Summer League Basketball Week 3

Contact on the hardwood grooms grit

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY – When you think about contact sports, it is football, soccer, boxing, wrestling, lacrosse and rugby that come to mind. But anyone who plays basketball knows it’s not a game for the meek or the faint-at-heart. Bodies collide, outstretched hands swipe at the ball but often find arms, faces or other body parts. Then there are the inevitable spills that send players skittering across the floor. Sprained ankles, wrenched knees or even torn Anterior Cruciate Ligaments (ACL’s) can be the byproducts of the rumbles for the rock.

Welcome to the rough and tumble world of varsity basketball. Referees do whistle players for fouls, but in summer league where there are ample numbers of players to take the floor, teams have loads of fouls to give, refs are more lax and games can get overly physical.

On July 19 against Ellenville (4-1), the Lady Bulldogs, a.k.a. the Sullivan Starz (7-0), won handily by the score 53-31 but contact went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Had it been a regular season basketball game under the more watchful eye of tighter refereeing, a number of Ellenville players would have likely fouled out by halftime.

With little real competition this summer, Coach Ron Bernhardt is looking for one of two or three of his young players to step up and claim spots on the 2005-06 varsity. That search continued without much progress as Sullivan West drubbed Roscoe 63-8 on July 20 and then hammered Fallsburg 53-8 on July 21. Blowouts such as these lead to loose and formless play that don’t benefit the players’ learning curve or help coaches to decipher who is making a marked improvement. Sullivan West will have to look to its rematch with Downsville later this summer to find a game where every time up the floor makes minutes meaningful. Meanwhile Livingston Manor had trouble handling Ellenville and fell by the score of 30-24.

On the boys’ court, Sullivan West (6-0) undertook a tough test against a physical and talented Liberty Team (4-2). With speed and size, Liberty tested Sullivan West’s man defense with its up-tempo transition game. Early on it looked to be working. The Bulldogs didn’t get a shot off on its first five possessions, as Liberty effected steals but sputtered on the offensive end.

Liberty’s Lakarri Byrd went skyward and threw down a nice put back to bring a trailing Liberty team within one at 5-4. His next shot gave the Indians a lead which was extended after Dave Brown picked Ross Bernhardt’s pocket and drove the length of the floor for an easy lay up.

But the Bulldogs didn’t rattle.

“Even when we got behind early, I knew we would win,” said Paul Pitz, after the Bulldogs 55-46 win over Liberty on July 20. That win was propelled by good defense and a flurry of scoring from Pitz, Derek Hahn, Brett Youmans and Kevin Pinkel. Kevin racked up a series of fouls early on but managed to stay in the game. Sullivan West held a slim 27-26 lead at the half. Liberty was getting scoring from Tyrone White, Byrd, Pete Panagakos and Mac Isseks to keep it close.

The second half saw Sullivan West pull away with contributions by Jonah LaGrutta, Bryan Schmidt, Garrett Owen, Hahn, Pitz, Ross Bernhardt and Pinkel.

The Bulldogs (6-0) ended week three in first place. Liberty (4-2) finished in second, Roscoe (3-3) was tied for third with Livingston Manor, while Sullivan West’s B squad at 2-4 and Hancock at 0-6 finished up at fifth and sixth respectively.

In the girls’ league, Sullivan West (7-0) led the standings followed by Downsville (5-1), Ellenville (4-1), Manor and Roscoe at 1-4 and finally Fallsburg and Liberty at 1-5.