Jabarie Hinds, Mount Vernon
Photo by Lonnie Webb
The Knights have earned eight New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships and four Federation crowns. And on Wednesday, they made it 10 Section I large-school titles in 11 years and an astonishing 27 overall by defeating Poughkeepsie (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) 69-57 for their third straight win vs. the Pioneers in the final.
Not bad for a team that was sitting at 10-5 and seemingly dead in the water at the end of January.
Oh, sure, 10-5 sounds like an enviable record for a lot of teams, but Mount Vernon was reeling after blowing a big fourth-quarter lead against New Rochelle (New Rochelle, N.Y.) nine days after All Hallows (Bronx, N.Y.) saddled the Knights with their first home loss since 1998 – a span of 108 games.
Mount Vernon then put together a three-game winning streak, only to blow another late lead to New Rochelle in the next-to-last regular-season game. It added up to a No. 4 seed in the Section I tournament, unfathomable for a program that had gone 256-39 (.868) in the preceding 11 seasons, never finishing lower than ninth in the final state rankings in that span.
Fast-forward to last week, when the Knights avenged the New Rochelle setbacks with a 75-61 win in the sectional semifinals. And then came the win over Poughkeepsie as the Knights (16-6) tied their own Section I record with their fifth straight championship.
"This is a tremendously satisfying season — and we're not done yet," coach Bob Cimmino told The Journal News. "We tell all of our teams, each team has to take a different path to success. We took a unique path, we got beat up sometimes, but every one of the players constantly listened and constantly fought in practice.
“They took in whatever the coaches had to offer, and they worked very, very hard."
Junior standout Jabarie Hinds led the way with 26 points in the final, rattling off 10 points during a decisive 17-4 run to end the first half. Senior forward Brandon White, who missed the stretch run last season with a knee injury that required surgery, added 14 points and 20 rebounds.
"He was a monster," Cimmino said. "He was all over the place tonight. I think I even saw him selling french fries for about 10 minutes."
With the win, Mount Vernon advances to the state tournament first round against Vestal (Vestal, N.Y.). The winner plays the Section IX champion four days later for the right to advance to the final four in Glens Falls.
Speaking of Knights …
While the Mount Vernon Knights advanced with a decisive win, the McQuaid Jesuit (Rochester, N.Y.) Knights moved into the Section V Class AA2 final by going right to the buzzer – and perhaps beyond.
Senior Phil DiPasquale fired home a 60-footer at the buzzer to carry McQuaid over Irondequoit (Rochester, N.Y.) 60-57 in at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester.
The play began with seven-tenths of a second left after Dan Brady made two free throws to tie the game for Irondequoit. The Knights' Tyler Sankes inbounded to DiPasquale, who made a half-turn upcourt, dribbled once and fired.
The ball appeared to leave DiPasquale's hands an instant before the horn sounded, but repeated looks at the TV replays long after everyone went home confirm the unlikelihood that he could have executed the play in less than a second.
"Based on when the horn sounded it was very close," a diplomatic Irondequoit coach Chris Cardon told the Democrat and Chronicle. "I don't know if you can take a dribble and then a shot in seven-tenths of a second."
But the on-court officials signaled that the shot counted and left the floor immediately.
Brian Parker scored 15 points for McQuaid. Irondequoit's Chris Culver led all scorers with 20 points.
The decisive play was a hot topic in the Rochester area for several days, with some fans clamoring for the use of instant replay to settle such controversies. However, there is no provision in the rulebook for utilizing video equipment to verify or refute calls. Earlier this year, the NYSPHSAA did adopt National Federation rule 2-2-1 for state championship contests in Glens Falls. That rule says officials are permitted to use a replay monitor to determine whether a buzzer shot in the fourth quarter or overtime should be counted.
More basketball: Heroes and highlights
* Mike Rapone became the winningest coach in Section V history when Notre Dame (Batavia, N.Y.) defeated Arkport Central (Arkport, N.Y.) 60-41 in the Class D-1 semifinals. It gave Rapone 546 victories to pass Ed Nietopski, the retired Cardinal Mooney and Bishop Kearney coach.
Among those in attendance was retired Prattsburgh coach Jim Burke, himself a 517-game winner. Burke, a longtime friend and coaching rival, presented the Fighting Irish's 30th-year mentor with a congratulatory poster signed by Prattsburgh's players.
* Cornwall's 55-33 boys basketball victory over Port Jervis was triumph No. 300 for Tom Howe, who is 300-176 in 23 seasons. It was also the farewell for Ron Semerano after 17 seasons coaching girls teams and 15 with the boys.
* Playing the entire fourth quarter with four fouls, Tennessee recruit Tobias Harris scored 10 points down the stretch as Half Hollow Hills West (Dix Hills, N.Y.) defeated Longwood (Middle Island, N.Y.) 77-69 in the Section XI Class AA final. "At the end of the third quarter, Tobias said to me, 'Don't worry. I got this,'" HHHW coach Bill Mitaritonna told Newsday. "Tobias is the man."
* Fairport (Fairport, N.Y.) boys coach Scott Fitch had quite the day Wednesday. His wife, Kim, gave birth to their second child in the morning and his Red Raiders upset Wilson 62-48 in the Section V semifinals at night.
Boys ice hockey: NYSPHSAA brackets are complete
Taylor Hazen's goal 2:25 into the third overtime lifted Potsdam over Massena 2-1 in the Section X Division I championship at Clarkson University to complete the field for the NYSPHSAA tournament quarterfinals this weekend.
Massena was on the verge of defeat when Sandstoners defenseman Ryan Merriman flicked a 90-foot wrist shot that eluded Raiders goalie Nathan Lint (37 saves) with 1:41 left in regulation to tie the game.
In the third OT, Hazen took a pass from Seth Adams from behind the net and knocked home the game-winner, his seventh goal of the season, against the two-time defending sectional champs.
Goalie Evan Drummatter made 27 saves to advance Potsdam (14-7-1) to the state quarterfinals against top-ranked West Genesee (22-0), which won their regular-season meeting 5-1 on Dec. 19.
* In another sectional final, junior forward Josh Koerner scored a first-period hat trick and tallied again six seconds onto the second period as Burke Catholic beat James I. O'Neill in the Section IX Division II final.
Koerner has 25 goals and 52 points for the season.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.
