Varsity Insider

Day 3 at the Slam Dunk presented a series of highlights and lowlights for local teams. Here’s a look at the dirty details…

• New Rochelle was stunned just before the final buzzer, falling 57-55 to Kingston in a game the Huguenots absolutely should not have lost in regulation.

They had the ball coming out of a timeout with 7.5 seconds left. Their post feed to emerging star Joe Clarke (22 points, 15 rebounds), who is pictured above, was shut off by Kingston, and Kirkland Ottey’s pass back to the left wing from the left corner served almost as an outlet pass for the only player on the court who could’ve possibly covered that much ground in such a short amount of time. The ball sailed past Ottey’s teammate and out toward halfcourt. Speedy point guard Justin Robinson caught it and raced the other way only to be fouled on a layup attempt with 0.4 seconds remaining. He buried both to hand New Ro a very tough defeat.

• In the other tournament game last night, Kennedy turned in a very solid effort behind Thiago Randazzo in a 79-72 loss to Jamestown, last year’s Class AA state runner-up. The Brazilian had 24 points and seven boards and the Gaels were within four points late in the fourth quarter. They couldn’t get it any closer.

Jamestown was certainly not as big or talented as last season, but it’s perimeter shooting was tremendous. The Red Raiders hit 60 percent from the field in the second half to escape an upset at the hands of Kennedy. Jordan Hardy, Kennedy’s only returning player with a lot of varsity experience, played a strong game.

• Mamaroneck beat Brewster 52-43 in a challenge game on Wednesday in the program’s first appearance at the County Center in 40 years. The Tigers last played in the arena in the 1971 Section 1 tournament against the great Mount Vernon Knights of Rudy Hackett, Gus and Ray Williams and Earl Tatum, who all played in the NBA.

The game also fulfilled a dream of coach Tyrone Carver, who told me he dreamed of playing in the building as a player at Sleepy Hollow. That dream never came to fruition, so his next mission was to coach there. That was finally accomplished on Wednesday.

Matt Mezansky played another terrific game until a few late skirmishes left him with two technicals. The automatic ejection will leave Mezansky sidelined Wednesday at White Plains.

Alex Lanni added a double-double for the Tigers and earned tournament MVP honors. Ryan Mahoney actually helped erase Brewster’s double-digit deficit and tied the game briefly with a pair of free throws in the fourth quarter.

• In other basketball news around the state, Mount Vernon dropped its first game of the season 65-61 to nationally-ranked Philadelphia Catholic school Neumann-Goretti at the STOP-DWI Holiday Classic in Binghamton. We have a story on the game in the paper and on the website today thanks to our sister paper the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin.

Will Robinson had 17 points and six rebounds to lead the Knights in just his third game back after shoulder surgery. Qwadere Lovell, Isaiah Cousins and Josh Doughty all hit big 3-pointers in the final 1:38 to give Mount Vernon a chance. Down two with under five seconds to play, an inbound pass went to Lovell, but he was out of bounds. It cost Mount Vernon any chance at a tying or winning shot.

The Knights tip off today against Seton Catholic of Binghamton at 2:45 in consolation play.

• Lots of other good stuff within the same link as the Mount Vernon story. Sky Williams pulled within 20 of 1,000 points for his career as Tuckahoe earned another big win against a Class AA school, beating North Rockland. Like Tuckahoe, Dobbs also remained unbeaten, topping Greeley in the Yorktown tourney final.

In other tournaments, Ramapo and Suffern will play in the Suffern final tonight. Croton will play O’Neill in the O’Neill tourney final.