This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Tappan Zee Boys Basketball Loses Pearl River Rematch

The Pearl River boys basketball team took the lead late in the third quarter and held on for a 52-48 victory over Tappan Zee Tuesday at Pearl River

Behind a stingy defense and clutch free-throw shooting, the Pearl River Pirates defeated the Tappan Zee Dutchmen 52-48 in the opening round of the Pearl River High School Boys Basketball Holiday Tournament.

"[There is] a lot of emotion in this game, " Tappan Zee coach George Gaine said. "Pearl River- Tappan Zee is a defensive battle that can go either way."

In front of an emotionally-charged home crowd on Tuesday, the Pirates avenged an earlier 43-40 loss at the hands of the Dutchmen, with a gritty, hard-fought win. With the victory, the Pirates advanced to tonight's championship game, scheduled for 8 p.m. Pearl River will meet the tournament's other first-round winner, Albertus Magnus. The championship game will begin shortly after the end of consolation game between Tappan Zee and Nanuet, which is set to tip-off at 6 pm.

Find out what's happening in Nyack-Piermontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After a low-scoring first quarter that was dominated by defense, both sides began to show signs of offensive life in the second. In that quarter, Pearl River's Luke Houston exploded for 11 of his game-high 20 points, and the Pirates went into the locker room at the half clinging to a 23-22 lead.

In the third, there were four different lead changes, and when Tappan Zee surged out to a four-point lead with just over a minute to go, it looked as if the Dutchmen had finally seized control of the game. However, the scrappy Pirates would not be denied.

Find out what's happening in Nyack-Piermontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

With less than thirty seconds to go in the period, the game's defensive star, Austin O'Toole, hit a three-pointer that gave the Pirates a one point lead, and Pearl River never looked back. Luke Houston followed O'Toole's three with a key steal that led to a fast-break lay-up, putting the Pirates ahead by three going into the final period

The Pirates maintained their lead for the entire fourth quarter, even extending it to a game-high seven points with just over a minute remaining, but the Dutchmen came roaring back behind the scoring of Patrick Peterson. Peterson, who scored thirteen points in the second half, nailed a jumper from just below the foul-line with 1:18 on the clock to cut the TZ deficit to five. Then, after a Pearl River timeout, the junior stole Pearl River's inbounds pass and was fouled as he attempted a reverse lay-up. Peterson sank both free-throws, and within a matter of seconds Pearl River's seven point lead was down to three.

However, that was as close as the Dutchmen would get. Just thirty seconds later, Pearl River's Joseph Clinton nailed four clutch free-throws on back-to-back possessions to re-establish the Pirates' seven-point lead. After another long three-pointer by Peterson trimmed the Pearl River lead to four, Clinton added two more free-throws with just ten seconds left to put the game out of reach.

After the game, Pirates coach Jerry Houston praised his team's defense and spoke highly of their free-throw shooting down the stretch.

"We're fortunate enough to have Luke [Houston] and Joey [Clinton] who are pretty good free-throw shooters, it's comforting to have guys like that that," Jerry Houston said.

The Pirates were led offensively by Luke Houston and Joseph Clinton, who combined to score 30 of Pearl River's 52 points.

In addition to Patrick Peterson's 17 points, Tappan Zee also got a strong contribution from Brendan Donohue, who chipped in with 11.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?