Another day, another group of eight games, another four bids to the County Center on the line. Here’s a great stat: Of the 16 teams competing today, 14 have advanced to the County Center since 2008. Poughkeepsie, Byram, Kennedy, Pearl River, Tappan Zee, Peekskill, Blind Brook, Pleasantville, Valhalla, Dobbs and Albertus (11 teams!) have been there in one of the last two seasons alone.
One of the two teams without any recent County Center playoff experience is Brewster, but we all know the Bears have made their trips to White Plains. Their last appearance was in 1993.
Only one team has never been to the County Center and that’s Eastchester. The Eagles will try to change that today when they host Poughkeepsie.
Unfortunately, I’ll only have a chance to see one ticket punched. I’m headed to Kennedy this evening for a rematch of last year’s Class A semifinal, which was won by Byram. But you can follow me on Twitter @LoHudInsider for updates on that game and more. I’ll have scores, game recaps and County Center matchups posted shortly after the games are complete.
Enjoy the games! I think today could be one of the best days of the postseason.
Wednesday’s games —
Class A quarterfinals
Poughkeepsie 61, Eastchester 58
Peekskill 80, Brewster 73
Byram Hills 55, Kennedy 50
Tappan Zee 54, Pearl River 39
Class B quarterfinals
Blind Brook 43, Pleasantville 42
Croton-Harmon 56, Woodlands 55
Albertus Magnus 69, Briarcliff 51
Dobbs Ferry 67, Valhalla 32
GAME RECAPS —
Class A
Byram Hills 55, Kennedy 50: In a Class A quarterfinal at No. 4 Kennedy, Ryan Golden had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Bobcats. He hit two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, the second of which gave Byram its first lead of the second half, 44-42, with 2:53 remaining. The defending Class A champ will now meet top-seeded Tappan Zee on Wednesday at 8:15 at the County Center in the semifinals.
Jeff Lynch had 11 points and four assists and freshman Andrew Groll added 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks. He helped goad Kennedy big man Thiago Randazzo into foul trouble. Randazzo had 20 points and seven rebounds, but sat out for most of the final 10 minutes of the game. He picked up his fourth foul late in the third quarter as Kennedy held a seven-point lead and fouled out shortly after he returned in the fourth quarter.
Jordan Hardy added nine points and 10 rebounds for the Gaels, who led 30-18 at halftime and led by as many as 14 points before Byram launched its comeback. Matt Debold hit a pair of key 3-pointers during the comeback as well.
Peekskill 80, Brewster 73: In a Class A quartefinal game at No. 2 Peekskill, Chandler Pierce had 30 points and five assists for the Red Devils. Eddie Reeves added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jack Dignan had 32 points for the No. 10 Bears. Peekskill will play No. 11 Poughkeepsie at 6:30 p.m. the Westchester County Center on Wednesday in the semifinals.
Poughkeepsie 61, Eastchester 58: In a Class A quarterfinal game at No. 3 Eastchester, with the game tied at 58-58, Ray Knight scored on a 3-point play with 2.1 seconds left in the game for the No. 11 Pioneers. Dave Solano (20 points) hit a 3-pointer with 8.2 seconds left in regulation to tie it up for the Eagles. Teammate Jack Daly scored 25 points. Poughkeepsie will play No. 2 Peekskill Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Westchester County Center in the semifinals.
Tappan Zee 54, Pearl River 39: In a Class A quarterfinal game at No. 1 Tappan Zee, Joe Letizia scored 15 points for the Dutchmen, who improved to 20-0 and advanced to the County Center for the third straight year. They will play No. 5 Byram Hills in a semifinal between the last two Class A champions on Wednesday night at 8:15.
“It’s a big accomplishment, third year in a row,” said Letizia. “We played very good defense, like we always do. That’s what we harp on all year. Defense is our identity. Our offense in the third wasn’t really moving, so we had to come with the D.”
Letizia hit four 3-pointers in the game, including three that helped TZ out to a 26-9 lead early in the second quarter. Teammate Billy O’Shea added 12 points and Brendan Donohue 11.
Kevin Degnan led Pearl River with 13 points and Tom Davis added 12.
Class B
Croton-Harmon 56, Woodlands 55: In a Class B quarterfinal game at No. 3 Woodlands, Wes Turner (21 points) scored on a 3-point play with 20 seconds left in the game to give the No. 6 Tigers a 56-54 lead. Turner scored five points of the 21 points in the fourth quarter. Justin Smith hit a free throw with four seconds left in the game to cut the lead to 56-55 for the Falcons.
Ian Thom had 13 points and six assists filling in the point guard slot for Aaron Thompson who was out due to injury for the Tigers. Rob Simmons had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Teammate Brian Oliver scored 10 points. Andre Scipio scored 19 points for the Falcons. Teammate Fred Bowers scored 12 points.
Croton-Harmon will play No. 2 Albertus Magnus Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Westchester County Center in the semifinals. The Tigers are making their first appearance at the County Center for the first time since 2008.
Albertus Magnus 69, Briarcliff 51: In a Class B quarterfinal at No. 2 Albertus, Tyler Sayre had 29 points and 12 rebounds for the defending Class B champs, who will play No. 6 Croton-Harmon at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the semifinals at the County Center. Jack Sullivan added 20 points. Tom McConnell and James McEntee combined for eight points and teamed to defend Briarcliff’s leading scorer Brian Daniels (4 points). Tyriek Johnson had 14 points to lead the seventh-seeded Bears.
Dobbs Ferry 67, Valhalla 32: In a Class B quarterfinal at No. 1 Dobbs Ferry, Spencer Avalos, Eric Paschall, and Thomas Fleming each had 11 points for the Eagles. Terrance Tribble had 12 points for the No. 8 Vikings. Dobbs Ferry will play No. 5 Blind Brook in the semifinals Wednesday at the Westchester County Center, 4:45 p.m.
Blind Brook 43, Pleasantville 42: In a Class B quarterfinal at No. 4 Pleasantville, Sam Adler hit the winning free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining and his team trailing by one to lead No. 5 Blind Brook into next Wednesday’s semifinals. The Trojans will play No. 1 Dobbs Ferry at 4:45 at the County Center.
Adler’s free throws capped a wild fourth quarter. Pleasantville’s Jack Eisenberg hit a layup with nine seconds remaining to give his team a 42-41 lead. Teammate James Leyden had banked in a 3-pointer to tie the game 40-40 earlier. Then, with 42.9 remaining, Brennan Schaenmann hit one of two free throws to put Blind Brook up 41-40 and set up the final sequence.
The wild game included three buzzer-beaters. Adler hit a 3 from a step behind halfcourt to give his team a 13-10 lead after one quarter. Leyden then beat the buzzer from halfcourt to give Pleasantville a 21-16 halftime lead. Jack Jamilkowski of Blind Brook hit a 3 before the third-quarter buzzer to cut his team’s deficit to 32-29.
The game also pitted Blind Brook coach Mike Welsh against his younger brother, Pleasantville coach Chris Welsh. Their mother sat with Mike’s family, including his children.
“Our dad was a big basketball fan,” Mike Welsh said. “He passed away a few years ago, so I’m sure he’d be real proud.”
“It’s surreal,” Chris said prior to the game. “Out of all the teams, we end up with this draw. … The both of us are rooting for each other, just not tonight.”
UPCOMING SCHEDULE —
Wednesday, Feb. 29
Class B semifinals
At the County Center:
No. 2 Albertus Magnus vs. No. 6 Croton-Harmon, 3 p.m.
No. 1 Dobbs Ferry vs. No. 5 Blind Brook, 4:45 p.m.
Class A semifinals
At the County Center:
No. 2 Peekskill vs. No. 11 Poughkeepsie, 6:30 p.m.
No. 1 Tappan Zee vs. No. 5 Byram Hills, 8:15 p.m.
216 Comments
Ouch. Sounds a lot like what went down over here. Ref winking to the Eastchester stands. It was bizarre. C’est la vie as my girlfriend will tell me. Can’t believe peg-leg Lynch and the boys from Byram sent the recruiters home. Was not expecting that. Lynch is a tough kid, high pain threshold—if you look at his face and not the hobbling you could never tell he was in pain. Great job!
Class B final 4 without Woodlands, just waiting to hear those comments as to why Woodlands is not there . I guess true teams win! Its about team concept and not 1 or 2 kids scoring all the points. Congrats to Croton amazing game.
PEEKFATDADDY,
OH WHAT A “SHOCK”,LLLOOOLLL,GOOD LUCK
Reality, Woodlands has been the epitome of team ball. Don’t take my word for it. Go to HighSchoolSports.net at the top of this page and navigate to the point totals. You will see four of the starters in a range of between 10 and 14 ppg.
You obviously have a bigger agenda by your comment, so speak on it son.
Great game tonight in pleasantville vs blind brook. Welsh vs Welsh was awesome. Lookforwars to the next one.
states and pok crew
this is Laffins best job yet. Tested these kids with tough schedule and it has paid off. No need for knuckleheads and guys that got in trouble. This is sweet. Winning the right way with the right kids. I am sooooo proud to be a pioneer today. I ve seen alot of pok ball over the years. I have a feeling we ll see a pok tz final. No team in the final four is as tested as we are.
Jets,
We are playing w/ house money so that makes Pok danderous. 11-3 since the slow start. Very tested and all the traveling helps. It was great to see the kids so happy after the game today. Knucklehead #1 learned a valueble lesson this season, I hope he can go to Dutchess amd get things back on track. Knucklehead #2 is very young so I wont give up on him…yet. I wish the Pioneer teams of my ancient lore laid it all on the floor like these guys. I love the way they get after it. Laff’s best job and it isn’t close!
states
agreed
What time is Woodlands playing on Wednesday ? LOL
If you guys look up you’d see I called Pok/East very evenly matched after my warm-up eye test. I guess this Statesman guy really knows his hoops.
Rudy T just reading your commets all season so your response doesnt surprise one bit. No need to go to websites actually saw live games and saw what i saw. 1 or 2 kids scoring no team concept.
As for my comment no agenda here to speak on to be honest. Son
Umm, Thom and Turner did the bulk of your scoring, so what are you talking about?
Umm, Rud T look at the team approach witnessed tonight!!!!!
SMH Reality. It’s a shame that you can’t enjoy your team’s win without dumping on WL, especially as it was a class performance by both teams.
Well Rudy T yes you are correct great game and there was no dumping on WL at all here.
I guess like age, tournament seedings ain’t nothin’ but a number…
Great win by Poughkeepsie; it does seem as if the Pioneers’ tough early schedule is now paying dividends in February. PK’s will to win is simply amazing… Still have to credit Eastchester for its tough defense of its home court; the Solano/Daly tandem is every bit as good as advertised. The officiating did the Pioneers no favors, but when you make more of your free throws, that takes the refs’ questionable calls out of the equation…
And so, Poughkeepsie and Peekskill will resume hostilities once again when they meet at the County Center in the Class A semis a week from today. Despite the efforts of some, you could say this matchup was destined to happen… Can’t wait to see what happens…
Ray Knight scored the bucket when it was 58 all.
Laffin can flat out coach kids!
Woodlands is the very definition of a balanced team. It’s a shame that somebody said otherwise. Woodlands shares the ball about as well as any team I saw all year.
Oh, and before I forget:
“Bracketology February 22nd, 2012 at 6:29 pm
Ok I went out on a limb last time and got a bunch wrong. Heres where I make up for it:
A
Tappan Zee, Byram Hills, Poughkeepsie, Peekskill”
So, Bracketology, what are Friday’s winning Mega Millions numbers?
Seriously, good call…
CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN HOW THESE REFS GET THEIR ASSIGNMENTS? THERE IS NO NO NO WAY THESE GUYS ON TONIGHTS GAME WERE THE HIGHEST RANKED AND BEST AVAILABLE? NO WAY? SOME ONE TALKS ABOUT CHSAA REFS BEING HIRED- THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN??I WAS @ A JV PLAYOFF GAME TUES AND THE 2YOUNG KIDS DID GREAT EVEN THE LOSING COACH AGREEED! THEY ARE WAY WAY BETTER AND YOUNGER AND FASTER AND HAPPIER.
WHAT A GREAT BASKETBALL NIGHT,AS A FAN YOU COULD NOT HAVE ASKED FOR MORE,IF YOU FELL SHORT OF THE COUNTY CENTER,YOU HAVE GIVEN YOUR ALL AND THOSE ARE THE BREAKS,IF YOU MADE IT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE MOMENT,GOOD LUCK
I was at the Woodlands game. Basically Croton played bad and Woodlands played worse.
Woodlands IS a better team I believe. Woodlands has a way of being a little too calm and maybe not taking opponents seriously enough like the last Dobbs game and the North Salem game and definitely tonight against Croton. A lot of times in sports pure intensity and passion can win games.
Woodlands is a little too cool.
Croton had to play a very imperfect game at a very intense level, doing everything they could to squeak out a win against the Falcons. Woodlands just simply played poorly and barely lost.
They were also without, arguably their best player Reece Williams. With Reece in the Falcons win no doubt.
Congratulations Croton and good luck. You’ll need it. You ain’t that good and be prepared to get totally stomped by Magnus.
Woodlands: Good season, should have went at least one game further but all in all you played well, beat some big teams and really got stomped by no one.
Can’t be 100% every game and tonight was one you weren’t.
Lastly, I echo the sentiments of Jets and Respect; the Pioneers’ playoff performance this year should erase whatever doubts remain regarding Brian Laffin’s coaching abilities. I know the Poughkeepsie Journal might want to give Coach of the Year honors to Matt Hoyt for turning Arlington around this year, but Coach Laffin molded what was essentially last year’s JV team into a Class A semifinalist. That’s truly remarkable, IMHO…
Boy was I wrong on Kennedy!. Eatin that crow now. Was at PR/TZ game. Not even close. One thing really good came out of it for PR though. The big sophomore really stepped up his game and was quite impressive. He is a legit 6 6 and can shoot it. Jerry has a star in the making.
Sharing the ball doesn’t equate to good basketball. Woodlands is one of the wildest teams in the county. I have seen them several times and there are no legit sets, no legit screening, it is run and gun to the max. A well coached team can exploit it. The year with Henry and Atkins they got away with it because those kids were special for that level.
States…congrats my man. Ill buy you that hotdog Wed. I still owe you it!
Jets, This is his 11th CC visit… No one should question Coach Laff to begin with. I hope they do well. 11x’s?? WOW!
Josh, thanks for setting the record straight.
Coach Reeves,
I’ll take it. No tears will be shed from me!
Laffin is excellwnt Great at giving young men confidence in themselves and developing as time goes along. The gang will nearly all back but it’ll be nice for the seniors to ride this out for as long as possible. I’m an advocate of letting the kids play b/c they are the ones working all year and laying it all on the court. Fair and consistent both ways always suffices, that’s all both sides ever want.
Just so everyone knows, the Albertus Magnus players did not hold Brian Daniels to 4 points, but rather it was the poor, unfair, one-sided refs. Sec 1 powers that be should get a tape of this game to see how bad it was. After a bad call toward the begining of the game , anAM player said to a Briarcliff player, “Get used to it. This is how these guys call it HERE. Section 1 should take better stock of their officials to insure a better/fair game. The officials took Briarcliff out of the game right from the start. AM is a good team that needs no extra help.
RE>”
Look in the mirror Briarcliff. If your team wasn’t a complete embarrassment, maybe they could have kept the game in single digits. Have your so called leader take a look in the mirror and tell gym to get with the program. Maybe if he hadn’t have gotten himself ejected for throwing elbows it would actually have been a competitive game. And don’t say Albertus was talking trash when your guys were talking to the Am players when they were down 20. The Briarcliff basketball program embarrassed themselves tonight. Check that out on the tape.
No need for hostility Sports Guy. The FACT is that the game was called very one-sided and everyone saw that. What are you talking about “so called leader”? I’m not talking about programs. I,m calling for better officiating and that helps all the kids!
One more thing: I did not say Albertus player was talking trash. The players comment was honest—he was just stating what was coming down the pike. The kid was being friendly, giving the Briarcliff player a heads-up. You TOTALLY mis-interpretted what was said. I’m not putting the players down. I’m stating that the officiating is often very bad and this was another example tonight at Albertus.
wanna hear something crazy: tz got 4 foul calls on three point attempts. FOUR! im for tz and i dont even think some of them were fouls.. they missed one on clinton in the beginning of the game.
Yolo…Does that seem right to you? I didn’t see the game but my guess is that it was lop=sided officiating….Were you there? Was the game called well overall?
HRs… Did you see Woodlands this year? This was a very different Woodlands team than the Atkins/Henry team. Not nearly as athletic, but a bunch of excellent shooters. Scipio, Tilford and Williams were all deep threats. That and the offense rebounding of Bowers were the primary weapons. It wasn’t about athleticism at all. Dobbs was significantly more athletic.
The refs from the Pok / East game were disgustingly horrible … It was like 7 on 5 out there .. the little short bold headed ref w/ the high water pants was out there whinking his buddies in the East crowd …. it was so obvious he was refing against POk .. hope he can live w/ himself or sleep night.
Pok kids live for adversity .. good job fellas for fighting thru ignorance and beating the East 5 + the 2 Refs ….
Jeff,
24, 35, 12, 56, 42 and 4 LOL! Thank you Thank you Takes a bow I’m very DC biased but I had to let my sport knowledge do the talking. I was 20-5 in the first round. Missed the AA Quarters but I would picked them all except Mahopac. and finished strong with a 7-1 tonight. Missed it by a point too!!!! 28-7 overall
.............. Wait till my CC picks hahah
Yea the officials have been horrible all year long at just about every section 1 game I have attended. Most of them are older and out of shape so they can’t get themselves in the right position to make the call. Either add a 3rd official or hire younger one who can actually do their job. Pretty sad, guess anyone can become an official just gotta be able to pass a test Rolls Eyes
POK making it back to the CC is amazing. Everyone doubted those kids and coaches all year and they showed the heart of a champion. Anything is possible at the CC. Josh, I know PK is not in your coverage area but you should do a story on this team. I also think you should do a story on the Pac. This program was dead a few years ago and after speaking to ARlington I learned some facts. 3 league titles in 5 years, three trips to the quarters only losing to Keith Thomas led Yorktown. Two consecutive years to county center and this year after graduating 9 seniors that is unheard. What putnam school does that, especially where bb is the 4th most popular sport behind football, baseball and lacrosse. Give them some love like you did peekskill. similar story for PK. Oh yeah and pac coach 3 time coach of the yr in 5 yrs amazing. Give Putnam and Dutchess some love.
Josh , yes I saw Woodlands live once and twice on MSGvarsity. Yes the parts were different but the style was exactly the same. It didn’t change at all. So they shot more 3’s, instead of getting dunks from Henry…
You saying Bowers offensive rebounding was a primary weapon shows the lack of offensive sets and use of a kid who was almost always the biggest and strongest kid on the court. Bowers should have gotten 10Xs more touches every game. You can see that within a quarter of watching this team play.
Like I said with Henry and Atkins they got away with it. ...
Care to revise those A power rankings? Poughkeepsie has been to the CC in 13 of the last 14 years. Without having to face Ben Gordon Sr Year in the quarters (the only exception in the 14), why would you ever have them outside of the top 4?
Josh:
HRs has an agenda. He’s still smarting over the gold ball WL won two years ago. Wonder what community he’s from? Instead of giving props to Croton and the four other teams that beat WL (two of which were splits, and are still playing), he diminishes their effort by demeaning the Falcons.
I am just happy that he can now die in peace; one less angry man on the roadways.
Yezzir the Dutchmen do it again. Got my bus ticket to the CC Wednesday, my boys keep making me proud. Never the most athletic or most gifted, but they will out play and out heart everyone. Byram very similar to them, should be one heck of a game. Just want to make sure everyone knows that TZ is the original #family. Congrats to our girls team as well, Rockland representing with two schools sending boys and girls team! Go Dutchmen!!!
HR’s is a homer from The catholic schools, he gets really upset when public schools have a “recruitment flavor” to them. He believes that its only fair when the JFK’s and Magnus’s of the world recruit to play in public school leagues.
Sports Guy,
Who was ejected from the AM Briarcliff game for elbow throwing?
Rudy T… I graduated from Pearl River in the 91. I played basketball, football and baseball. I went on to play college baseball. My father was a coach in the bronx and won a state and fed championship with Gompers in the 80’s. If you want to know anything else, ask. and I have NO agenda at all or hostility towards Woodlands whatsoever. I could care less who won their game and I happy they won a gold ball two years ago. I enjoyed watching Henry and I wish him and Atkins the best wherever they are. Sorry to burst your bubble. I watch a lot of basketball. I call it like I see it. Nothing was diminished at all.
Section 1, you are a completely clueless so stop flexing e-muscles. You have the wrong person. I have nothing to do with catholic schools nor do I stand for or against what they do. Never responded to any recruitment issues involving the teams you mention either. Albertus recruiting is almost as believable as you having n.u.t.s to do anything except to blog tough on the Journal News.
“WOW”,HOW COME I HERE CRICKETS NOW
Still thinking about the game I saw last night. Eastchester v Poughkeepsie an instant classic. Disappointed in the lack of crowd. I thought we had it. Poughkeepsie is an excellent group of kids. They carry themselves with a lot of class. I do not want to sound negative but barriers and stereotyping sometimes get in the way of seeing great kids compete. Class group of youngmen and classy coach.
Haywood, true basketball fan here. I think you know that. Been around the game along time, saw some of the greatest hs players to grace the courts during my pop’s tenure. and still follow it to this day. Have no agendas ever.
Sports guy,
When was he ejected?
HR’s,
How is stating an opinion on a blog, flexing e-muscles? It figures you went to Pearl River, that would explain your “I invented basketball mentality” just because you think something doesnt make it a fact! Blog tough? Spoken like a true career blogger..and no one cares where and when you played, your obviously impressed with yourself,. and more obviously your easliy impressed!