Speed kills.
That was the game plan for Stepinac as they took on a big Mahopac squad in the first round of the Slam Dunk tournament.
Despite suffering from a severe size disadvantage, the Crusaders were able to rely on their guards to come away with a 66-44 win.
Naim Thomas led Stepinac with 16 points and 4 assists in just his second game back after a stress fracture in his foot kept him out of the first seven games. Demarcus Miller (pictured above) added 15 points. Josh James (pictured below right) had 10 points, six rebounds and six assists. Brendan Hynes led the Indians with 12 points and grabbed six rebounds.
The Crusaders used their speed to force the Indians to play an uptempo game, something Mahopac struggled to do as they had 28 turnovers.
“In practice we go over a lot of double-teaming,” Thomas said. “Turnovers turn into fast break points and thats what we base our team off of.”
Stepinac was able to put together three runs of at least eight points in the second, third and fourth quarter thanks to Mahopac’s inability to protect the ball.
The Indians weren’t helped by the fact that Hynes was sidelined for most of the third quarter after getting into early foul trouble.
“When (Hynes) is out the game that’s just another ball handler, scorer and defender,” Thomas said. “That means we need to put more pressure on them.”
Thomas said he feels at about 90%.
“My wind that’s going to come within the next few games,” Thomas said. “Between practices and different workouts it should just come back soon.”
Stepinac will play Sunday against New Rochelle in the final at 7 p.m. Mahopac will play in the consolation against St. Mary’s at 1 p.m.
Miller, who is from New Rochelle and a cousin of Huguenot coach Rasaun Young, said after the game he hoped to play St. Mary’s in the final.
“I want to play the best of the best,” Miller said. “It will only make me better in the end.”
Photos courtesy of Carucha L. Meuse/The Journal News. For the entire gallery click here.
79 Comments
No different in football. Rumor has it Iona looked to schedule new ro In a football game for 2013 and new ro said no.
All hoops man
Mahopac has to be rated before they are over rated ! Anyone who would ‘rate’ that team, is not watching…Like I said before, Northern Westchester Hype is crazy talking about Hynes, Thom, etc as Westchester elite is crazy…I know headlines sell papers but….Nice high school players, which they are; is very different from elite…Some of them dont start at weaker big Schools like WP, Scarsdale and Mamaroneck, muchless, New Ro or MV…. not even talking about the diff between D1 and D3…which is substantial…
In all fairness to Hynes, I heard that he already committed to play Lacrosse on a ride. So hats off to him.
All hoops man,
All of AA is playing for second place. Arlington would lose by 40+ to Mt. Vernon. You need to hope you get through the DCBCA tournament first. Then you will need to handle the teams in your league like OLL and Poughkeepsie. Arlington is a good team but come on you need to win a little more before gloating.
Hoops fan December 29th, 2012 at 8:45 am
Reality check,
I think you’re overanalyzing millers comment. Wouldn’t you want a kid to want to play the best team available? St Mary’s had a big rep and I’m sure every the younger step guards would like a shot at green. Step and st Mary’s usually play during the regular season – I guess they didn’t because of the slam dunk this year.
Great win for new Ro. New Ro/step shoud be a good matchup. New Ro has more size and strength, step has more talent and skill in th backcourt. Both teams will play hard. It’s good to see more matchups between the top programs in the area like we’ve seen early this year.
HOOPS….. here is THE ASH-KICK’N THAT YOU GUYS DUCKED IN FOOTBALL!!....:)
Ps!... Fix your neck tie b/c it’s coming!!!...
PPR,
‘ducked’? It’s a good thing that new ro’s basketball program doesn’t duck good teams a few miles away like new ro’s football program seems to do. You know as well as I do that coach d backed out of a football game next year vs Iona – that’s what ducking is!
Hoops fan
If you want a laugh scroll down to the MV Coach being fired entries and read the venom coming out of Prince- He continues to reach new lows – He is denying that New Rochelle is ducking Iona- This is after his sidekick Just admits that Coach D did not want to play the game –
Also wasn’t it last week that he said New Ro would beat Iona in Basketball- Well we saw how that turned out- Hopefully Stepinac beats New Ro tonight-
BTW I asked Josh to confirm the story but he was more concerned about protecting Prince from my insults whic is funny because Prince called me and every other CHSFL fan every name in the book.
MOUNT VERNON;
WEST VIRGINA-GIRLS, STARTING GUARD-TAYLOR PALMER-JUNIOR
WEST VIRGINA-BOYS,JABARIE HINDS-STARTING GUARD
OKLAHOMA-ISAIAH COUSINS-STARTING GUARD
GEORGE MASON- SHERROD WRIGHT-STARTING GUARD
KEVIN JONES-CLEVELAND NBA
BEN GORDON-CHARLOTTE NBA
AND AT LEAST 5 OTHER PLAYERS PLAYING PRO-BALL OVERSEAS
L. GORDON GIRLS VARSITY 4 YEARS AT WEST VIRGINA STARTING NEXT YEAR FOR FREE
DON’T BE JELLY
MY POINT;
AS LONG AS YOU PLAY WHERE THE COLLEGE COACHES ARE,AND THEY SEE ENOUGH IN YOU TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL,YOUR PROGRAM HAS DONE ITS JOB.
Crusaders1
no doubt Hynes great athlete, tough kid and great accomplishment
Hoops fan December 30th, 2012 at 7:40 am
PPR,
‘ducked’? It’s a good thing that new ro’s basketball program doesn’t duck good teams a few miles away like new ro’s football program seems to do. You know as well as I do that coach d backed out of a football game next year vs Iona – that’s what ducking is!
HOOPS!!!... No has put forth any proof that coach D is scared!!!.. Iona has problems making it to the chsfl chip!!! The have 1 state chip and they think they are the best team!!!... Why would coach D be scared!!!.. Maybe he does see the purpose of playing a first round playoff lew-zerr!!!...
. FACT!!...
CHSFL December 30th, 2012 at 9:44 am
Hoops fan
If you want a laugh scroll down to the MV Coach being fired entries and read the venom coming out of Prince- He continues to reach new lows – He is denying that New Rochelle is ducking Iona- This is after his sidekick Just admits that Coach D did not want to play the game –
CHSFL!!! Now the TRUTH IS SPEWING VENOM!!... Lol!!! It’s a shame!! It really is!!!,
JOSH WAS NOT TRYING TO
PROTECT ME!!.. You mad and your feelings have been hurt!!..... Running to hoops is not going to help you!!!
No ducking going on in MV, except for the bullets..
Prince
Maybe you should talk to your side kick Just- He at least had the guts to admit New Ro does not want to play Iona-
Maybe you guys will do better next year against the next NJ public team that ended up .500 and losing to a NJ Catholic 50-0- You are the lew zer on food stamps
Fact: Coach D DID turn down the game. Iona asked, he declined.
It’s getting old listening to the (Everyone in Section 1 is afraid to play Iona in football or basketball ).. really
You guys crack me up….I seriously doubt Coach D is afraid to play Iona, and MV basketball has been dodging you for the last 40 years,, Stop and think here, maybe some schools just don’t want to reward a program that recruits from the playgrounds of MV and New Ro and offer scholarships. Why can’t you just play the teams in your league and stop accusing other schools of running away from you. Now we have the excuses about how tough a schedule it is with St.Rays and Cardinal Hayes..JUST PLAY THE GAME….
SPACECADET,
AMEN,KEEP PREACHING
I didn’t say they were scared. I said Iona asked and coach d declined. I think there are many reasons why he would not want to ply them
Funny you should mention Arlington, hoopsguy… According to Kevin Devaney Jr.’s Twitter feed, Lourdes beat Arlington 64-35 to advance to the DCBCA tourney final. Also, Lourdes apparently only has eight players on its team (one of whom didn’t suit up due to injury)...
spacecadet December 30th, 2012 at 6:10 pm
It’s getting old listening to the (Everyone in Section 1 is afraid to play Iona in football or basketball ).. really
You guys crack me up….I seriously doubt Coach D is afraid to play Iona, and MV basketball has been dodging you for the last 40 years,, Stop and think here, maybe some schools just don’t want to reward a program that recruits from the playgrounds of MV and New Ro and offer scholarships. Why can’t you just play the teams in your league and stop accusing other schools of running away from you. Now we have the excuses about how tough a schedule it is with St.Rays and Cardinal Hayes..JUST PLAY THE GAME….
THAT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!...... THESE CATHOLIC LIL GIRLS!!!.... THINK EVERYONE IS DUCKING THEM AND THEY HAVE NOT WON ANYTHING!!..
CHSFL!!...... Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahaha!!!
You BEEN TOLD!!.. Get that klo-/own crap out of here!!!...
You Mt Vernon guys crack me up. Complete groupies lost in a 40 year old time warp when Yonkers actually had very competitive basketball teams.
Mt Vernon now must play the Catholic schools if they want to be acclaimed the best in Westchester.
Running and ducking and playing in Canada is a travesty.
If Mt Vernon can’t beat New-Ro this season what does that say about the best HS sports program in 50 years as someone suggested ?
” Keep on ducking baby” was a popular song in the 70’s or maybe it was “keep on truck’n baby” .
Whatever, but get honest with yourselves please.
OBSERVER OF HS BBALL,
HOW CAN YOU MAKE SILLY COMMENTS AGAINST THE 2 TIME STATE CHAMPS,IN THE PAST 10 TEN YEARS THEY HAVE PLAYED SOME VERY TOUGH TEAMS,LOOK IT UP,YOU WILL BE AMAZED
So MV is supposedly down this year so now they stink and need to gain respect as a program. And to boot they duck people. Can’t make this stuff up.
HRs,
Happy new year
Anyone saying mv is ducking anyone in basketball is being ridiculous. They just played loughlin – one of the top 5 teams in the city, top 3 in chsaa. Mv isn’t ducking anyone and has won enough games against top tams to be given the benefit of the doubt. That being said, I’d still be happy to watch mv play Hayes, ctk and step because they are in same county as a basketball fan.
Wood same to you. Have a happy and healthy! Hoops I would love to see that myself. Unfortunately we tend to have to wait until the feds.
Same to you and the family, Wood!
Howdy! I understand this is kind of off-topic however I had to ask.
Does building a well-established blog like yours require a
lot of work? I’m brand new to running a blog however I do write in my diary daily. I’d like to
start a blog so I can share my personal experience
and views online. Please let me know if you have any recommendations or tips for new aspiring bloggers.
Appreciate it!