by Ben Gaines
The Panther Boys Basketball team traveled to Hudson Valley Community College to play Greenwich last Friday evening for the Section II quarterfinals of Class C.
Although the Panthers won the tip they were unable to convert the first possession, but this seemed just to make them hungrier to get a basket. Levi Brewster got the Panthers their first points of the game. The starters, Andrew Hoag, Taylor Baker, Austin Pitt and Randy Tutunjian all scored in the first quarter to drive the Panthers ahead of the Witches 13-7 by the end of the quarter.
The Witches changed their offense when the Panthers’ lead grew to 10 points. The Panthers had no counter when Oswald of the Witches used his picks and screens to get an open shot from beyond the ark. He drained three consecutive three-point shots in less than 2 minutes. The half ended 20-18 in favor of the Witches.
The teams took the floor after the half to fight for the continuation of their season. The Panthers didn’t score until the 4:57 mark when Pitt sank one of two foul shots followed by a basket later, and Phillips sank a three at 0:48 to close the third quarter at 34-24 for the Witches. Andrew Hoag had two of the five defensive rebounds of the second half while Tutunjian got one and Evan two. Hoag, Tutunjian and Levi had one offensive rebound each.
The old saying “Offense sells tickets… Defense wins games” was the story of the Panthers’ season. One of the last possessions for the Witches was a missed shot followed by three put backs and finally a foul that was converted to 2 points.
Other than using the sixth man, Coach Mike Lilac Jr. didn’t draw from the bench until almost two minutes were left in the game. Josh Brogue hit a single basket in this time and achieved a perfect shooting percentage of 100% for the game. The rest of the varsity team played the final 100 seconds of the last game of the season. The final score was Greenwich 44 – HFCS 32.
The final season for the Class of 2013 was one of aspiration, perspiration, determination and frustration. The players all provided the determination during practices; it was just unfortunate the seniors will never make it out of Section II in basketball and add another patch to their Champions’ Jackets from soccer or football.