Sports
South Falls Short Against Mount Vernon (VIDEO)
Mt. Vernon advanced to the Class AA championship with a 59-53 victory over Clarkstown South Friday night
The Mount Vernon boys basketball team used a dominant second quarter to defeat Clarkstown South, 59-53, Friday night in the Class AA semifinals at the Westchester County Center.
Clarkstown South opened the game on a 5-0 run, but Mount Vernon scored nine unanswered and the Vikings spent the rest of the game playing catchup.
South actually tied it up at 16 when Mike McCahey connected on a put-back lay-up right before the buzzer to end the first quarter. For the Vikings, who were appearing in the sectional semifinals at the County Center for the first time in school history, they were pleased with how the game went in the first quarter going up against Mount Vernon, which has won six consecutive Class AA titles and 11 of the past 12.
“We took their best shot. We wanted to play the way they wanted to play,” said South Coach Matt Backs.“They wanted to play fast. We practiced that way, we played that way all year.”
The Knights (19-2) really separated themselves in the second quarter, when they outscored the Vikings 19-5.
“We knew they were going to make a run. We knew it was going to happen,” McCahey said. “They got hot in the second quarter, they made their run, but I thought we handled it pretty well.”
South trailed by 14 after the second quarter, but in the second half the game’s manic pace slowed down. In the opening minutes of the third, the Vikings drew charges on four Knight possessions to slow things down.
“We were fortunate enough that it became more of our pace than theirs,” Backs said. “We just took advantage.”
South consistently chipped away at the deficit in the second half, but Mount Vernon just wouldn’t allow the Vikings to go on a big run. South never scored more than five unanswered points in the second half and trailed by 11 heading into the final quarter, which is when things really slowed down.
In the final quarter, Clarkstown South sent a Mount Vernon player to the free throw line on almost every possession. Backs said that wasn’t the gameplan, but instead just how things played out. Either way, it let South creep back into the game, as the Knights had some issues from the line in the fourth quarter.
Mount Vernon made just 11 of its 24 free throws in the fourth quarter. In the first three quarters, the Knights went 7-for-10 from the line. But in the final minutes of the game, when South closed the gap to five, Isaiah Cousins and Joshua Doughty both hit key free throws to keep Mount Vernon ahead.
Cousins scored 20 to lead the Knights, followed by Doughty’s eight and Jarrel Marshall’s seven.
South had some issues from the line as well, going 14-for-22 from the line.
“We missed eight free throws, we had a couple of lay-ups we missed,” Backs said. “There were a couple of no-calls both ways. That was a winable game.”
McCahey led all scorers with 25, leaving him just five points shy of setting South’s all-time scoring record.
“I wasn’t really thinking about it during the game,” McCahey said. “It was such a good game, I just wanted to get the ‘w.’”
Clayton Roker was the only other Viking in double figures, netting 18. Matt Brenner chipped in six and Chris Bunyan scored four. That group were the only players for South to score in the loss, and they are four of the team’s eight seniors.
“The eight of us have really set a good tone for this program,” McCahey said. “I love playing with all of them and I’m really proud of all of them.”
Backs said the senior class has really pushed the Vikings program in the right direction.
“They’re a great bunch. They will be dearly missed,” he said. “I’ve had most of them since they were on varsity as sophomores or I had them on JV when I coached JV three years ago. They made this completely possible for us.”
