High School Basketball Summer League Playoffs

Ante goes up as summer league playoffs begin

Undefeated Sullivan West girls hope to keep magic going in playoffs

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY — As the dog days of August set in, it is nearly time to bid farewell to that fast and furious anachronism, summer league basketball.

Summer league basketball is entering its last week at Sullivan County Community College. Soon to be obscured by the impending startup of fall sports practice, summer league reaches its denouement on August 4 as the top teams vie against each other in the championship games.

By the end of week four on July 28, the regular season had concluded with the Sullivan West girls at the top of the pile, sporting an unblemished 7-0 record. Sullivan West was missing in action during the last week as they took their show on the road to basketball camp and prepared themselves for their likely annual showdown with Downsville (6-1) in the finals set for 6:30 p.m. on August 4.

Meanwhile, in preliminary playoff bouts on July 28, Livingston Manor defeated Liberty 37-17. Downsville mauled Fallsburg 64-8 and Ellenville eliminated Roscoe 28-7. Ellenville finished the regular season at 4-3; Livingston Manor went 3-4; Liberty struggled at 2-5 and both Roscoe and Fallsburg posted a single-win ending at 1-6.

Sullivan West earned a bye into the semi-finals of the playoffs and the Bulldogs, a.k.a. Sullivan Starz, hope to reverse last year’s finals miasma where they suffered a defeat to Downsville, a team that went on during the winter to reach the state finals. Downsville lost to perennial powerhouse Pine Valley. Along the way Downsville eliminated S.S. Seward, Section 9’s Class D entry into the state tournament in the semi- finals. Sullivan West will face Livingston Manor on August 2 while Downsville and Ellenville go at it in the girls’ semi-finals of summer league.

Boys’ tournament will sort out the men from the boys

On the boys’ side of the court, Sullivan West ‘A’ suffered its first defeat of the season to Liberty by the score of 48-46 on July 27 but still managed to earn the top seed in the coming tournament with a regular-season record of 6-1. Liberty (5-2) and Roscoe (4-3) comprise the second and third seeds in the tournament. Livingston Manor finished the regular season at 3-4, Hancock at 2-5 and the Sullivan West ‘B’ squad ended at 1-6.

In the opening rounds of the playoffs on July 28, Roscoe defeated Sullivan West ‘B’ by the score of 59-35. Dan DeVantier looked sharp coming off of his week at Five Star Basketball Camp where he performed admirably. DeVantier reported that camp coaches referred to this year’s batch of Five Star players as among the best in recent years. In the rout of Sullivan West ‘B’, DeVantier was aided and abetted by Troy Kirchner and Jason Harris.

In the second preliminary playoff game, Livingston Manor out hustled Hancock 60-40.

Livingston Manor faced Sullivan West on August 2 while Liberty battled Roscoe. As predicted at the outset of the summer league, Sullivan West and Liberty look to be the likely participants in the finals but Roscoe is coming on strong as the summer finishes. No matter what the outcome of the summer league playoffs, it is safe to say that the experience will yield its dividends once the 2005-06 basketball season gets underway in November.