits wins. Well, Gorton has proven this weekend that you have to put it away early or suffer the consequences, coming back from 13 points down against Long Island Lutheran and 18 versus White Plains. Couldn’t you envision Peekskill having a hangover from last night and coming out flat against a hungrier Gorton squad. I could.

My prediction for the game: Peekskill 65, Gorton 52. I don’t expect an effort for Peekskill quite like last night. But I do see the Red Devils getting comfortably ahead and fighting off the feisty Wolves throughout the second half.

We might not see a better basketball game this season than what we were treated to tonight at the County Center.

Peekskill prevailed in an epic showdown with Iona Prep, pulling out an 80-76 victory in overtime of a Slam Dunk tournament semifinal.

Daquan Brickhouse delivered one of the truly remarkable performances of the season, scoring eight of his game-high 28 points in overtime. He played every minute of this slugfest of unbeatens, recording 11 assists and grabbing four rebounds.

So it’s Peekskill vs. Gorton for the Slam Dunk title, a game that likely come close to living up to either of the games they played today. Before the Peekskill-Iona thriller, Gorton came back from 18 points down in the third quarter and stunned White Plains, 53-52, on Corey Green’s put-back at the buzzer.

The Peekskill-Iona game will go down as the best of the season, not only because of the fact it was overtime between two of the area’s top three teams. But every single minute of this game was as consistently entertaining and extremely well-played.

Iona Prep played very well. Peekskill played its best game of the season.

Go player by player on Peekskill:

Ralph Watts: The Albany-bound senior only scored 13 points but hit arguably the biggest shot of his career. Watts drilled a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in regulation to put Peekskill up 64-63. The play was designed for Watts to catch the ball on the elbow and hit Darien Thomas cutting to the basket. The play broke down and Watts faced the basket and fired with confidence.
Daquan Brickhouse: Without Brickhouse, Peekskill would lose this game by 20. Maybe 30. His presence on both ends of the court is undeniable. He made so many good decisions with the basketball and made Iona’s guards earn everything they got. His 28 points and 11 assists should warrant a second straight MVP trophy as long as Peekskill beats Gorton as expected.
Darien Thomas: The senior made big shots all night and stretched the Iona defense enough to allow Brickhouse to get into the lane. Thomas scored 17 points and collected 12 rebounds. He hit 6 of 10 shots in 36 minutes despite playing most of the game in foul trouble.
Kenny Bradshaw: If you’re Peekskill, you have to take the bad with the good with Bradshaw. The 6-7 center doesn’t need to be a scorer on this team, just rebound and defend in the paint. Against a polished big man like Brian Voelkel, Bradshaw grabbed 12 rebounds. He didn’t finish all that well around the basket, and turned the ball over a bunch. But a solid game.
Malcolm McDonald: Like Bradshaw, McDonald just needs to be a positive impact and not hurt the team. He had four points and five rebounds, and got good use out of his five fouls, although the final one — where he hit Voelkel with 0.9 seconds to go in regulation — nearly lost Peekskill the game. Still, he was trying to make a play, which is all you can ask.
The bench: Sean Smythe came on and scored nine points in 15 minutes, hitting 3 of 4 shots and draining a pair of free throws in overtime. Jayme Gooding was strong defensively.

As for Iona Prep, how can you argue with what it did as a whole. There are some key stats that you can point to that really hurt:

FG shooting in 3rd and 4th quarters: 8 for 29
3-pt shooting in 3rd and 4th quarters: 0 for 6
Free throw shooting in the game: 14 for 25 (56-percent)

Sandro Carissimo led Iona with 20 points, hitting 7 of 15 shots and 4 of 7 from 3s. Jordan Bronner added 16 points and Jeff Mack had 12 off the bench.

Voelkel was excellent all night, recording 17 points (4-7 FG, 8-10 FT), 13 rebounds and four assists. He had 10 points in the second quarter as Iona went into the break up 39-38, and he nearly won the game in the final second of regulation. Trailing by a point, he drew a foul on the way to the basket with 0.9 seconds left. He made the first but missed the second, leading to overtime.

(By the way, this ‘six players on the court’ stuff might be true. I didn’t see it. But did it effect the game? Why so much fuss?).

Injuries to Pope and Voelkel definitely hurt Iona Prep. Pope (charlie horse) was clearly limping the entire second half and Voelkel (leg cramps) missed a few minutes in the fourth quarter and then first two minutes of overtime. Peekskill went on a 10-3 to start OT, which wasn’t a coincidence. If you saw the end of the game, Pope was in too much pain to even sit on the bench. He was actually on the ground with his face buried on a chair.

Again, just an extraordinary game by two superb teams. I didn’t think Peekskill had it in them after watching Saturday’s game against South Shore. Even in a 38-point win, the Red Devils seemed to lack that intensity and ability to execute on the offensive end. To me, Iona Prep is as polished a team you’ll ever see in December, and the poise it shows is impressive.

Tonight, we saw two juggernauts trade blows for 36 unforgettable minutes. It’s a shame this wasn’t a championship game. It’s even more of a shame that it had to end.

Anybody up for Part 2 in Glens Falls in March? I am.

Peekskill defeated Iona Prep 80-76 in an overtime thriller in the second semifinal of the Slam Dunk tournament tonight at the County Center. What an incredible game.

Daquan Brickhouse had eight of his 28 points for Peekskill in OT. The game was tied at 64-64 at the end of regulation.

Brian Voelkel missed the first two minutes of overtime because of leg cramps.

Brian Voelkel drew a foul with 0.9 seconds to play. He hit the first free throw but missed the second.

Ralph Watts nailed a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left for Peekskill.

Daquan Brickhouse tied it at 61-61 with a 3-pointer with 1:01 left. Jeff Mack answered with a driving lay-up with 14 seconds later. On the next possession Brickhouse missed two free throws but the rebound bounced off Brian Voelkel and went out of bounds.

Andre Pope just picked up his fourth foul and it appeared Brian Voelkel injured his left leg. He needs to come out of the game. Pope left the game for a bit earlier with a leg injury, too.

If you’re home reading this blog right now, you made a huge mistake by not coming to the County Center. We couldn’t have asked for a better game. Iona Prep and Peekskill have slugged back and forth throughout. Iona led 53-52 after three quarters.

The lead changed hands six times in the period and 12 times through the first three. Brian Voelkel scored 10 second-quarter points for Iona, which was down for most of the half. Voelkel converted a three-point play with 32.6 seconds left to give the Gaels the lead.

At the half, Voelkel had 12 points and six rebounds. Sandro Carissimo had 11 points, including 3 for 3 from 3-pointe range.

Daquan Brickhouse has been incredible for Peekskill. In the first half, he had 11 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Darien Thomas had nine points and Ralph Watts had six.

In the first half, Peekskill shot 14 for 24 in the first half (58.3 percent) and Iona Prep was 15 for 32 (46.9 percent). Iona was 6 of 11 from 3s.

After one quarter, Peekskill led 17-14.

Gorton beat White Plains, 53-52, at the buzzer in in tonight’s first semifinal of the Slam Dunk tournament at the County Center.

Corey Green made a put-back as time expired to win it, capping a wild final minute.

White Plains led this game by 18 points early in the third quarter before Gorton stormed back. The Wolves trailed by seven after three quarters and took the lead quickly in the fourth. Green hit consecutive 3-pointers in the opening minute before a Jiman Villafuerte jumper gave the Wolves the lead.

Alexis Nunez hit a 3-pointer with 2:40 left to give White Plains a 50-47 advantage. Trailing by two with 37 seconds left, Chris Ranglin made a put-back to tie it. He was fouled but missed the free throw.

Nunez hit a free throw with 16 seconds remaining. Off the timeout, Green missed a 3-pointer with nine seconds left. Chris Ranglin (21 points) got the rebound but missed the put-back. Green crashed in for the next rebound and made a soft left-hander that rolled around the rim and into the net at the buzzer.

What an incredible ending a sensational victory for Gorton, which I thought would go 0-3, maybe 1-2, in this event. Now the Wolves has a shot at a title, albeit a long one against either Peekskill or Iona Prep.

Sorry to pass this along, but the Peekskill-Iona Prep game will not be broadcast live on our web site tonight.

Our photography staff informed me of the news earlier. They apologize for the inconvenience.

UPDATED, 5:42: Scores from earlier today:

Long Island Lutheran 57, Collegiate 53
Greece Athena 52, South Shore 39

UPDATED, 5:23: A quick second half of the Greece Athena-South Shore game has kept us on schedule. Gorton vs. White Plains will tip off at 5:40. As long as we don’t have OT or a long game, Peekskill-Iona Prep should start at 7:40.

Update, 4:52 p.m.: If you’re coming to tonight’s Slam Dunk semifinal games at the County Center, don’t rush.

The Greece Athena-South Shore game is early in the third quarter. It probably won’t end until about 5:30, which means White Plains-Gorton won’t tip-off until 5:45 or 5:50 — which is about a half-hour later than expected.

That means Iona Prep-Peekskill won’t begin until 7:45 or so. I’ll keep you updated.

If you didn’t get a chance to read it, I highly recommend you check out Rick Carpiniello’s column today on Gorton senior Corey Green.

Carp details how Green has turned his life around after fights and anger issues caused him to miss his freshman season at Lincoln and sophomore year at Gorton. It truly is a remarkable story.

Also in today’s Journal News, Justin Jones covered Mahopac’s thrilling buzzer-beating win over Yorktown in the George Burdies Memorial tournament. Tim Taps tapped in the game-winner off the inbounds for a 61-59 victory.

Justin Jones, a former basketball standout at Nyack, text me during the game to pump up Keith Thomas, Yorktown’s stud big man. Thomas recorded 23 points and 16 rebounds in the game.

Also check out my Westchester/Putnam basketball notebook, which was in today’s paper. You can check out my Rockland basketball notebook here.

Well, we’ve got the matchup we all wanted: Iona Prep vs. Peekskill at the County Center.

It doesn’t get much better than this (unless, of course, Mount Vernon were somehow involved). In my rankings, I have Iona Prep No. 1 behind Mount Vernon and Peekskill 3. In the state rankings in Class A, Iona Prep is No. 5 and Peekskill is 7th.

Iona Prep and Peekskill will play in tonight’s semifinals, which is scheduled for 7, although it probably won’t tip off until 8. Gorton will play White Plains in the other semifinal at 5:15.

Here’s a quick look at the four teams playing for the Slam Dunk title:

Gorton
Record: 5-2
Opening round: Came back from 13 points down to upset Long Island Lutheran, 59-56. Chris Ranlin had 27 points (9 for 16 FG) and eight rebounds in the win. Matt Ng covered the game.
How’d they win: Long Island Lutheran was without its best player, 6-8 phenom Tobias Harris, and two other starters. But let’s not take anything away from Gorton. Even without those guys, Long Island being a private school that recruits talent is supposed to win this game. Gorton outhustled and outworked Long Island, and Wolves coach Rob Rizzo did a phenomenal job on the sideline. His decision to apply a trap off the inbounds, which the Wolves hadn’t done much, on Long Island’s final possession disrupted the offense enough to force a bad shot and secure the victory. That’s a little thing that probably went unnoticed.
Key stat: 12 for 18 (66.7-percent). That’s what Gorton shot in the second half, most of which were high-percentage jumpers and lay-ups. Shot selection and patience won them the game.
Scary stat: 18 turnovers. The Wolves gave the ball away too much, something White Plains will exploit if they do it again.
Can they win it all?: If they keep their emotions in check and don’t get caught up in the magnitude, I’m giving Gorton a very good chance to win tonight. But it’s hard to envision Gorton beating Peekskill or Iona Prep if it advances.

White Plains
Record: 5-3
Opening round: Held Collegiate to six second-half points and won 46-30.
How’d they win: It was a combination of solid defense and unthinkably bad shooting by Collegiate. Tigers junior Bobby Jones did a great job denying Christen Fisch the ball in the second half, holding him scoreless after he had 16 before the break and building a five-point lead. Collegiate shot 11-percent from the field in the second half and missed all seven of its 3-pointers.
Key stat: 4. That’s how many 3-pointers Lawrence Pope hit coming off the bench for White Plains. Pope is a sophomore transfer from Oklahoma.
Scary stat: 2 points, 5 shots. That’s all Darrell Ward had yesterday. If White Plains wants to win this event — or compete at all this season — it will need Ward to exert himself more in the offense.
Can they win it all?: Like Gorton, it’s hard to envision either will compete with the Iona Prep-Peekskill winner. Still, White Plains has plenty of experience at the County Center and I think the Tigers will respond knowing that there’s no pressure on them if they reach the final.

Peekskill
Record: 6-0
Opening round: Scored 33 of the game’s 35 points and squash South Shore, 61-23.
How’d they win: Too much talent and depth. The Red Devils admitted they didn’t play all that well, despite the score. They just stormed out to a huge lead and had superior athletes. Daquan Brickhouse practically toyed with the opposing guard. The junior point guard had 12 points (6-10 FG), seven assists, six rebounds and four steals.
Key stat: 28. That’s how many turnovers Peekskill forced. That’s almost one per minute.
Scary stat: 1-2 free throws. Peekskill’s lack of aggressiveness after the opening few minutes is evidenced by how little it got to the foul line. To beat Iona Prep, you must get into its bench. The Red Devils will do that a little with their speed. But getting them into foul trouble will be a huge boost.
Can they win it all?: Absolutely. In most eyes, the defending Slam Dunk champs are basically playing for the title tonight against the Gaels. They cannot, however, slip into the lethargic and uninspired stretches that have plagued them at times this season. Iona Prep will run away with the game if they do.

Iona Prep
Record: 8-0
Opening round: Got out to 26-4 lead in the first quarter and romped Greece Athena 69-33. Jane McManus has the story.
How’d they win: An open lane to the basket certainly helped. Iona picked its shots against a Greece Athena team that was not quite ready for the Gaels’ pressure. Iona converted 20 Greece turnovers in the first half into 23 points.
Key stat: 17. Points for Jordan Bronner, who most view as Iona’s fourth option on offense. When your fourth scorer can put up 17 in a game like this, opposing teams better take notice.
Scary stat: It’s hard to find anything, really. But I’ll go with 4, which is how many 3-pointers the Gaels made in the game. They’ll need to shoot more from the outside against a Peekskill team that’s going to limit penetration.
Can they win it all?: Iona is still my pick to win the Slam Dunk title, and I feel more confident after watching it yesterday. They took apart a Greece Athena team that really isn’t that bad. Peekskill was sluggish at times. Iona really showed no chinks in the armor.