Lots of big games today to report:
-A big fourth quarter helped Cardinal Hayes hand Stepinac their second loss of the season, having beaten them earlier in the season.
-In a two overtime thriller Terrence McNair hit a 3 as time expired to give Nyack a 70-67 win over Panas.
-Briarcliff and Byram Hills both managed to remain undefeated as they won their games against Westlake and Fox Lane, respectively.
-In one of our #GOTW, Albertus Magnus beats Tappan Zee 45-39.
-Kennedy gives Peekskill a scare as the Red Devils escape with a three-point victory.
Also plenty of big stat lines. Kai Mitchell had 20 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks in Spring Valley’s 63-47 win over Suffern while Sacred Heart’s junior captain Arjon Beqiri scored a career-high 30 points a 71-51 win over Blessed Sacrament. Jelani Bell-Isaac had 10 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks as Putnam Valley rolled to another victory. Westlake’s Tommy Hopkins had 20 points and 19 rebounds. Looks like we have some Player of the Week nominees. Tweet at Josh (@LohudInsider) or me (@Lohud_DeFran) with other #POTW suggestions.
Josh will have a recap later from North Rockland’s 70-54 win over Clarkstown South. The Red Raiders are now the lone undefeated team in Rockland.
Today’s roundups:
Cardinal Hayes 66, Stepinac 51: At Stepinac, the Crusaders played Cardinal Hayes close for the majority of the game, with the score tied at 38 at one point in the third quarter. But Cardinal Hayes went on a 28-13 run in the fourth to pull away. Josh James had 16 points and five rebounds for the Crusaders. Stepinac has a record 9-2 with its only losses coming against Cardinal Hayes.
Nyack 70, Panas 67, 2 OT: At Panas, Terrence McNair hit the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired. McNair finished with 15 points. DaShawn Rodriguez had 18 points. Vaughn Dweck had 28 points and Tim McCauley had 26 points for Panas.
Briarcliff 57, Westlake 52: At Westlake, Jared Jones (18 points), Ryan Huegel (16 points), and Brian Daniels (16 points) scored all but seven points for the Bears. Tommy Hopkins had 20 points and 19 rebounds for the Wildcats.
Byram Hills 60, Fox Lane 52: At Fox Lane, Jeff Lynch had 23 points for the Bobcats. Brian Skelly had 14 points. James Morales had 14 points for the Foxes.
Albertus Magnus 45, Tappan Zee 39: At Albertus Magnus, Jack Sullivan scored 23 points, including three 3-pointers. Eric Casey scored 13 points for the Dutchmen.
Peekskill 70, Kennedy 67: At Kennedy, Jay Cabell had 17 points. Chavis Pigott had 11 points and Ramon Searight had 10 points. Dominick Cristiano had 17 points and Danny Cruz and Chris Gillen both had 16 points for Kennedy.
Spring Valley 63, Suffern 47: At Spring Valley, Kai Mitchell had 20 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks. Rickey McGill added 16 points and five assists. Devonte O’Neal had four points and 10 rebounds. Tyler McDine and Javin Williams each had 11 points for the Mounties.
Sacred Heart 71, Blessed Sacrament 51: At Sacred Heart, Arjon Beqiri scored a varsity-high 30 points. Balla Thiam added 16 points and 10 rebounds. Anthony Deluca had 19 points for Blessed Sacrament.
Yorktown 62, Lakeland 45: At Lakeland, Mason Dyslin had 17 points and Anthony Coutsouros had 16 points. Bryan Horgan had 11 points. Chris Conklin had 12 points for the Hornets.
Pearl River 52, Nanuet 30: At Nanuet, Kevin Degnan had 17 points for the Pirates. Jack Byrnes added 11 points. Mike Brabham had nine points for the Golden Knights.
Clarkstown North 45, Ramapo 27: At Ramapo, Sal Barbetto and Vinny Lleshaj each scored 12 points. Michael Malone scored nine points for the Gryphons.
Eastchester 45, Sleepy Hollow 28: At Eastchester, Jack Daly had 12 points. Mike Milo had 10 points. Manny Velazquez had 12 points for Sleepy Hollow.
Putnam Valley 75, Hen Hud 50: At Putnam Valley, Zach Nolan had 22 points. Jelani Bell-Isaac had 10 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks. Zach Coleman had eight points and six steals. Hunter Glashoff had 17 points for the Sailors.
Iona Prep 59, Mount St. Michael 46: At Iona Prep, Tom Capuano had 19 points, four assists and five rebounds and Gaels. Matt Ryan had 14 points and nine rebounds. Brandon Williams had 12 points and five rebounds.
32 Comments
Arlington beats OLL in the rematch. That 30 pt win by OLL is a longtime ago now! Now onto Brewster tomorrow for a big W and then we go up against Poughkeepsie. Sorry all but I saw Poughkeepsie and they are not that good! No chance of beating us at home. We have the best team this year!!!
In section 1 ? I highly doubt that !!
Is Briarcliff undefeated? If so ,who else is still undefeated at this stage of the season
I feel so bad for panas being 3-5. All of their loss were by 3 points or less! They could be 8-0
yes, Panas hasn’t losed by more than 3 in a game. Unreal.
That Peekskill-JFK game is a somewhat surprising score. I saw Kennedy play AM and they didn’t have any size, but their guard play was decent. I would think they would have some trouble against a bigger, more physical team. They are young and will only get better as the season moves along. Definitely an encouraging game.
I believe North Rockland, Byram and Briarcliff are the only unbeaten teams left in Section 1.
PANAS WILL BE A HANDFUL COME PLAYOFF TIME CONGRATS TO THE NYACK TEAM,AND THE DYNAMIC DUO FOR A FINE GAME(TIMMY M. AND VAUGHN D,AS THEY COMBINED FOR 54 OF.PANAS POINTS
arlington has talent , but needs to play more consistently. Look good at times, look sluggish at others.
I am trying to get a handle on Hayes. Last year with Dingle and Jenkins I really thought they had a shot to win it all. Is this years team better or is Step over rated? I saw Step play at the Slam Dunk and was somewhat impressed but I don’t buy into the hype as them being a great team.
SPACECADET,
TEAM BUS ALREADY AT CITY HALL
Briarcliff is getting better by the week, and with a deep bench, they look good! Give it up to Coach Coxen. Knows X’s and O’s AND instills discipline and conditioning as MUSTS!
spacey- Dingle was on St. Rays no? I know who you mean but I am forgetting his name. Personally I think this years Hayes team is better, but has no impact on what I think of Step. Mentioned it before, Step goes as the guards go. The inside presence will get exposed in the rigors of the CHSAA. But if the guards are on they can pick you off. They are far from a great team and the logical fans like Hoops will tell you that.
Briarcliff is a good team with the 4 Seniors. Outside of those kids there is Nothing on the bench that adds to their play….Except you need 5 on the floor. Look at last nights game – 3 players score 95% of the points. Look to next year when the Bench kids play – you wont like what you see – but this is 2013!!
watch out for those Spring Valley Tigers, Mitchell and McGill only sophomores and their seniors O’Neal and Durand are very good leaders who know their roles and keep everyone in line. They are a Jack Sullivan not having a white hot night (he didn’t miss against Spring Valley) from being undefeated! Deep bench too!!! Go Tigers!!!!
HR.. my bad, I thinking about the big guy Sidibe..
Admirals, your team should first be focused on trying to beat Brewster on its home court tonight. I’m sure PK will be ready when it comes to visit your place Tuesday. Definitely agree with jetsstink, though…
HR’s
I was at the Iona-Mount game and then caught the 4th quarter of Stepinac – Hayes- Here is what separates Iona and Stepinac from the upper tier of the CHSAA- It is called depth- The starting 5 for the local CHSAA teams can stay with Hayes and Loghlin etc but it is when the bench comes in that determines these outcomes- Example was the other night in the Iona-St. Raymonds game- Iona had them beat but in the last 5 minutes of the game the starters wore down and fatigue set in and they turned the ball over and St. Ryas took advantage – Iona played 6 players that night-Luckily last night Iona was able to use 7 players and had a good win over a good Mount team-
great assessment and I agree with you 100%. Also feel this even separates the upper tier teams when it comes down to the end of the season/playoffs.
Now that Step/Iona are on the same level in terms of their league, they have to attempt to make an adjustment. I tend to feel they will. Mainly because local talent who was on the fence will now make the jump(just an opinion)
Hr’s
The Stepinac coach is very very aggressive in marketing his program- Coach Vic from Iona relies on his assistants especially in football to go out and get kids-
Stepinac-Molloy is a key game on Sunday-
Iona in their first year in the CHSAA AA has done reasonably well- Wins over St. Raymonds, Mount, St Peters, and St. Francis is a good start- Tough loss this past week against St. Raymonds was due to youth and no depth- The only bad loss was to Christ the King where they were spanked.
St rays and mount are no where near as good as they were last year. Mount graduated their entire team with the exception of the lefty and st rays graduated their entire starting five, 3 who were high d1 players. Hayes lost 2 kids (1 is at gmason 1 is at Fairfield) not sure if Hayes is better this year but they are still very good. Keep in mind that they bet loughlin and loughlin beat mount Vernon by 20+.
Ip: every league game is key in the chsaa, sect 1, wherever. The difference with teams like loughlin, ctk, Hayes, is depth yes but more importantly is the speed and talent. Stepinac Hayes was tied at 40 in he 3rd quarter then before you could blink stepinac was down 12. That’s a credit to how Hayes plays and how fast they are.
It seems like after the big three ( loughlin ctk Hayes) the rest of the league is very close.
Teams like Iona mount cross stepinac Molly Xaverian are pretty good middle of he pack “aa” teams.
I’m with you Valley Grad! SV is easily the 1 or 2 in the county. The good news is it will be decided next Friday night when they play NR. Should be the game of the year here in the county
I wasn’t at the am/sv game but the fact Sullivan went off is no surprise. Sv is generally out if control and plays about 7 seconds of defense. Composure and good ball movement will get wide open shots. They might be 1 or 2 next year but they are closer to 4-5 right now.
space,
Hayes is legit. They might be better than last year. As was mentioned, they already beat Loughlin. Their backcourt this year has taken a big step up – led by Newkirk and Robinson. Newkirk is only a Jr, but already has offers from Seton Hall and Providence – he looks much better to me this year than he was last year. Robinson also seems to have improved a lot since last year – he’s probably a low D1 player in my opinion. Wilson already is signed to Manhattan – he might be the third best player in the Hayes backcourt. Hayes’ frontcourt is long, athletic and young.
HRs,
I agree with your assessment 100%. A team with great guards like Step has can pick off a top team if their guards play very well and the opposing team has an off night. Ionapower is also correct about the impact of depth.
I know the Somers loss was ugly for Iona, but other than that they’ve had a great season early in the AA – I would not have guessed they would’ve beat St Rays, Mount and Holy Cross at this point early in the year. Beating New Ro and WP is also nice for any local team. I didn’t realize how good Ryan would be.
IP its great to hear that both teams will/are going to be aggressive. Our area is a lot richer in talent than many may think. I think depth is something that can be resolved if the program calls for it(and they care enough). I am from the public school system, but I can tell you this, if my son was good enough, its a discussion he and I would have.
Hopefully next week I can get to see Ryan play. Very anxious as you all are high on him.
Hrs,
You’ll like Ryan. Legit 6’6”, nice range, nice stroke, nice handle. He’s thin and needs to get stronger, which will come as he gets older. If he can get the strength to attack the rim, watch out. Not sure if you’ve seen Step, but I think you would really like their young guards. We all know and like josh James’ game, but naim Thomas a jr, Walter king a jr and Demarcus miller a soph are all very good. Boz bernstein a jr is another kid whose game I think you’d really like – very smart player.
I think your point is a good one that the longer step and Iona stay in the AA the more depth they will get. For a local player who does not live in MV, it seems like a no brainer to me where they would want to play. For any local kids, the level of competition and exposure is outstanding. I also think besides attracting new kids, I think playing in the AA will increase the kids exposure and recruiting status, not too mention improving them as players.
Hoops ,
I have seen Step twice this year. Thomas, Miller, King and Bernstein all are legit.
I love Miller’s athleticism and aggressiveness. I think he is also a football player and you are high on him(but I could be wrong). He will need to develop a pull up jumper. Its too inconsistent and you can see he prefers to always get to the rack. King has an excellent handle. He has a nice soft touch too. His decision making needs to mature. Too much dribbling for my liking. Thomas is probably the most complete guard of the four. Nice touch, strong handle and will give up the ball when needed. How tall is he by the way? I couldn’t tell. Bernstein doesn’t play enough in my opinion. Yes the back court is crowded, but he needs to be on the court. He can shoot, has a solid handle and like you said is very smart.
I would even consider starting all 5 guards. Miller, James, Boz, King and Thomas. Now it may have been done , but Coach did not do it in the games I saw. Not too take away from the bigs, but they will get eaten up against the top tier teams. So I would try and do what I do best and that is run, press and shoot. Rebounding may be in question, but it already is so its worth a shot. Although Miller gets up and can battle with the big boys.
Hrs,
I agree with you all about the step guards. I actually like Murray and decker as starters. Murray is deceptively athletic – he can get way above the rim – and is a good defender and rebounder. Decker is a very smart player, can guard opposing bigs – he did well against Ryan head to head – can hit a 3 and will crash the boards hard – he is also a kid who will clearly do whatever his team needs of him to win. Basically, I think Murray and or decker onthe floor gives step some added toughness and needed rebounding. I think I’ve seen me go all 5 guards at times, but against a team with any size or athleticism up front it helps to have a forward on the floor. Agreed miller can guard anyone on the floor, so could James. I think Naim Thomas looks a legit 5’10” – he has a good frame and is playing strong this year. I like his game a lot as well – very complete pg. Thomas has made a big leap ahead this year in terms of confidence and consistency.
Hrs,
And yes, I’m very high on miller as a football player as well. I didn’t realize he’d be is good on the basketball floor this early after football this year. Miller looks like a first team all county basketball player and a first team all county football player by his senior year, if not next year.
good info on Decker/Murray. You have seen this team and have a great feel for them. You swayed me. I like what you are saying about added toughness and true team player. Without those types of players it is difficult to truly compete.
Miller may have the biggest upside because of his athleticism and the fact that he is still growing. Although it sounds like the gridiron may be his top choice.
Rockball, they start 3 sophomores, give it time and yes their defense has to improve but saying they are out of control is not fair at all. They like to run and are deep enough to do so….....I do believe Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas Razorbacks “40 minutes of hell” teams were very similar to what Valley does.(They did win a national title, right?) They look for easy baskets and use pressure defense to wear teams out. In order to beat them you have to “shoot the lights out.” Albertus did that from start to finish (Sullivan) and SV missed 8 free throws in 4th quarter for their only loss of year…..When the Valley really melds together they will be trouble for everyone! Also, Sullivan is the premier player in the county, if he was 5 inches taller he would be going D1 easy…....he will do well at D2 school he committed to.
All I have to say is that I’m glad AM doesn’t have to play Spring Valley again. They played very well to beat them, but they are legit. Deep team that likes to run and as you say Valley Grad, has the horses to do so. Absolute county center contender in AA, no doubt.