South Shore 68, Peekskill 54
Between the first, third and fourth quarters, Peekskill actually outscored South Shore by 13 points in Sunday’s Slam Dunk challenge game. But the Brooklyn PSAL power ripped off a second-quarter run unlike anything Lou Panzanaro had been subject to in nearly 700 games as Peekskill’s coach.
South Shore ripped off a 31-0 run in the final 9:42 of the first half, including an overwhelming 27-0 second quarter surge.
“We’ve shut people out in a quarter now and then, but we’ve never been shut out in a quarter,” Panzanaro said. “No matter what you practice, when they’re swarming like they were swarming, it looked like there were 90 guys out there.”
UConn-bound senior Terrance Samuel was named the game’s MVP after recording 16 points, five rebounds and six assists. His team forced 15 first half turnovers, pressure Peekskill to surrender its early 16-9 lead.
Dan Casey led the Red Devils with 13 points and added seven rebounds. Musheed Muhammad finished with 12 points and nine rebounds as Peekskill dropped to 3-1.
“I don’t think we’re going to face any team with that kind of size and speed the rest of the year,” Casey said.
“I think it’s excellent. That’s why I come here, hoping to get a game like that,” Panzanaro said. “It’s not that you want to lose a game, but you want to get that kind of pressure put on you. Now, I’ll think we’ll have their attention when we get back to practice. It also tells us that we should be able to play that style of defensive pressure ourselves. We don’t have their size, but we have that quickness.”
Casey said he and some of his teammates lashed out in the locker room until they were reminded South Shore was one of the state’s top AA teams. With only four members of last year’s rotation back and several new faces, including one of the team’s top scorers, Jay Cabell, big man Laron Holt and swingman Neorck Brown.
Casey said Peekskill ultimately understood this can be a learning experience for a team with County Center aspirations.
“We have a young team who hasn’t really experienced this court like the upperclassmen,” Casey said. “It was our first time facing that kind of pressure. We had to adjust to it. Once we adjusted to it, we settled down and started playing Peekskill basketball again.”
