Basketball

‘Pit’ stop

Monticello’s defensive pressure pays off as Panthers eke out a win against competitive Sullivan West

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONTICELLO, NY - Heart-stopping, nail-biting and thrilling action right down to the last second: that’s what fans got in this year’s version of the Monticello versus Sullivan West saga. In the game’s closing seconds, the Panthers pulled out a win by forcing a turnover and getting a crucial lay up to defeat the Bulldogs 55-52.

Two years ago, a three-pointer by Sullivan West’s Joe Meyer at the buzzer gave the Bulldogs an iconic win over the Panthers that still stuck inside of the basketball beehive memory of Monticello coach Dick O’Neill.

The high school Hall of Fame coach returned to courtside, following a fall on ice in the parking lot at Monticello High School two days before. The fall came one day after he received an epidural shot to allay pain from a back injury suffered in June. O’Neill missed the January 4 game between the Panthers and Port Jervis, but assistants Antonio Simmons and Chris Russo took the helm as the Panthers got the job done.

O’Neill applies the same distinction between being injured and being hurt to both himself and his players: If you’re injured, you’re out. If you’re hurt, you play through it. Consequently, Monticello standout big man Mike Norman took the floor, despite being hampered by back spasms. Asked if he was injured or hurt, Norman told his coach, “I’m not injured.”

“Fine,” said O’Neill, “Then you’re playing. You’re young. I’m old and I’m here.”

Having scouted Sullivan West, a team O’Neill knows is well-coached and competitive, his game plan was to take Derek Hahn out of the game as much as possible down low and make Kevin Cappiello give up the ball.

By game’s end, O’Neill’s strategy to get key stops had paid off, abetted by a couple of big shots, including a game-changing three-pointer by guard Dior Jackson that tied the game at 45-all, just past the fourth-quarter midway point.

Bulldog coaches had schemed to prevent Monticello’s biggest three threats, Norman, Tyrone White and Omar Diaz, from getting a shot and figured they’d have to let Diaz be the one to get less attention.

“Players make plays,” Bulldog coach Bob Menges said after the game.

Jackson proved himself to be a player, not just with that shot, but by taking it strong to the basket following a turnover by Kevin Cappiello on Sullivan West’s next-to-last possession. With the game tied at 52-all, with one minute to go following a huge three by Sullivan West’s James Spruill, Monticello got to inbound the ball and vie for the lead. Instead, Norman tossed up an air ball and the Bulldogs got the ball in Cappiello’s hands with 16 seconds to go.

Bulldog coaches opted not to call a time out.

“We decided to run the ball up the floor and stay in transition,” said Bulldog co-coach Cliff Kelly. “We hoped to get to the rim, get a bucket or draw a foul.”

But Monticello pressure forced a turnover and the ball was thrown ahead to Jackson, who raced to the basket and went up strong for the go-ahead shot and drew a foul with five seconds left in the game.

After Jackson hit the free throw, Omar Diaz pulled down the rebound. Although he lost the ball out of bounds, he sliced three critical seconds off Sullivan West’s last hope.

That was huge. “Now a player has to catch, turn and shoot all in one motion to get the ball in at the other end of the floor,” O’Neill said.

Monticello put three guys on Cappiello, who got the ball anyway but lacked the time to get the game-tying three.

From the outset, this game featured a Sullivan West team that refused to quit. “I knew when we couldn’t put them away early, we were in for a bit of a problem,” O’Neill said after the game.

Most of that problem wore jersey number 21.

Cappiello kept Sullivan West close at 13-12 in the first quarter by hitting all six of his free throws and contributing eight points in the frame. The Bulldogs needed someone to counteract Tyrone White’s best game of his career. White scored a team-high 16 points, and did a stupendous job defending against Hahn, who ended the night with an alarming one point, a free throw in the fourth quarter.

Most teams understand that Sullivan West is essentially a two-headed monster. Lop off one of those heads and your chances of being devoured by the other are greatly diminished. That said, Cappiello’s huge game, abetted by timely help from Spruill, Kienan Garn, Alan Ackermann, Jason Leewe, Brad Reimer, Bryan Schmidt and Chris Story, was nearly enough. Turnover woes were once again the difference, as they were in the close loss to Burke just two days prior. Sixteen Sullivan West turnovers, a number of which came off passes to Hahn in the post, spelled the difference.

Credit Monticello’s pressure. As Bulldog co-coach Cliff Kelly pointed out, “It’s all about ball pressure. When you make a pass, you have to collect it.”

Monticello (5-4) got 14 from Diaz to go along with White’s 16. Cappiello had 25 for the Bulldogs (5-5).

O’Neill summed things up this way. “Cappiello had a great game, but in the end we forced two or three turnovers and he ran out of gas. Offensively, we lost something from our guards because Justino Paredes was so concerned about guarding him. In addition, if we don’t get a lot of movement, we can struggle offensively, which we did early on.”

O’Neill praised the play of Diaz, who, he said, “is getting bigger every game,” and White, whose game he described as “the best he’s played this season.” O’Neill credited White’s defensive effort for helping to take Hahn’s play out of the game. “Hahn normally averages about 15 points per game,” O’Neill said.

Menges repeated his prior comment about the turnover woes. “When you have a young team, you’re going to have that. Sometimes the breaks don’t go your way,” he said. Menges thought his team was in a position to beat Monticello, and he feels confident about its ability against most teams. As to Cappiello’s stellar efforts, the coach repeated his oft-stated assessment: “He’s a great player.” But it was the ascendance of some of his younger players that formed the subject of most of his post-game comments.

“James hit that big three and Jason Leewe took care of the ball better. He took some big shots. Some of them didn’t go in but he took them. Alan Ackermann and Brad Reimer gave us solid minutes and Kienan Garn played good defense and had a big three.”

As to the coming fray with Cornwall, a team Menges asserts is arguably the second best team in Section IX behind Newburgh, he hopes his team can play competitively.

In terms of the season’s big picture, he said. “We’ll be fine. We need to keep our eyes on the big picture and make our goals.”

Without confirming what those goals were, it’s clear they include the race for the division, getting back to sectionals and taking it from there.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game photos.