12 50 p.m.: OK, so I’m finally situated here at the County Center. Ursuline beat Haldane girls in a challenge game earlier today. Now, it’s Tappan Zee up 28-20 at halftime on Middletown of Section 9. Tahj Vines and Ryan O’Rourke each have eight points. Pat Peterson has seven. Both Peterson and O’Rourke each have made two 3-pointers.
Somehow, Middletown has outrebounded TZ 20-8 in the first half but still trails. Actually, I know how. TZ has forced 12 turnovers.
More in a bit…
Update, 12:54 p.m.: Middletown on a 9-2 run to cut it to one, but Peterson answers with a steal and a hoop. Timeout TZ, which has a 32-29 lead.
Update, 1:04 p.m.: Not a good quarter for TZ. Middletown junior Shaquille Green just hit a bucket off a pass from Kendrick Ray (brother of Allan Ray of Villanova) to tie the score at 36-36. Middletown outscored the Dutchmen 16-8 in the period.
Update, 1:08 p.m.: A hoop by Jose Canario gives Middletown its first lead of the half. Another hoop by Green gives Middletown a 40-36 edge and forces a TZ timeout with 6:22 to go.
1:14 p.m.: Joe Letizia, who had been on the bench for a while, comes off to hit a 3 from the left corner. It was TZ’s first points in 4:34 and cut Middletown’s swelling lead to 44-39. Timeout TZ with 3:53 to play.
1:23 p.m.: Middletown up 45-40 with 1:22 to play.
1:26 p.m.: Peterson scores, but it’s getting late. Timeout TZ, which trails 46-42 with 47.1 to play.
1:31 p.m.: TZ falls to Middletown 49-42. Green was named MVP, finishing with 18 points and 14 rebounds for Middletown, which outrebounded TZ 39-30. Kendrick Ray added 10 points and seven assists.
Tahj Vines had 11 points, nine rebounds and six steals for TZ. Pat Peterson had 11 points and six boards but committed 10 of TZ’s 20 turnovers. Ryan O’Rourke added 10 points. Billy O’Shea had seven rebounds.
2:58 p.m.: Just so everyone knows, I will be giving updates all day and over the next two days.
Nothing to report right now. Peekskill leads Mount Vernon 34-19. Unfortunately, Kevin and Mookie Jones are nowhere to be found.
I’ll have plenty more later, but right now it appears the games are on schedule.
3:43 p.m.: Peekskill girls nearly squandered a 24-point lead before holding on to win 56-51. Peekskill had led 51-27.
The Ossining-Baldwin girls game is scheduled to begin in 25 minutes. That would put the games about 8-10 minutes behind schedule. Nothing major.
4:20 p.m.: Ossining girls lead 22-17 after on quarter. Sophomore Saniya Chong has 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and four steals already. She should be mandatory viewing for those of you who plan to come to Championship Week later this winter.
4:39 p.m.: It’s halftime and Ossining leads 43-26. Chong has 23 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals in another dominant performance.
Anyway, should be right on a schedule for a 6 p.m. start for Greeley and Albany Academy.
4:50 p.m.: New Rochelle just lost its first game of the season, 54-51 to the John Carroll School (from Bel Air, Maryland) in the Stop DWI Classic at Broome County Arena in Binghamton. The game was tied 49-49 but John Carroll hit a 3 with 35.4 seconds left that broke the tie and gave it the lead for good.
P.J. Torres led New Ro with 14 points. Chris Burton added 10.
New Rochelle will return to the court tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the consolation round and will face an opponent yet to be determined. The Huguenots will have all their games broadcast this weekend at the Southern Tier Sports Network. Click on the name for the site.
Also, they said on the postgame show that today’s game broadcasts will be archived at nhsbn.com.
5:47 p.m.: Ossining girls won 75-40. Chong broke the girls tournament record with 40 points, also matching Baldwin’s output. And if you think Baldwin is a pushover, it’s not. It’s the defending Nassau County champs in Class AA.
Anyway, Chong finished with 40 to go with nine rebounds, eight assists and six steals. She is a special talent.
I just spoke to another special talent, Greeley QB and point guard Justin Ciero. He is no longer on crutches and recently took the boot off his broken foot. He will have an examination in about 10 days and hopes to return to the court in the middle of January.
The Quakers could use him tonight. Albany Academy is a pretty big and talented team. It should be a good game. Tip-off should come just a few minutes after 6.
6:11 p.m.: Jake here doing updates while Josh writes a game story. Matt Townsend is already off to a strong start. He has nine, including a three-point play. Greeley leads 18-15 late in the first quarter.
6:16 p.m.: A Townsend jumper, his first shot that wasn’t around the hoop, gives Greeley a 20-15 lead after one quarter.
6:23 p.m.: Albany is making a run, prompting a Greeley timeout. Jay Puleo and John Moutopoulis hit consecutive 3s for a 25-22 Albany lead.
6:29 p.m.: Connor Domershick had a 3 to tie it, then Matt LaClair answered for Albany with an and-1. It’s 27-25 Albany with three minutes left in the half.
6:35 p.m.: Darrien White hit a floater to close out a big second quarter for Albany. It leads 39-30. Townsend has 16 of Greeley’s 30 points. Harrison Brown and Teddy Graves have four points each. Both teams are shooting over 50 percent.
6:55 p.m.: The Quakers came out like a house of fire but Albany keeps hitting key shots. They can’t get closer. Townsend is up to 20 points. Teddy Graves and Harrison Brown are playing spirited quarters.
7:00 p.m.: It’s 51-46 with 5:26 gone in the third. Matt Xie’s drive and Brown’s steal and breakaway had brought Greeley within three. White then hit a jumper for Albany.
7:05 p.m.: Townsend’s drive has made it 55-51 Albany after three quarters. He has 23. Brown had eight in the quarter and is up to 12 for the game.
7:12 p.m.: Domershick’s 3 makes it 57-56 Albany with a little over five minutes left.
7:15 p.m.: Time out Albany as Greeley is on a 9-2 run. Townsend’s free throw gave them a 60-59 lead, their first since the early second quarter. On the next possession, Xie spit a pass to Brown underneath for a layup. It’s 62-59 Greeley with 2:55 left.
7:18 p.m.: Jack Morrow just tied it up for Albany with a 3. 62-62 with 2:42 left.
7:23 p.m.: Albany jumped back out front 66-64, but Graves sunk two from the line to tie it 66-66. After an Albany miss, Greeley has the ball with 23.3 on the clock.
7:27 p.m.: Townsend missed a contested shot from the baseline, but followed it and had the rebound in his arms. It flew out of bounds and the officials called a loose-ball foul with 2.6 seconds to play. Townsend will head to the line for a 1-and-1.
7:29 p.m.: He hit the front end but missed the back. Greeley leads 67-66. Albany has the ball with 2.1 seconds to play.
7:32 p.m.: Albany messed up the inbounds pass and White is forced to fling a 60-footer at the buzzer. Greeley wins 67-66. It will play the White Plains-Stepinac winner on Thursday at 5:45.
7:40 p.m.: Josh back here. Matt Townsend finished with 29 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and three blocks for Greeley. Harrison Brown had 14 and seven rebounds for the Quakers, who outrebounded Albany Academy 36-27. Teddy Graves added eight and seven.
Amazingly, both teams shot over 50 percent from the field, although Greeley held Albany Academy’s top scorer, Jelani Currie, to 11 points on 4 of 12.
Give Greeley credit. From what I saw earlier in the season, the Quakers aren’t the best outside shooting team around, but they made 4 of 8 from 3-point land tonight. Junior guard Connor Domershick gave them a lift in 22 minutes off the bench tonight. He went 3 of 3 from deep.
7:47 p.m.: Just talked to Spencer Mayfield. White Plains is getting closer to full strength. Ryan Brooks will make his season debut tonight. He will start at point guard. It will allow Alexis Nunez to slide to the wing, which is his natural position. Also, Mike Scotman, who broke his leg against New Rochelle during the football season, is back. Unlike Brooks, Scotman’s role will likely increase during the year.
Josh James will return tonight for Stepinac. He had been out with general soreness that he experience from growing pains. The talented sophomore point probably won’t start but will play.
8:04 p.m.: We’re underway here with Stepinac and White Plains.
8:09 p.m.: Stepinac up 4-0 2:41 into the game. White Plains has not come close to scoring. Mayfield just took a 30-second timeout.
8:19 p.m.: Well, no update for 10 minutes? You haven’t missed much. That’s why I didn’t write anything.
It’s been all Stepinac defense. The Crusaders are up 10-0. Conroy Baltimore unofficially has four blocks. WP may not score this quarter.
8:22 p.m.: You can always count on good coaches to run plays that generate good shots out of a timeout. Mayfield did just that, and Odane Franklin dropped in a wide open layup with 11 seconds left in the quarter. It save White Plains from the ignominy of a scoreless quarter. Instead, it’s 12-2 Stepinac after one period.
White Plains can’t get any shots near the rim. When it has, Baltimore hasn’t allowed it to get there. And the Tigers can’t hit anything from outside.
8:27 p.m.: 15-5 Stepinac, which just called a timeout after a 3-ball by Tyler Iacuone. Franklin’s strength inside has been a big plus for White Plains, but the Tigers are having a tough time around the rim otherwise. Luckily for them, Stepinac has been mistake-ridden on offense, squandering opportunities in the open floor.
8:33 p.m.: 15-6 Stepinac, 4:28 to play in the first half.
8:39 p.m.: Baltimore just snapped a drought of 5:47 with two free throws. A basket by Franklin made it 17-11 Stepinac. There’s 1:15 to go in the half. The crowd is, predictably, dead as a deer in the dark.
8:43 p.m.: Ugly first half. Stepinac leads 19-11 at the break. Austin Taps has six points to lead the way. Baltimore has four points, eight rebounds and four blocks.
The Crusaders have committed an unsightly 14 turnovers, five of them by sophomore Josh James. White Plains has been nearly as mistake-prone. It has 13 turnovers. Franklin leads the Tigers with five points, and he also has five boards. Heath White came off the bench to grab nine boards in just 10 minutes.
What has been worse than anything for White Plains? They have shot 4 for 22 from the floor (18.2 percent) and 3 for 9 from the line (33). Just ugly.
9:01 p.m.: The second half is underway. Stepinac leads 21-13.
9:04 p.m.: A problem for Stepinac right now: It needs one of its young players on the floor to produce good quality shots. The problem is, with that comes diminished defense and the natural mistakes of youth.
9:12 p.m.: White Plains just hit 5 of 6 from the line and has trimmed the Stepinac lead to 27-20 with 1:48 to play in the third quarter. There have been 14 fouls called already this period — eight on Stepinac and six on White Plains. Starting forward John Anderson just fouled out for the Tigers.
9:17 p.m.: This continues to be a snoozer. Fittingly, the third quarter ended with a turnover that was probably a foul and a 35-foot brick that was rushed with about three or four seconds left on the game clock.
Julian Wright scored on a nice feed from Taps in the final minute to give Stepinac a 29-22 lead going into the fourth. Still, this game is there for the taking — for either side.
9:23 p.m.: The futility continues. It’s 31-23 with 5:59 to go in the game.
9:33 p.m.: Both James and freshman Naim Thomas just showed their playmaking ability. James found Baltimore for an easy layup and Thomas set up the senior for a two-handed dunk. However, Baltimore just fouled out on an offensive foul with 2:35 to play, but Stepinac is on top, 39-29.
9:35 p.m.: White Plains just hit its first 3 — and only its ninth field goal — of the game. It’s now 41-32 Stepinac with 2:15 to go.
9:39 p.m.: The Stepinac defense has opened up a bit with Baltimore on the bench. Still, the Crusaders lead 46-36 with 1:26 to go. Lawrence Pope just scored five of his 11 points. Franklin has 10. Thomas drained a 3 just a little while ago.
9:48 p.m.: Stepinac wins 52-40 and will play Greeley in the championship at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday. White Plains will meet Albany Academy at 4 tomorrow.
10:09 p.m.: Here are more stats…
Baltimore finished with 14 points, 16 boards and six blocks before fouling out. Julian Wright added 10 points and six boards. Freshman Naim Thomas had nine points. But Stepinac committed 26 turnovers against just 11 assists and shot 17 for 46 for the game (37 percent).
Pope led White Plains with 14 points but shot just 5 of 18 from the field. Odane Franklin added 10 points and six boards. Ryan Brooks had six steals in his season debut. Heath White added 13 boards off the bench.
White Plains committed 22 turnovers of its own, but it shot a woeful 13 of 46 from the field (28.3 percent) and 2 of 15 (13.3 percent) from downtown. It should also be noted that five of the Tigers’ 13 field goals came AFTER Baltimore fouled out with 2:35 to play. They simply couldn’t score when he was on the court.
36 Comments
tz did several things right but I do not understand why letizia was on the bench for so long. I AM hJJ
That may not be the last time we see Middletown. Mt. Vernon/POK/New Ro could have to face them if they win Sec. 9. Middletown was 17-3 last year, and all 3 losses were against NFA. I heard NFA isn’t quite as good this year, so we’ll see.
Josh- Why was Letizia on the bench? I feel like he’s a much better pg than Peterson. He certainly looked good when he outplayed Brickhouse at the County Center last year.
Will you be doing updates for the whole day? I know it’s a lot of games, but it would be nice to know when the later games will start if they get backed up.
Sec 1. middletowns only lose is to Kingston a team Pok beat by 18 i dont think there as good as you think.but i will say kendrick ray is a great Point Guard .
letizia was on the bench because of size, although a great player. you cant teach height
New Ro game being streamed here http://southerntiersportsnetwork.com/
theyre down 2 with less than 30 seconds left
how big is this chong girl?
5-9 point guard. But very long arms. She could probably play the 1 or 2 in college. She has five 3’s today.
any score on Dobbs Ferry -Lincoln HS
I am glad SOMEBODY is streaming the games…
Bob: not sure of final score. Somewhere around 76-71. Dobbs won. They were down by 5 with five minutes left in the fourth then came back and won it. Good Job Eagles!
Poughkeepsie beat F. D. Roosevelt 68-47 in the opening round of the DCBCA Tournament. I was only able to see the first half of the game, but the Elijah McLaurin-Basheem Bennett backcourt looked pretty good, with Nate’ throwing down two dunks (and missing a third). Tyre Coleman’s knee looked OK, from what I could see… PK will face either Lourdes or Beacon tomorrow…
That White Plains game was one of the worst games I’ve ever seen. Nobody cared. The players just stood there, the coaches were bored, and the crowd was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Everyone seemed like they’d rather be doing something else. This is the 1st time I’ve ever left a game at halftime, but that was pretty bad. I miss the days when Plain’s had Kilpatrick and James, and Step had Bolding and Taylor. They gave some great performances at the CC.
That’s because they invite wp every year even when they are garbage
Step is not deep and it looked like their young players are not ready.
hes a workhorse and very athletic but what position will conroy play in college. hes about 6’5 without a handle and not a great outside shot. will he be a really undersized 4?
Albertus beat pearl river 70-65 in overtime. Pretty much the same game as last week with albertus fighting off a late pearl river rally this time around.
jimboslice:
those were the same comments bloggers made about brian voelkel and he’s doing just fine. conroy plays hard and seems to have a great attitude plus he has tremendous upside. that alone will get him playing time. being able to rebound and defend are pretty important dynamics in the game of basketball and those are the 2 things baltimore does best!
ugly game though!
I agree with Sect. 1. Voelkel is averaging 10 RB per game as a freshman, and Baltimore is definitely longer than Voelkel. He’s also a terrific shot blocker and overall defender.
A long-armed 6-5 is plenty big enough to play the 4 in the Patriot League. I went to BU and 4s in the America East are rarely taller than 6-6 or 6-7. I’d imagine the Patriot League is similar.
Albany Academy v Greeley was a good game. I would say that Albany Academy would be a 6-8 seed in the Section 1 tournament which tells you where Geeley is at right now having escaped with a 1 point victory. Got my first look at Townsend and he’s clearly one of the best players in the Section – reminds me of Voekel down on the blocks – a strong, poised player. Harrison Brown has nice hops and he really jolted Albany during Greeley’s run right after halftime. Points of concern for Greeley are defending the perimeter—way too many open looks for AA even after they proved they could stroke from out there. Guard play was shaky in general: coughing up the ball too much and not moving the ball in the half court offense. AA did not apply a lot of pressure but we know the top 4 teams in Section 1 typically feast on teams with a shaky handle. Although the lil lefty did stroke some clutch 3’s at the end of the game. Greeley is a nice team but has a lot of work ahead of them if they hope to make that slipper fit in February.
Coach Reeves is wrong. With Ciero back, Greeley will be virtually unstoppable. The Nights better be prepared to lose to the fighting Quakers. Greeley will win section 1.
Nope –
If Greeley upends the Knights that would be one for the ages. Read that Ciero is a point which is exactly what the Quakers need—I’ll be interested to check them out after he’s up and running.
Horace Greeley has no chance against teams like new ro and Mount Vernon. They are overated. They couldnt win in A.
Well, we’ll find out soon enough because they play in a pretty tough A league. Plus they’ve beaten Peekskill, which is an A contender.
Greeley is not over rated at all. If anyone is, it is Mount Vernon. Greeley with Ciero is great. They will then have one of the best bigmen in the section and one of the best guards in the section. New Ro can’t stop them at all. And Mount Vernon vs. Greeley in sectional finals will be a good game, but Greeley will win.
nope-
Townsend is one of the best big men if not the best in the section. And you obviously don’t know anything about basketball if you think Greeley can beat Mount Vernon or New Rochelle. They should play kennedy or tz and they would lose by 10 points easy.
How did Step turn over the ball 26 times? I thought guard play would be a strength of theirs. If they play like that tomorrow I would expect Greeley to win by 20+.
Nope is right, Greeley would easily beat the NIGHTS. Not sure what class or league they are in, but I am sure Greeley would smoke them. Now the Knights of MV is a different story. Greeley is not beating MV as of today and MV is far from over rated.
pokfan –
Greeley did not do a good job of taking care of the basketball last night either – it often looked like a wet bar of soap going through their hands.
Tomorrows match-up features two of the areas finest big men – Baltimore v. Townsend – both headed off to play at low majors next year. I’m sure they would both make all-academic first team if Section 1 had such an award.
Coach Reeves,
Great point about Baltimore and Townsend being All-Academic selections also if there was such an award. Great to see two true student/athletes going head to head. Should be a great matchup.
nice win for stepinac. horrible showing for white plains, they were far overrated coming into this season.
Greeley has a nice team this year, but they are not in mount vernon’s class.
Even as a Greeley fan, I have to agree that Greeley will probably not beat MV. MV’s just too good with Jabarie. Greeley would play ‘em tough, but would probably lose by about 8 points.
And young colombos-
Get your facts straight. I know for a fact that Greeley played Kennedy in a fall league and won handily. And that was with Kennedy playing all their players, while Greeley only had Townsend and a couple kids who didn’t even make the cut for varsity. Townsend dominated Kennedy’s big men.
Got to say though, Baltimore vs. Townsend should be a heck of a match up to watch… Two of the best big men in the section going at it. Think its going to be a two point win, but which team wins I can’t say.
Now, Greeley with Ciero is good enough to beat quite a few teams in the Hudson Valley, but New Ro and MV are, and should be, in a class of their own. Most teams in the Hudson Valley just can’t compete with them. Give credit where credit is due folks.
Completely disagree with HG. New Ro and MV are completely overrated. Greeley is amazing and will win the section and state.
nope and hg,
Any desire to re-state your predictions about the Stepinac/Greeley game or a future Greeley/MV game?
Townsend would be effective against MV, but just like tonight he wouldn’t be able to run the floor for an entire game at the pace of a game like MV. No slight to him, but Greeley would need more than him to compete for an entire game.
pokfan,
Townsend might be able to be effective against MV if he gets the ball in the post, but thats assuming his guards can get him the ball in the post. Can Greeley’s guards handle MV’s pressure – I don’t know about that. I think the recipe for beating MV is simple, yet very difficult. #1 you need to have at least one, more likely two excellent ball handlers to handle the press and #2 you need to have a kid or kids who can knock down open perimeter shots. With all the pressure MV throws at you, if you can break the press there will be open perimeter shots. The reason I saw open perimeter shots and not lanes to the basket is because MV is probably more athletic than any team around here, so even if there are lanes to the basket available, a high % would end up blocked. City teams are used to similar pressure and fair much better against MV that the teams around here that don’t see pressure like that. Remember last year MV lost to an All Hallows team that was no better than .500 or worse in the CHSAA. A large part of that in my opinion was that All Hallows (which plays Rice 2x a year) was not particularly fazed by the MV pressure. If you can eliminate the MV pressure from the equation, then teams can play with MV. When New Ro and WP have beaten or played MV close, its when they can deal with the pressure.