Day 6 recap: My lasting image
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- February
- 28
Every year at Championship Week, I leave with at least one lasting image that will remain in my memory forever.
Last year’s was the vision of Joe Lombardi of Briarcliff trying to punch the ball out of Marc Miller’s hands in North Salem’s overtime championship victory.
In 2007, it was Sherrod Wright slamming down an alley-oop off the inbounds.
In ‘06 it was watching Jonathan Mitchell of Mount Vernon hand his MVP plaque to Michael Coburn after an explosive fourth-quarter against Suffern.
In ‘05, it was watching thousands of fans pile into the County Center to watch New Rochelle end Mount Vernon’s five-year reign as champs.
We had Taj Finger’s clinching dunk in ‘04; Beacon’s buzzer beater over Peekskill in ‘03; two years of Kyl Jones win games that felt like 5-on-1 for Pleasantville and two years of Ben Gordon magic.
My 2009 memory has already been set. It was tonight where I sat in my chair and got a panoramic view of mayhem, euphoria, shock and relief. There have been some wild celebrations at the County Center. But nothing has been quite like Lincoln Hall’s.
What ensued after the final buzzer tonight at the County Center was unbelievable. Lincoln Hall fans jumped off the balcony. White t-shirts showered onto the court. The coach was crying, the players were sprinting in different directions and flopping onto the floor. Nobody really knew how to celebrate their stunning 41-39 last-second win over Pleasantville — but they weren’t about to stop and ask for directions.
I don’t want to give away too much of my story that will run in tomorrow’s Journal News, mainly because I think it’s one of my most proudest. But I think Lincoln Hall coach Henry Taylor gave the best first-person account of winning:
“I didn’t know where I was running, I just ran out on the floor. I was dizzy. I was crying. The feeling was just so good.”
Lincoln Hall probably had no business celebrating a championship last night. It played right into Pleasantville’s hands for 31 minutes. The pace was slow, the score was low and the Panthers were right where they wanted to be: protecting a lead in the fourth quarter, something they probably do better than any team in Class B, maybe Section 1.
Pleasantville was up 39-34 with under five minutes left. That’s it. Against Pleasantville, the game is supposed to be over. The Panthers are too disciplined, too well-coached and simply too composed to blow a lead like that.
But Lincoln Hall learned a thing or two in losing three times to Pleasantville in the regular season. And Panthers coach Bob Delle Bovi knew what it was:
“Sometimes talent beats fundamentals.”
Delle Bovi wasn’t trying to be condescending with his remark. He knows that, over the court of 128 minutes spanning four games, Lincoln Hall’s talent would eventually be better than Pleasantville’s.
And in many ways, Delle Bovi is content with that.
“We played hard. What am I going to do? We lost by two points to a team that’s 15-20 points better than us, and we were ahead the whole game.”
Lincoln Hall’s comeback was simply remarkable. Tysean Saigo, the MVP, had seven points in its 12-3 spurt to finish the game, including the winning put-back with 1.9 seconds left. Sir Aaron Taylor played like a man, recording 12 points and 12 rebounds. And despite using five players almost the entire game, the United proved to be quicker, stronger and tougher down the stretch.
The first boys game wasn’t quite as good as we’d hoped. Valhalla convincingly beat North Salem for the Class C title, disproving my theory that “the team with the best player always wins the Class C championship.” Apparently, having five of the Top 10 is good enough, too.
Valhalla’s starting five of James Jensen, Dan Annunziata, Jon Filipe, Oasiris Yates and Tom Hart were brilliant this week, all taking turns carrying the load. Annunziata got the MVP for his stellar second half against Hamilton in the semis and ability to dictate the tempo today. But it could have been any of the five.
Personally, I would have given it to Yates, who’s developed so much physically this season — but has matured as much as anybody. He gave up the spotlight as the scorer and instead accepted a defensive- and rebounding-oriented role, which has unquestionably been the difference from this being a very good team to one that could win a state title.
“He’s sacrificed more of himself for the team than any player I’ve ever coach,” Vikings coach Dave Greiner said.
But if I go home feeling good for anybody tonight, it’s Greiner. I’ve known him and his family since I was in high school. He took some lumps as a coach when he was back at Panas for not winning with the Russian 7-footer (he wasn’t really that good at that time, by the way). But there isn’t a more genuine and deserving person to have a moment like he had today — almost in tears on the bench as they carried out the table with the Gold Ball on it.
Whatever happens tomorrow likely won’t top today’s event. The vision of Lincoln Hall students jumping off the balcony is forever burned in brain.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, February 28th, 2009 at 9:16 pm by Kevin Devaney Jr..
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Kevin-
when sir aaron taylor went to get that gold ball and held it high over his head….i said to myself…that must be the greatest feeling in the world.
would it be possible to see some of those other images from the last few years?
Completely agree on Coach Greiner. Excellent coach and a stand-up guy.
What happened to the final QT of VIDEO ?
Congratulations to Linooln Hall and Valhalla. Must be a great feeling to be one of those kids this morning. Thats the culmination of a lot of hard work. It’s hard not to feel particularly good for the Lincoln Hall players as kids who obviously have not been dealt the easiest hand in life.
Who was the 7 foot Russian kid for Panas? I don’t remember him at all.
Congrats to Lincoln Hall for winning it all. A great bunch of players. I tip my hat to Coach Bobbie from Pville. I love the hard nose defense. I love watching teams play defense in basketball.
Good Luck to all the kids !!!
It was a great season for section one basketball.
Congratulations Lincoln Hall. You have more fans outside of your school than you think. It’s a great accomplishment for all of you. Good Luck in States!!!
Kevin,
As much as I appreciate the coverage of the Section 1 Class B and C championships yesterday, I’m a little surprised at the lack of CHSAA quarterfinal coverage. Yesterday was a huge day of basketball at Mount St Michael (an easy drive from anywhere in Westchester right over the border of Mt Vernon in the Bronx). Bishop Ford played Spellman in the first game. Stepinac beat St John’s Prep in a very exciting 2nd game to set up the Ford/Stepinac rematch in the semi’s. Rice came back to beat St Raymonds in the Archdiocesan championship in the 3rd game. The level of athleticism and strength in the Rice/St Raymonds game would really be something for a lot of local Westchester fans and kids to see. Stepinac’s game got a two sentence blurb in the paper, Mount and Iona’s wins didn’t get any mention. Mount beat LaSalle and Iona beat McClancy each by about 20 to set up the semi-final matchups Tuesday at Holy Cross.
The Stepinac game was one of runs, Stepinac started out with an 18-4 first quarter. Baltimore caught an alley oop dunk and then had a nice catch and dunk within the first couple minutes of the game – he also got fouled on a third dunk attempt and went to the line. #1 for Stepinac also had a breakaway dunk in the first quarter. It looked like it could be a blowout. But then the 2nd quarter started. St Johns Prep came out on fire in the 2nd quarter. Between the 2nd and 3rd quarter SJP must’ve shot 70% from the field and pulled ahead by about 8 by the end of the 3rd. Stepinac came out strong in the fourth and was able to pull ahead for an 8 point win. Each of Stepinac’s guards hit some huge shots in the fourth to help the comeback. Baltimore was a monster on the boards.
I thought the Mount/LaSalle game may have been closer, but Mount held on and won by 20. Mount looked really strong. Iona also won by 20, beating a good McClancy team. The Mount/Iona game on Tues should be a good one. Mount seems to be playing well at the right time. Both regular season games were close.
I hope the Journal News has some coverage of the CHSAA A semi-finals on Tuesday at Holy Cross in Queens. 3 of the 4 semi-finalists are local teams.
Hey Kev sounds like that Lincoln Hall Pleasantville game was incredible, but i was wondering how it compares to last years North Salem vs Briarcliff game?
HOOPS FAN. YOU WANT COVERAGE OF THE C.H.S.A.A. BUY A NEW YORK NEWSPAPER.
foulshot,
Which county do you think Stepinac and Iona are in?Considering the relatively poor games in the Section 1 AA and A playoffs so far, some CHSAA A coverage might be nice. I hope Peekskill vs. Lakeland is a good game tonight – I think it has a chance to be.
Hoops fan,
i hear what you are saying, but kevin can only be in one place at one time. the journal news can’t send a reporter to the bronx for a full day like they can send kevin to the county center. if the stepinac, iona and mount st michael coaches sent kevin a synopsis of the games as they should, i’m sure kevin would give the chsaa more ink. afterall, the stepinac and iona rosters are probably 90% westchester kids.
foulshot – the daily news and ny post are more interested in reporting about a stabbing on southern blvd then they are about reporting on high school basketball.
Iona,
I wasn’t saying I expect Kevin to be at Mount all day. But I would think the Journal News could send someone for at least one or two of the games. Besides what basketball fan wouldn’t want to watch Rice and St Rays play after the Stepinac game. Or at least make an effort to get a full game story from the coaches. It was literally two sentences about Stepinac’s game and nothing about Iona or Mount. I’m not blaming Kevin at all, I know he has his hands full all week at the County Center – but it would’ve been nice to get some coverage of some great basketball.
I was at the County Center today for the MV/Pok game. I thought Pok would’ve given them a better game. Judging Rice from yesterday and MV from today, MV will have its hands full if they both can advance to the Federations.
Hoops Fan do you honetly have this much time to write that much on each post?
Hit me,
Do you use a typewriter or type on a computer using two fingers? Writing a couple paragraphs in a minute or two is simple for most literate people. If it was too much reading for you I’ll try to stick with “see spot run”-type sentences for your sake next time. Great to see we have some former Ivy leaguers on this blog like yourself.
The Valhalla game was the best game, for Valhalla fans. It’s great to see your team win convincingly. Nothing wrong with that. Kevin, great assessment that Valhalla has a lot of very good players. Best of luck to them in New Paltz. Your fans are EXTREMELY happy and proud. Go Vikings! Griener is a class act and deserves great accolades. WAY TO GO COACH!
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.