Boys’ basketball bows out in quarterfinals

By Skip Pearlman

The Beacon boys, seeded No. 11 in the Section 1, Class A tournament, scored an upset at No. 6 Somers on Feb. 21 but fell at No. 2 Horace Greeley (Chappaqua), 82-66, in a quarterfinal game two days later.

The Bulldogs (15-7) were in the game until the third quarter, when Greeley surged and put the contest out of reach.

“We got into foul trouble early on,” Coach Scott Timpano said. “And there was a disparity in the fouls — we had 21 and they had 11. We had trouble getting into a flow. They had a nice run in the third that kind of doomed us.

“They’re a great team; they’re good at every position,” Timpano added. “They probably have the best big man [freshman Nicholas Townsend] in the section. It’s tough stopping him.”

Dayi’on Thompson had a career-high 41 points for the Bulldogs, while Aaron Davis contributed 11 points and six assists and Ebow Simpson had four points to go with eight rebounds. In Beacon’s win over Somers, Thompson had 33 points, Davis added 14 and Willie Rivera and Manny Garner each had eight.

The Bulldogs were up by 15 points at halftime before Somers made a comeback, but Beacon closed it out for a 75-70 victory. “They had a big three-point outburst in the second half,” said Timpano. “It was one of our harder-fought games.”

No. 2 Tappan Zee (23-0) defeated Greeley, 67-60, in double overtime on Feb. 28 in the semifinals and will face No. 1 Poughkeepsie (20-3) for the Section 1, Class A title on Saturday, March 2, at Pace University.

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Pearlman, a native of Carmel, was the sports editor of the Putnam County Courier in Carmel for 14 years and for the North County News in Yorktown Heights for 13 years. Location: Cold Spring. Languages: English. Area of expertise: Sports