This one seemed improbable. After losing their all-star backcourt of Axel Rodriguez and Casey Burke from their two-straight Section 9 Class A title basketball teams, the New Paltz boys weren’t given much of a chance to do what they did on Saturday, March 7…win their third straight. But that’s what they did, beating number two seed Monticello 69-67 in overtime on a Jackson Soper three-pointer from deep in the corner with just 0:29 left on the clock. With the win, the Huguenots are the first Class A team to ever win back-to-back-to-back titles.
This title seemed even more improbable considering they didn’t have 6-8 senior Patrick Murphy for half the season (nursing a sprained ankle) and were essentially without him again in their title run…he re-injured the ankle in the opening quarter of the semifinal. So who exactly were the Huguenots “left with” to bring them their third straight? The only other player on this season’s roster, besides Murphy, that received extended playing time last season is point-guard/defender extraordnaire Matt Simmons. The others, role-players a year ago, rose up and shined: high-scoring forward Justin DeMaria, erratic but intense guard Jeff Reynoso, super-athletic backup 6-2 center Jorden Cook and this year’s Section Tournament’s super-surprising Soper…who scored a new career-high 22 points against Monticello, with DeMaria with 15 and Reynoso ten. With Simmons, all are juniors and will be back next season.
Four-peat anyone?
For the boys in the quarterfinal round of this past week’s Section 9 tournament, it looked, through the first-half against Red Hook, as if the two-time defending Class A champions would be dethroned…and with ignominy. The Huguenots looked real bad. Torched by senior guard Brandon Cahill for 15 first-half points, turning the ball over, missing easy shots and being outplayed overall by the Raiders, they were down at one point in the half by 15 points at 30-15, before running off six straight points just before halftime (rebound and coast-to-coast drive by Justin DeMaria, a Patrick Murphy tap-in of a Jeffrey Reynoso miss and a steal and coast-to-coast breakaway by Matt Simmons) to go off down just nine points at 34-25.
The second-half brought changes and adjustments from coach Stu Robinson, moving from a 3-2 zone to a man-to-man defense that brought forth the best backcourt defender arguably in Section 9 in Simmons, and put him on Cahill. The defense, leaving Red Hook to their strength in the first half — outside shooting — moved everyone out, with the 6-8 Murphy sealing off the inside. It brought immediate results as Cahill hit a jumper early, but never scored again, as Simmons completely shut him down and the Huguenots closed out the third quarter with a lay-in from Reynoso (off a rebound and outlet from Murphy) to cut the Raiders lead to 45-44.
With Cahill shut-down, Red Hook’s Brendan Donohue carried the Raiders load, opening up an early 51-46 lead. But then New Paltz put together one of their patented runs — this one 10-0 — to take a 56-51 lead under midway through the final quarter. It was Reynoso with a three-pointer, DeMaria a breakaway off a Simmons’ steal, Soper with a pair of free throws and what turned out to be the coup de grace — a three-pointer from Murphy. Donohue hit on a drive and it was 56-53 with just under a minute remaining. Reynoso then hit one-of-two free throws with 0:30 to go. It was 57-53. Cahill missed a three, with Simmons grabbing the rebound and was fouled. He missed the front end of a one-and-one. Donohue then came back and hit on an relatively uncontested drive to cut it to two points with 0:04 left. The Huguenots, hoping to put the hometown full-house into a state of apoplexy, then threw the ball away on the ensuing inbounds, giving the Raiders back the ball with 0:03 on the clock. Raiders tenth-grader Gavin Cole found himself alone under the basket on the throw-in…and missed the easy layup…but wait, New Paltz had one more cardiac moment for the faithful, as DeMaria fouled Cole on the ensuing rebound…two shots with 0:01 left in the game. With the New Paltz fans screaming (loudly), Cole missed the first free throw, purposely missed the second, with Murphy grabbing the rebound as the buzzer sounded. DeMaria led the Huguenots with 18 points, with Reynoso with 14 and Simmons ten.
And it looked like New Paltz had no intention of going quietly into that good night, as the number four seed/two-time defending Class A champion beat number one Minisink Valley on Wednesday 62-53 to set up a possible high-flying Class A final with number two Monticello, who ran over FDR 76-54. Soper had the game of his career, scoring 20 points, with DeMaria with 18, Reynoso eleven and Simmons nine.
After securing their third straight title, the 17-6 New Paltz boys travel to Vestal to play the winner of Section 4’s Johnson City or Maine-Endwell on Wednesday, March 11 at 7:45 p.m. in a State opening round game.
The New Paltz girls were shut down by Warwick 37-29, with Ruby Santos leading the Huguenots with nine points. New Paltz finished the season at 15-6.
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