First round recap: Class A boys hoops

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Opening round

Eastchester 74, Rye 66

The Eastchester Eagles barely withstood a Max Twyman onslaught on Friday night as they scrambled to defeat No. 15 Rye Garnets 74-66. Twyman scored 26 of his teams 34 first-half points and finished with 43 as the Garnets led by as much as eleven late in the third quarter.

“You have to give all the credit to Rye, Twyman is some player. I don’t know how many shots he missed today but it wasn’t many,” Eastchester coach Fred DiCarlo said. “We feel like we’ve been in that situation many times this year where we can wear teams down late, so I don’t think we hit the panic button.”

After scoring just seven points in the first half, Jack Daly took over in the second. He attacked the basket relentlessly, getting to the line consistently and converting. Daly finished with 31 points, including 14 of 16 from the line. His three-pointer at the buzzer at the end of the third quarter cut the Rye lead to 48-46 and ignited the home crowd.

“As I said to (Daly), he’s played a lot of basketball in his life and this was just one more game and you can’t put any more or less weight on it, you just have to go and play,” DiCarlo said. “As Jack goes we go but we’ve got a lot of players on this team, not just Jack.”

One of those players to step up was junior reserve Mike Marsico. Marsico finished with 13 points but it was his back-to-back three pointers with two minutes to go that pushed Eastchester from a 62-61 deficit to a 67-62 lead in a matter of seconds.

“I’m not really that great of a three-point shooter but coach told me if I was open that I should shoot it and I was open both times,” Marsico said. “It was hard to concentrate afterwards but I just had to get back on defense and work hard.”

No. 2 Eastchester will No. 10 Pelham on Tuesday in the second round.


Tappan Zee 62, Riverside 49

Eric Casey dominated the paint and led the Dutchmen a solid victory over a strong Riverside squad in the Class A opening round.

Casey finished with 26 points and 20 rebounds, and Luke McLaughlin added 17 points in the victory for the defending Section 1 Class A champs. 

Tommy Morales was his usual steady self for Tappan Zee and led a tough defensive effort.

The Dutchmen will travel to Poughkeepsie in the quarterfinals next week in a rematch of the Section 1 Class A championship game last season.

Byram Hills 65, Beacon 63 (OT)

It took two jaw-dropping buzzer-beaters but the top-seeded Bobcats survived the biggest upset of the Section 1 tournament.

Brian Skelly hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer in regulation to force overtime, which ended with Mike Giacomo's steal and layup as time expired for the victory. It was Giacomo's only basket of the game. Skelly scored 16.

Ryan Golden led Byram Hills (18-1) with 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting with seven rebounds. Andrew Groll had 20 rebounds and eight points and Jeff Lynch had 11 points and 12 assists.

Byram Hills will host No. 8 Somers in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Pelham 56, Nyack 54

Tremayne Prince hit a running one-hander with 35 seconds remaining for what proved to be the game-winning basket as No. 10 Pelham upset the seventh-seeded Indians at Nyack.

Prince scored eight points, including one of Pelhams' 10 3-pointers in the victory. The Pelicans will take on rivals and second-seeded Eastchester in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Chris Ayson led Pelham with 15 points and Zack Rollins added 14 points and 11 rebounds in the victory.

Terence McNair led Nyack with 18 points.

Albertus Magnus 70, Panas 66

Matt Dale hit four free throws in the final 35 seconds as the fourth-seeded Falcons staved off an upset bid from No. 13 Panas at home.

Dale scored 10 points. Jack Sullivan led Albertus with 26 points, including three 3-pointers. Thomas McConnell added 19 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

Albertus Magnus will host No. 5 Peekskill in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

The Falcons survived a brilliant shooting performance from Panas senior Vaughn Dweck. The guard hit five 3-pointers in the first quarter and scored 23 of his game-high 32 points before the half.

Panas guard Mike McCauley added 16 points, 13 of which came in the second half.

Peekskill 70, Pearl River 67

At Peekskill, the No. 5-seeded Red Devils used a furious late third-quarter rally to stave off upset-minded Pearl River. 

Peekskill went on an 11-0 run inside the final two minutes of the third to erase an eight-point deficit and maintain a 54-51 lead heading into the fourth. 

The No. 12-seeded Pirates battled back to grab a 57-56 advantage with 4:36 left in regulation, however, the Red Devils rattled off four straight points to grab the lead for good. 

Musheed Muhammad and Jay Cabell paced Peekskill with 16 points apiece. Chavis Pigott and Laron Holt each chipped in with 12 points. 

For Pearl River, big man Kevin Degnan scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the first half. Teammates Tom Davis (13 points), Rich Masley (12 points) and Thomas Armour (11 points) rounded out the offensive production. 

Next up, the Red Devils will travel to take on No. 4-seeded Albertus Magnus in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Somers 62, Gorton 46

Matt Moros scored 20 points and John Decker added 15 as the eighth-seeded Tuskers took care of No. 9 Gorton at home.

Somers (14-5) took a five-point lead into the half before blowing the game open in the third. The Tuskers advanced to the Class A quarterfinals where they'll take on top-seeded Byram Hills on Tuesday.

Rashan McKay had 12 points and Dane Williamson added 10 for Gorton.

Scores
Poughkeepsie 74, Harrison 47

Quarterfinals
Tuesday
No. 8 Somers at No. 1 Byram Hills, 6 p.m.
No. 5 Peekskill at No. 4 Albertus Magnus
No. 6 Tappan Zee at No. 3 Poughkeepsie, 5 p.m.
No. 10 Pelham at No. 2 Eastchester, 7 p.m.

Email Kevin Devaney Jr. at kdevaney@cablevision.com

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