Boys Basketball

Will to win

Young Sullivan West squad draws on desire and grit to down Monticello

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY -“I think I can. I think I can,” says the tiny blue engine in the children’s story “The Little Engine That Could,” as it tugs its way up the mountain to take Christmas toys from Hither to Yon. Belief in oneself can provide the strength to accomplish great things.

Magically and inexplicably, Sullivan West is becoming the Little Engine That Could.

On January 14 in a ragged tussle with Monticello, the Bulldogs fought back for the third time in their recent past and literally willed themselves to a win. Dramatic comebacks against Port Jervis in the Billy Moran tourney and overcoming a huge halftime deficit at Tri-Valley were preliminaries to their 45-43 win over the Panthers. So, too, was their valiant comeback against James I. O’Neill that fell short.

As Monticello coach Dick O’Neill sees it, Sullivan West simply wanted it more. O’Neill has a long memory and he can tell you about the dog fights his teams have had over the years with Sullivan West. But this year’s Panthers, who have played mostly Class A and Class AA teams, may have taken the young Class B Dawgs too lightly in this one.

Monticello lives and dies by its defense. When they get after you, they can really shut you down. But on this night, that defensive pressure wasn’t consistent. That said, if you hold a team to 45 points, you should win.

The bigger problem for the Panthers (4-8) was their inability to finish. When they slashed to the basket, they missed a bevy of shots. They did okay from the free throw line, overcoming the bugaboo that caused them to lose a tied game against Valley Central on January 10, but they didn’t put the hammer down when they had the chance.

Sullivan West did.

The Bulldogs got out to a 17-7 lead by the end of the first quarter, riding the timely shooting of Brad Reimer, Chris Story, Jason Leewe and RJ Rosa. Reimer and Rosa each drained a three pointer, something O’Neill knows is always in Sullivan West’s arsenal. In 2005, Joe Meyer hit a three at the buzzer to beat the Panthers in the Pit. Last year, they used the three again from Kevin Cappiello and nearly won again, but a key steal and lay up by Monticello sparkplug Dior Jackson gave Monticello the win.

This game would prove to be payback for the Bulldogs.

Monticello got five points from senior point guard Jackson in the first quarter, including a three of his own.

O’Neill schooled his team to drive Sullivan West’s offense left and prevent them from reversing it back to their more comfortable side in the second quarter. The strategy worked like a charm as the Panthers went on an 8-0 run, upped the pressure and limited the Dawgs to a mere two points in eight minutes, while scoring 16 of their own to take a 23-19 lead into halftime. The Panthers got five points each from Derreck Miller and Devon Mathis, who came in off the bench. But the team could have scored a lot more.

This game was far from over. As Sullivan West coach Cliff Kelly later noted, “they do the same thing we do. We call it no return. They drove us left and prevented the reversal, so in the third quarter we just overloaded the left side and took advantage of their over pursuit to get back-door entries.” The Dawgs fought back to trail 31-30 after three quarters as Monticello’s second-quarter advantage faded behind Sullivan West’s resolve.

Jackson and Briar Patterson each netted threes in the frame, but the Panthers scored only eight in total to Sullivan West’s 11. Jackson’s three slid through the cylinder after the buzzer at the end of the quarter and it wasn’t waved off by officials.

Monticello briefly extended its lead with a bucket by Kyle Wigfall, but the Dawgs soon tied it up and assumed the lead as Reimer hit a pair of free throws. A three by Patterson put the Monties briefly back on top as Leewe started to heat up. Down the stretch, he’d contribute nine of his 13 points to push the Bulldogs over the top. The Dawgs led 41-40 with 1:48 to go. Great ball rotation led to a key Leewe bucket to make it 43-40. Then Reimer stole the inbounds pass and scored the dagger.

William Watson hit a three for the Monties as the game neared its end but the Bulldogs simply threw the inbounds pass the length of the floor to Leewe to hold on for the win. Watson led the Panthers with 11 points. He scored seven of them in the final frame. Jackson and Patterson had nine. Monticello was nine for 14 from the line.

Reimer and Leewe had 13 points apiece. Story had 12. Sullivan West (7-5) was seven for 13 from the stripe.

O’Neill was clearly disappointed and said his team lacked focus. “We just weren’t ready to play tonight. They just wanted it more than we did. We let a smaller team out-rebound us again and we allowed too many second shots.”

That lack of focus was not a problem for a number of Monticello cheerleaders who came to the game even though no bus was provided. Wearing their jerseys and jeans, they hardily cheered on their team, which unfortunately didn’t mirror their passion.

O’Neill knows his team is in trouble in terms of the sectional picture. To qualify, they will need to either go 6-2 over their final eight games or win two of their final four league games. They still have one to play against Cornwall and Goshen and two remaining with Port Jervis. They lost to Cornwall and beat Goshen earlier this season. They play Port Jervis on January 29 and February 1. Monticello has made sectionals every year since O’Neill took over the program in 1985. They will host Warwick on January 18.

Sullivan West hosted Chester on January 16 and prepared to play daunting Cornwall at home on January 18.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game photos.