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.
