Peekskill eliminates NHS from postseason play
POUGHKEEPSIE – Peekskill was not about to blow Norwich off the floor in the New York State Class A regional semifinals Wednesday night at Vassar College.
The Red Devils, instead, outworked Norwich on the glass, tracked down a few more loose ball scrambles, and advanced in the state playoffs with a 47-36 victory.
Peekskill, perennial state playoff – and state championship – contenders, meet up with Section IX champion Cornwall Friday night.
“I watched Norwich play against Elmira, and I was impressed with them,” said Peekskill coach Lou Panzanaro, he of 18 Section I titles and five state titles. “Norwich plays hard and plays with a lot of intensity. I told my kids they would be in for a ballgame.”
Peekskill played the role of frontrunner from the get-go jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first quarter.
Josh Borfitz’s three ball with 3:45 left in the quarter broke the scoreless drought, and Vaughn Labor put back an offensive rebound narrowing the first-quarter margin to four.
Peekskill was able to re-grow its lead to 14 points midway through the second quarter. Jayme Gooding and Ralph Watts had a three-pointer apiece and added two-bucket jumpers as well, the latter by Watts made it 21-7 with 4;12 left in the half.
Norwich’s primary goal for the first half – keeping the game score manageable --was slipping away quickly. Dismaying to NHS were 10 first-half turnovers, and in-your-face defense by the Red Devils that made dribbling, passing and shooting – the most fundamental of basketball skills – difficult to say the least.
“We talked before the game about the importance of staying in it early on,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott. “When you don’t experience their level of speed, you don’t understand what it takes, and it takes a while to get used to it.”
Norwich closed the gap over the next two minutes getting a three from Josh Borfitz, and a Borfitz steal and layup to make it 23-15.
Kenny Bradshaw answered for the Devils dropping a layup after a nice dish from Watts, and Bradshaw hit a runner in the paint at the first-half horn upping the Peekskill advantage to 12 at halftime.
“I think at halftime we really felt we had a chance,” Abbott said. “They hurt us in the first half getting to some loose balls, and I think they scored six points in the second quarter after we failed to secure defensive rebounds. We needed to be more aggressive in the second half and compete for the 50-50 balls. I felt we did a better job of that.”
Norwich started the second half on a 9-2 run. Vaughn Labor, plagued with foul trouble in the first half, had the first two baskets, David Carson finished a fast break after a pass from Timmy Clark, and Corey Dietrich’s three ball fired up the NHS contingent leaving Norwich just five points shy, 29-24.
Nearly the entirety of Peekskill’s third-quarter offense came after Dietrich’s hoop. Leading scorer Darien Thomas, who had 13 points, ended Norwich’s salvo with a layup. Malcolm McDonald added a layup after having the ball initially poked loose, and star point guard, Daquan Brickhouse scored his first point of the game with a free throw.
Norwich did not struggle from the field in the fourth quarter, except on critical three-point attempts. None of the four long-range trifecta attempts cleared the cylinder in the stanza, and instead of cutting into the Red Devils’ lead, it was left with matching them point for point.
“They’re an awesome team, the best we’ve played this year by far,” Borfitz said, who led Norwich with 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting. “We played a real good game and there were tears in the locker room, but we felt we played a good game against them. We were huge underdogs, but we thought we could beat them if we made a few more shots.”
Labor added 10 points for Norwich (20-4), who saw its season end sooner than it would like, but likely satisfied with its accomplishments, Abbott said.
“This group truly epitomizes the team concept,” the Norwich coach said. “There was a lot of hard work from guys one through 13, and not everyone got to play. But they cared for each other, they were there for each other. They’re just unselfish kids and great kids off the court. The community rallied around this group of players, and rightfully so.”
Notes: Clark drew two charges finishing with 16, a new team record. Clark also set a single-season free throw percentage mark in Abbott’s tenure nailing 84.5 percent of his attempts to best Paul Schultz’s mark of 81.2 percent set in 1990…Abbott’s career record moves to 309-193. This past season was his fourth with 20 wins or more….The 47 points scored by Peekskill was its fewest this season, and 30 points under its season average….Norwich, too, scored its season-low point total and was also nearly 30 points under its season scoring average.
Peekskill: Daquan Brickhouse, 1-6 4-8-6; Nygee Wagner, 0-2-0-0-0; Jayme Gooding, 3-8- 0-2-7; Sean Smythe, 0; Kenny Bradshaw, 3-3 0-2-6; Malcolm McDonald,2-5 1-3-5 ; Ronnie Simmons, 0-1 0-0-0; Ralph Watts, 3-16 2-2-10; Darien Thomas, 6-13 1-2-13.Totals: 18-54 8-21-47
NHS: Casey Edwards, 0-1 0-0-0; Richie Bonney, 1-1 0-0-3; Corey Dietrich, 3-13 0-0-7; Timmy Clark, 1-7 0-0-2; Josh Borfitz, 5-11 0-0-12; Vaughn Labor, 4-9 2-2-10; Seth Thomsen, 0-1 0-0-0; David Carson, 1-4 0-0-2; Derek Hughes, 0 0-0-0. Totals: 15-47 2-2-36.
Score by quarters
NHS 5 10 9 12—36
Pkll. 9 18 9 11—47
Fouled out: none. Team fouls: (N) 16, (P) 12. Three-point goals: (N) Borfitz 2, Bonney, Dietrich, (P) Watts 2, Gooding.
The Red Devils, instead, outworked Norwich on the glass, tracked down a few more loose ball scrambles, and advanced in the state playoffs with a 47-36 victory.
Peekskill, perennial state playoff – and state championship – contenders, meet up with Section IX champion Cornwall Friday night.
“I watched Norwich play against Elmira, and I was impressed with them,” said Peekskill coach Lou Panzanaro, he of 18 Section I titles and five state titles. “Norwich plays hard and plays with a lot of intensity. I told my kids they would be in for a ballgame.”
Peekskill played the role of frontrunner from the get-go jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first quarter.
Josh Borfitz’s three ball with 3:45 left in the quarter broke the scoreless drought, and Vaughn Labor put back an offensive rebound narrowing the first-quarter margin to four.
Peekskill was able to re-grow its lead to 14 points midway through the second quarter. Jayme Gooding and Ralph Watts had a three-pointer apiece and added two-bucket jumpers as well, the latter by Watts made it 21-7 with 4;12 left in the half.
Norwich’s primary goal for the first half – keeping the game score manageable --was slipping away quickly. Dismaying to NHS were 10 first-half turnovers, and in-your-face defense by the Red Devils that made dribbling, passing and shooting – the most fundamental of basketball skills – difficult to say the least.
“We talked before the game about the importance of staying in it early on,” said Norwich coach Mark Abbott. “When you don’t experience their level of speed, you don’t understand what it takes, and it takes a while to get used to it.”
Norwich closed the gap over the next two minutes getting a three from Josh Borfitz, and a Borfitz steal and layup to make it 23-15.
Kenny Bradshaw answered for the Devils dropping a layup after a nice dish from Watts, and Bradshaw hit a runner in the paint at the first-half horn upping the Peekskill advantage to 12 at halftime.
“I think at halftime we really felt we had a chance,” Abbott said. “They hurt us in the first half getting to some loose balls, and I think they scored six points in the second quarter after we failed to secure defensive rebounds. We needed to be more aggressive in the second half and compete for the 50-50 balls. I felt we did a better job of that.”
Norwich started the second half on a 9-2 run. Vaughn Labor, plagued with foul trouble in the first half, had the first two baskets, David Carson finished a fast break after a pass from Timmy Clark, and Corey Dietrich’s three ball fired up the NHS contingent leaving Norwich just five points shy, 29-24.
Nearly the entirety of Peekskill’s third-quarter offense came after Dietrich’s hoop. Leading scorer Darien Thomas, who had 13 points, ended Norwich’s salvo with a layup. Malcolm McDonald added a layup after having the ball initially poked loose, and star point guard, Daquan Brickhouse scored his first point of the game with a free throw.
Norwich did not struggle from the field in the fourth quarter, except on critical three-point attempts. None of the four long-range trifecta attempts cleared the cylinder in the stanza, and instead of cutting into the Red Devils’ lead, it was left with matching them point for point.
“They’re an awesome team, the best we’ve played this year by far,” Borfitz said, who led Norwich with 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting. “We played a real good game and there were tears in the locker room, but we felt we played a good game against them. We were huge underdogs, but we thought we could beat them if we made a few more shots.”
Labor added 10 points for Norwich (20-4), who saw its season end sooner than it would like, but likely satisfied with its accomplishments, Abbott said.
“This group truly epitomizes the team concept,” the Norwich coach said. “There was a lot of hard work from guys one through 13, and not everyone got to play. But they cared for each other, they were there for each other. They’re just unselfish kids and great kids off the court. The community rallied around this group of players, and rightfully so.”
Notes: Clark drew two charges finishing with 16, a new team record. Clark also set a single-season free throw percentage mark in Abbott’s tenure nailing 84.5 percent of his attempts to best Paul Schultz’s mark of 81.2 percent set in 1990…Abbott’s career record moves to 309-193. This past season was his fourth with 20 wins or more….The 47 points scored by Peekskill was its fewest this season, and 30 points under its season average….Norwich, too, scored its season-low point total and was also nearly 30 points under its season scoring average.
Peekskill: Daquan Brickhouse, 1-6 4-8-6; Nygee Wagner, 0-2-0-0-0; Jayme Gooding, 3-8- 0-2-7; Sean Smythe, 0; Kenny Bradshaw, 3-3 0-2-6; Malcolm McDonald,2-5 1-3-5 ; Ronnie Simmons, 0-1 0-0-0; Ralph Watts, 3-16 2-2-10; Darien Thomas, 6-13 1-2-13.Totals: 18-54 8-21-47
NHS: Casey Edwards, 0-1 0-0-0; Richie Bonney, 1-1 0-0-3; Corey Dietrich, 3-13 0-0-7; Timmy Clark, 1-7 0-0-2; Josh Borfitz, 5-11 0-0-12; Vaughn Labor, 4-9 2-2-10; Seth Thomsen, 0-1 0-0-0; David Carson, 1-4 0-0-2; Derek Hughes, 0 0-0-0. Totals: 15-47 2-2-36.
Score by quarters
NHS 5 10 9 12—36
Pkll. 9 18 9 11—47
Fouled out: none. Team fouls: (N) 16, (P) 12. Three-point goals: (N) Borfitz 2, Bonney, Dietrich, (P) Watts 2, Gooding.
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