The first Slam Dunk championship was handed out last night. And it went to an unlikely recipient.
North Rockland followed up its upset win of Long Island Lutheran by knocking off White Plains 59-43 in the final. The Red Raiders went on a 22-2 run from the final minutes of the third quarter and into the fourth.
John Perez earned MVP honors with 19 points, 14 of which came in the second half. Perez was a force in the paint during the second-half rally, and Jorge Cruz added eight of his 16 points in the stretch.
Huge win for North Rockland. By taking the tournament title, it officially establishes itself back as one of the elite teams in Class AA.
In the consolation, Stepinac pulled off a dramatic overtime win over Long Island Lutheran. Despite losing Conroy Baltimore in the final minute of regulation with fouls, Kadeem Francis carried the Crusaders in OT, scoring the final four points.
No team needed a win this weekend more than Stepinac, which had been floundering the past two weeks after a strong start. It hasn’t shot the ball well at all but you have to imagine the averages will figure their way out.
Pleasantville defeated Edgemont in the challenge game in the early afternoon. Pleasantville led by three at the half before blowing the game open in the first four minutes of the third quarter to improve to 7-0.
The first two days of Slam Dunk didn’t exactly feature stellar basketball. The shooting percentages were under 35-percent and the most points any boys team had at halftime of a game was 23 by Pleasantville (the Nanuet girls had 31 in Saturday).
The five teams that won this weekend averaged only 19.6 points at halftime.
3 Comments
I’m not sure Long Island Lutheran will be returning to the County Center anytime soon. Security was out shooting the breeze in the lobby, while a heckler harassed some of their players? Why is it up to other fans to say something to this man, when security is being paid well to perform this service. Shut him up or throw the loud mouth out. Also, who ran the clock last night? Long Island Lutheran had 4 seconds to get a last shot up in regulation in a tie game and the clock was never started? If ever you needed someone who knew what they were doing, it was then. With the loss to Gorton last year, and losses to North Rockland and Stepinac in OT this year, the County Center has not been good to luhi. Congrats to the North Rockland team on their championship, they rose to the challenge in the third quarter when White Plains rallied to take the lead. They showed a well balanced squad and will be a team to be reckoned with later this year.
wplains never rallied. they got their butts kicked, the 2nd half was boring as nrockland did whatever they wanted.
the slam dunk is better off having c.t.k or rice instead of luhi. those types of teams will draw a big crowd.
huh?
White Plains never rallied? Which game were you at? What kind of a screen name is huh?