WHITE PLAINS – Yorktown the No. 2 seed. Rye the No. 3 seed.
The matchup that had to be.
Two heavyweight prize fighters traded punches and body blows, looking for that elusive knockout punch – which never came. Had this contest gone one more round, who knows what the outcome might have been?
This time, the Rye boys prevailed 43-41 over Yorktown, earning the right to play in the Sectional championship. The Garnets (17-6) are now one win away from the New York State tournament, with a title matchup set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday against top-seeded Tappan Zee (20-2).
“It was really a shame that one team had to lose this one,” said Rye coach Tom Proudian. “Two good teams, both refusing to give up. I guess we made just one more bucket than they did. And so, we move on.”
With the score knotted at a barely imaginable 6-6 at the end of the first quarter, spectators at Westchester County Center knew this game – though not pretty – would likely come down to the last possession.
Rye nudged ahead in the second quarter, outscoring Yorktown by eight to take a 20-14 lead into the locker room. A pair of dunks by junior Henry Shoemaker, who led Rye with 16 points, and some lockdown interior zone defense from Rye forced the Huskers to continue to look for their 3-point shot that just wouldn’t fall all night long.
The fourth quarter was heave and ho, lunge and parry. A tough layup by junior Carson Miller followed by an even tougher put-back bucket from Yorktown big man Ryan Duffy. Rye senior Rocklan Boisseau with one of his ferocious offensive rebounds, matched by a three in the corner from electric Yorktown guard Kaden Gonzalez. Turnovers, missed free throws, followed by numerous timeouts, which fans needed as badly as the players.
As a loose ball trickled out of bounds off of somebody’s shoe, the final horn sounded and just like that, the game was over. Whew…
“I think our team camaraderie really showed tonight,” said senior captain Jake Kessner. “As the game wore on, our defensive intensity grew and I think that was the difference in the ballgame. We couldn’t care less who we’re playing in the next game. Just happy it’s us.”
