Peekskill-Cortlandt Patch Weekly Sports Report

Red Devil boys defeat Panas in thriller

Two crosstown rivals playing in the opening round of the Section 1 Class A tournament in front of a jam-packed boisterous gym is the essence of high-school sports. It's something No. 10 Walter Panas (11-8) and No. 7 Peekskill (12-7) got to experience on Feb. 18 at the John Devins Gymnasium in Peekskill.

For the two schools, it was the second game of the night against each other as the Peekskill girls won their playoff game in the first contest against Panas. The Red Devil boys then fed off that momentum and also defeated the Panthers, 77-71.

The win puts Peekskill in a quarterfinal contest 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 22 at No. 2 Pearl River (16-3).

The first quarter saw Panas jump out on top 25-22, led by eight points from Javier Espinosa, who finished with a team-high of 19 points.

Peekskill then outscored the Panthers 20-13 in the second quarter to garner a 42-38 halftime lead. Leading Peekskill to that lead was Kyree Hull with eight points and Shaine Carter with six points.

For the game, Carter scored a game-high 20 points while Hull registered 18 points.

Peekskill continued to maintain the lead in the third quarter at 58-52 with Mykelle Nevins scoring nine of his 11 points in that quarter.

"Mykelle dominated the boards, he made some good plays, I was very happy with the way he played," Peekskill coach Lou Panzanaro said. "He always plays hard even when he isn't scoring."

Nevin's play in the third set up a memorable fourth-quarter when Carter hit a jumper in the lane to put Peekskill up 70-65.

Panas' Vaughn Dweck though answered when he hit a dramatic 3-pointer from the right corner that cut Peekskill's lead to 70-68.

"To be honest it was a crazy shot but we have been making crazy shots all year," Panas coach Shawn Sullivan said. "I wasn't surprised it went in. I thought it put us in a great position but then we didn't do a good job in securing the rebound at the other end."

Nayge Wagner answered on his end with a field goal on a strong move to the hoop that put the Red Devils up by four with less then a minute to play.

"We had actually called a play for Shaine to drive, isolate everybody out," Panzanaro said. "But when it broke down, Nayge was on the back side, he came to the ball and just made a play. That was just creative on Nayge's part."

Two free throws by Carter increased Peekskill's lead to six but a 3-pointer by Zac Preuss cut the Red Devils' lead in half with just 25 seconds left in the game.

"Zac is a tough kid, he's probably our best athlete, he doesn't back down from anybody," Sullivan said. "He's really developed himself into a really nice, transition player and 3-point shooter. He really improved throughout the season. I am really proud of him."

Peekskill sealed the game and a trip to Rockland County with a free throw by Hull and two foul shots by Wagner.

POINT TOTALS

Walter Panas-Javier Espinosa (19), Zac Preuss (17), Bobby Taub (16), Vaughn Dweck (13), Brandon Lee (4), Cody Welles (2)

Peekskill-Shaine Carter (20), Kyree Hull (18), Nayge Wagner (14), Mykelle Nevins (11), Jordan Clark (9), Jamel Cuthberson (3), Jermaine Hughley (2)

Peekskill girls defeat Panas

No. 17 Walter Panas (5-15) entered its Section 1 Class A opening-round contest against No. 1 Peekskill (18-1) on Feb. 18 coming off the high of winning its out-bracket game 42-29 against No. 16 Eastchester (5-13).

Host Peekskill though brought the Panthers back to earth early as it outscored its neighbors 18-0 in the first quarter on its way to a 61-27 triumph. The win puts the Red Devils in a quarterfinal contest at home against No. 9 Somers (12-7) at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22.

Peekskill coach Rodney Headley Jr. said it was important to get off to a quick start against the Panthers and his squad heeded his words, especially on the defensive end of the floor.

"The girls put in so much work defensively over the past few days and it shows," Headley said.

Enabling Peekskill to get off to its hot start was the play of Jazmin Garcia and Asia Jackson, who scored 18 and 14 points each respectively. Jackson led all scorers in the opening quarter by scoring eight points in that stanza with Garcia contributing seven points.

Many of those points came off of defensive pressure.

"We are all about sending a message to ourselves," Headley said. "When we play the type of defense we did today, it makes us feel good about what we are doing."

Feeling good about herself was Panas' Heather Kelly, who scored a team-high 15 points. She was especially dialed in from long-range, connecting on three treys.

"My coach (Mike Robinson) always told me that I put an arch on my shot and once I got the arch on my shot, it was fallling," Kelly said.

While the season may have not ended with a win, Kelly and her teammates can take pride in the fact that they did come home with an important playoff triumph against Eastchester.

"We were all really excited because we played Eastchester last year and they beat us so we wanted to come out on top this year," Kelly said.

POINT TOTALS

Walter Panas-Heather Kelly (15), Melissa Hanson (8), Janee Jacques (2), Megan Moreno (2)

Peekskill-Jazmin Garcia (18), Asia Jackson (14), Tasia Nolan (7), Troi  Nolan (7), Sheridan Taylor (6), Dottie Bradshaw (4), Latisha Clark (3), Shonae Draper (2)

Athletes of the Week

(The below are some of the notable performances this past week for area athletes. This is not intended to be a complete list just an overview of the week’s accomplishments. Most of the stats for this were taken from LoHud.com. To make future nominations, please email them to Mike Sabini at msabini@mail.com)

Boys Bowling

Walter Panas’ Frank DiRenno registered a 1,306, the fifth-highest series in the Section 1 championships at White Plains Bowl.

Boys basketball

Peekskill’s Shaine Carter registered a game-high 20 points in the No. 7 Red Devils’ 77-71 triumph against No. 10 Walter Panas in the opening round of the Section 1 Class A Tournament. Teammates Kyree Hull and Nayge Wagner registered 18 and 14 points respectively. Panas’ Javier Espinosa scored a team-high 19 points with teammates Zach Preuss and Bobby Toub scoring 17 and 16 points each.

Girls basketball

Hendrick Hudson’s Meghan Lynch registered a team-high 11 points in a 45-33 loss to visiting Lakeland.

Peekskill’s Jazmin Garcia scored a game-high 18 points and teammate Asia Jackson contributed 14 in the No. 1 Red Devils’ 61-27 triumph against No. 17 Walter Panas in the opening round of the Section 1 Class A Tournament. Panas was led by 15 points from Heather Kelly.

Walter Panas’ Ann Jeszeck shared game-high honors with 13 points in the No. 17 Panthers 42-29 win at No. 16 Eastchester in a Section 1 Class A out-bracket contest. Teammate Melissa Hanson scored 10 points.

Girls bowling

Peekskill’s Amira Sealy registered a 1,138, the fifth-high series in the Section 1 championships at White Plains Bowl.

Wrestling

Hendrick Hudson’s Phil Siegel placed second in the 152-pound bracket of the Section 1 Division 1 Tournament at Lincoln.