Old Faces in New Places as Hoops Eras Begin Anew; Mahopac, Peekskill, Yorktown, Brewster Usher in New Coaches
By Ray Gallagher
Examiner Sports Editor
New eras are usually an exhilarating time, a period of renewed vim and vigor, a time when a fresh message rings within the ears of the players within a particular program. A new epoch was ushered in last week in places like Yorktown, Mahopac, Brewster and Peekskill, where longtime veteran basketball coaches were replaced by new faces, and the results were generally good all around.
At Mahopac High, former Pace University College Coach Jim Harter took over for Kevin Downes, now coaching at Yorktown High. Both were victorious in their initial endeavors; Harter, the wily wizard, knocking off new Peekskill Coach Tim Turner, 74-66, behind 22 points from junior swingman Dan Foley and 18 from junior G Christian Donahoe in his ballyhooed inauguration in Indian Country. The more-or-less subdued sideline was nothing like it was under the fiery Downes, but the end-game was the same: Physical, Tenacious… this-is-how-we-do basketball at Mahopac. It’s a 12-man fox-hole and its hell on the opposition, and Harter was totally cool with it.
“We had a lot of guys step up,” Harter said, noting senior F Chris Esernio, who nailed two big treys in the fourth after being plagued by foul trouble throughout the first half. “And then Christian’s steal and three-point play after the Foley bucket were big. I’m really proud of the way we stepped up tonight, because we had to grind that win out.”
Mahopac’s fox-hole mentality prevailed, breaking open a 55-51 game in the fourth. Foley and Donahoe sealed the deal with a Foley hoop, followed by a Donahoe steal off the inbound, which he took to the rack for an and-one three-point play, providing a pivotal swing in the game.
“In the end we just got in our rhythm and hit shots,” Foley said. “We have a lot of football players on this team, so we’re pretty thick and pretty strong, and we like to use that to our advantage, and that’s what we have to do this year is wear teams down and outhustle them basically. Donahoe stepped up and played huge. We got in some foul trouble early and he came off the bench and played amazing.”
The adjustment under Harter has been fairly simple for the Indians, according to Foley.
“I mean, our offense is more open I would say, anybody can go in and score,” Foley said. “It’s hard to explain, but it’s totally different, but change is good sometimes, and once we mesh you’ll see a different team.”…
HUSKERS DO DAMAGE
At about the same time just 10 miles south, Downes’ Huskers were tripping up reigning Section 1 Class A champion Walter Panas, 51-37, last Friday night behind 18 points from junior hotshot Nick DeGennaro, who ranged well on 4 of 7 from downtown. Senior Mason Dyslin, a lanky 6-foot-5 Vassar-bound senior, added 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks for the Huskers, who turned out in full throat to support their new coach, who, much to the dismay of the Mahopac Maniacs, called Yorktown’s Crop #TheBestStudentSection around, in a Friday night tweet he released.
“Once we got through the early game nerves and excitement we settled down,” Coach Downes said. “Nick DelBene did a great job defensively on (Mike) Evans, who is a special player. He really slowed him down the second quarter. Jesse Bambach gave us the jump-start we needed off the bench. His energy was off the charts and he gave us solid scoring, rebounding and hustle. Nick DeGennaro got us going in transition and shot the ball very well. Mason finished with 15 and 7, which is a solid night, but he only scratched the surface with what he is capable of. I thought overall we were solid defensively and shot fairly well but I was not satisfied with how we rebounded. We need to improve in that area. It felt good to get our first win but we definitely have a lot of work to do.”
The Huskers have a big week ahead with a trip to Peekskill.
“I don’t think Yorktown has won at Peekskill in 30 years,” Downes said.
Not many team have. The Huskers will also be home for John Jay EF and face a top-tier AA team in Mamaroneck…
FAST BREAKS: The adjustment to Harter may take Mahopac a few games, but the adjustment to Section 1 officiating could take all season; and not just for Mahopac and Peekskill. The new “Hot Stove” rule (for lack of a better term), which minimizes hand-checking and holding, resulted in more than 60 fouls called against the Red Devils and Indians; two programs that have traditionally liked to bump, grind and grab from behind. The point of emphasis among referees in NYSPHSAA is to eliminate, as much as possible, illegal hand-checking, grabbing and anything else that illegally deters a player from making headway to the basket.
“I’ve never been a part of a game in my 24 years of coaching where there were as many fouls called,” Harter said. “I guess it’s appoint of emphasis in the game right now to call things closer, but there was no rhythm to the game.”
Schools might have to consider an early dismissal to get weeknight games finished before 9:00 p.m. if officials continue to blow their whistles like they did in Week 1…
BREWSTER Coach Tom Nelligan, the former Bears assistant coach and four-time Section 1 champion coach at Kennedy Catholic, took over for 31-year mentor John Martino. The Bears reached the finals of the Byram Hills Winter Classic before falling, 59-53, to the host Bobcats despite an All-Tourney effort from John Palmieri (13 points)…
PEEKSKILL replaced NYS hall of Famer Lou Panzanaro, the section’s winningest coach, with longtime assistant Turner, and while Peekskill was supposed to be in full rebuilding mode, it still gave four-time Class AA semifinalists Mahopac fits for four quarters before wilting down the stretch…
Greeley beat LAKELAND, 50-47, in the finals of the 6th annual Carolyn Conroy Memorial Tournament despite an All-Tourney effort from Mike Morelli (21 points)… PUTNAM VALLEY senior G Ryan Basso has been torching cords to start the season. The third-year captain senior scored a school-record 37 points in the Tigers’ 79-67 win on the road at John Jay-East Fishkill, just two days after ripping New Paltz for 18 in a 67-58 road win against the Section 9 foe. Zack Nolan scored 10 of his 16 in the decisive third period. Against Jay EF, Basso had six 3-pointers, shot 9 of 12 from the line, and added four rebounds, four assists and made only two turnovers… CARMEL had an utterly disappointing fourth-place finish in the Lakeland tourney, which is truly upsetting given the high hopes we had for the Rams, who saw 6’6” freshman Josh Alexander get an All-Tourney nod. Still plenty of time to turn it around but we were hoping for at least a split here…
COVERAGE NOTE: Coaches: with local coverage and box score samplings slipping, please take a minute after each game to have your statistician email a stat sheet to raygallaghersports@gmail.com or provide us with a reliable link where team stats can be viewed.
So here’s the first installment of an utterly meaningless local poll based on the early returns.
NWE/PUTNAM FAB FIVE HOOPS POLL
No.1 MAHOPAC – Sweeping personnel changes did not seem to affect Coach Harter’s Class AA Indians (1-0) in their superb second-half effort in win over Peekskill. A fifth-straight County Center venture might be asking too much (maybe, maybe not), but this team could be a quarterfinalist.
No.2 YORKTOWN – Coach Downes’ Class A Huskers (1-0) took down reigning Section 1 Class A champion Walter Panas in fairly convincing fashion (14 points), and we told you not to sleep on the Huskers in our preview edition.
No. 3 PUTNAM VALLEY – Coach McDonnell’s Class B Tigers (2-0) have picked up where they left off with two huge road wins against significantly larger schools (New Paltz & Jay EF) and the hurt has come from the devil-hot hand of G Ryan Basso, who set the new school with 37 points against East Fishkill.
No.4 LAKELAND – Coach Henry Weltman’s Class A Hornets (1-1) will hold a significant size edge on Put Valley, which could be the difference in Tuesday’s border tilt between the two rivals. If the Tigers’ shots aren’t dropping early and often, the Hornets should come away with a W, but Basso will be the best pure scorer on the court and the Hornets will throw the house at him and hope he has an off game. This is an intriguing game for many reasons; the no love-lost factor included.
No.5 PEEKSKILL – Coach Turner’s Class A Red Devils (0-1) were surprisingly better than expected, given the fact that they return essentially a shell of last year’s team, but they got after Mahopac and will continue to be a tough out for all.
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