Putnam Valley Snaps Locust Valley’s 54-Game Win Streak

Tigers Advance to 1st NYS Final 4 vs. Waterloo’s 39-Game Streak; DeChent Sets Career Scoring Mark

By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays

Locust Valley’s size didn’t matter, its Long Island-record 54-straight wins hardly mattered. All that mattered was Section 1 Class B champion Putnam Valley’s self-belief. The fact that Section 8 champion Locust Valley would dominate the glass due to its distinct size advantage barely mattered at all as Coach Don Hamlin’s Tigers (19-7) snapped the state-ranked (No.3) Falcons’ winning streak that dated back to 2019 while advancing to their first NYSPHSAA Final 4 after a convincing 49-38 triumph last Saturday at Hofstra University.

Now, the Tigers will contend with yet another streak. State-ranked (No.9) Putnam Valley will face the state-ranked (No.1) Section 5 champion Waterloo – winners of 39-straight games – Saturday at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy in the state semis (12:30 p.m.). Section 2 Schalmont (ranked No.2 in NYS) will square off against state-ranked (No.4) Section 3 champion General Brown in the opposite bracket with the winners set to square off in Sunday’s state title tilt (11:45 a.m.).

The Tigers reached the regional finals after a harrowing 54-49 win over a persistent Red Hook team in the subregional Thursday at Yorktown High School where the @PV_Superfans were out in full throat.

Along the way, Putnam Valley junior G Eva DeChent set the school’s career scoring mark, establishing a new record with 1,395 career points to break the mark of former Tiger and former PV Coach Kristi Dini (1,394, 2003-05), who has had a lot to do with the development of DeChent.

“This is the greatest feeling of all time,” DeChent exclaimed after scoring a team-high 13. “I am honored to be going to the state Final 4. I’ve been waiting for this since my freshman year, but COVID had other plans. We are so ready for this.

“I have so much respect for Coach Dini who previously held the record for so long,” said DeChent, who added 10 rebounds, four steals and three blocks. “I’m honored to hold the career record. She’s been my AAU coach forever and it means a lot to me because I’ve always looked up to her.”

The Falcons (23-1) held DeChent to 13, which was a testament to the LV defense, but PV senior G Amanda Orlando picked right up where she left off in the Red Hook game, scoring 11 points while excelling at both ends of the floor, including the biggest dime of the game, finding DeChent for a layup with 2:39 remaining after Locust Valley got within three, 37-34. PV sophomore G Nai Torres continued to blossom before the eyes of state hoopers and finished with a team-high 15 points while tough junior G Brianna Foody added seven points, a couple of steals and a few boards.

“This was a total team win,” said PV Coach Don Hamlin, who won a NYS Class B title at Briarcliff in 2008 before capping that off with the Federation crown. “They really dig in defensively and I couldn’t be more proud of them. Every kid made an impact on this win.”

DeChent triggered a 12-4 closing run, serving a facial on Reily Roberts to trigger a bucket in transition. She added another from Orlando for a 39-34 lead with 2:30 to play, this after Orlando matched a Locust Valley triple with one of her own off the wing at 5:20 of the fourth. Torres added another from distance at 1:57 and followed with two more points at 1:30 for a 44-34 edge #GameOver.

PV came out firing on all cylinders, which was clutch, given the fact that Locust Valley hadn’t been slapped in the mouth since 2019 and was just miles away from its home base. After an Orlando bucket from Ava Harmon at 3:50 of the second quarter, PV extended its largest first-half lead to nine, 20-11, when Nat Mazza scored off an Harmon steal at 2:45 of the second, but the Tigers were held scoreless through the halftime buzzer and Locust Valley trimmed the lead to 20-16 at the pause.

DeChent crushed a long-range 3-ball with 2:55 left in the third for a 29-22 lead.

Against state-ranked (No.8) Red Hook (16-6), Orlando played a career game at both ends of the floor,  finishing with 19 points and seven rebounds to go with a pair of charges taken and incredible man-to-man defense of Marist-bound Morgan Tompkins (14 points), who Orlando limited to four second-half points.

PV came out like it was shot from a cannon, taking a 15-3 lead, but that disappeared when DeChent and Torres both picked up their second personal fouls early in the second quarter.

The Tigers would need a spark while its role players took center stage. Orlando, a senior guard and captain, came up clutch, keeping the Tigers afloat while Red Hook’s McKenzie Simmons and Morgan Tompkins awoke and built a 24-22 halftime lead. With Red Hook focusing extra hard on stopping the All-Section G DeChent, Orlando scored 14 points in the second half and snagged several offensive rebounds for put-back buckets while clamping Tompkins on the other end when the the Tigers switched out of a lackluster zone defense and went to their trademark man-to-man.

Orlando spotted Putnam Valley a 50-43 lead with 3:41 to go, before a dime to DeChent (21 points, 10 boards, 6 assists, 2 blocks) made it a 53-49 lead with 1:03 left. Torres knocked down 12 crucial points and played with the poise of a senior, much less a sophomore.

“This is the greatest feeling in my life right now,” Orlando admitted. “We did this as a team, we wanted it so bad and I think that my confidence and motivation, with everyone helping me out, I did this for them. I’m so excited, this is a dream come true. This is my senior year, we gotta do it this year.”

It’s not hard to imagine what might have been for the Tigers had COVID not stuck a fork in the spokes of this PV program. The Tigers have been Class B’s most consistent program in NYS for three seasons now and were on course – under former Coach Dini – to reach the NYS Final 4 in both 2019 and 2020. History won’t ever be able to give an accurate account of what might have been due to the pandemic, but this stretch of basketball will fondly be looked upon as the golden era of PV hoops until further notice.

With Waterloo on the horizon: 6-1 270-pound senior Giavanna White-Principio, who commands each end of the floor with authority, will be the main focus of attention. Jazzmyn Lewis, Natalie DiSanto and Morgan Caraballo and Macy Carr make the Indians (24-0) a complete team. Of their 24-straight victories this season, only four were less than double digits.