Boys Basketball: Walter Panas Beats John Jay, 70-66

For both John Jay (2-4) and Walter Panas (6-2), it was important for their boys basketball teams to play a good game and feel good about themselves before the holiday break.

Both teams can go into the holiday break feeling good about the effort they gave at Walter Panas High School on Dec. 21, especially John Jay's Matt Ferentini.

Ferentini was on fire from the second quarter on, scoring a game-high 36 points, including eight 3-pointers but it wasn't enough to overcome a talented Panas squad, which prevailed 70-66.

"I was pleased with our effort," John Jay coach Tom Nelligan said. "I felt like the kids competed really hard. I just felt like a couple plays were the difference. Panas has some nice players, they are a well-balanced basketball club. They play well together. We have been in some tough games back to back and somehow we have to find a way to finish these types of games off. We need it for our confidence."

Ferentini and his teammates played with plenty of confidence in the second quarter, after Panas jumped out to a 16-6 lead in the opening stanza.

"In the first quarter, we just came out flat, right off the bat," Ferentini said.

Things changed in the second quarter as John Jay outscored Panas 23-13 to make it a tied game, 29-29, at halftime.

"In the second quarter, we started to work the ball around more, move it quickly, with passes we cut through, we didn't do much of that in the first quarter," Ferentini said. "We just played more as a team."

Ferentini especially turned up his game. After scoring just two points in the first quarter, he came alive by scoring 18 points in the second quarter, including five 3-pointers.

"I was just working around and my teammates found me, I knew they would find me," Ferentini said. "I was always confident that they would get me the ball. Nelligan was obviously happy with Ferentini's performance.

"Matt had a good shooting night, he kept us in it," Nelligan said. "We got down 16-6 but made some shots after that, we handled the press pretty well. Late in the game we had a couple of trips down the court but we just couldn't get over the hump."

John Jay, on a basket by Kevin Feinstein, took the lead to start the second half 31-29 and led until Panas' Javier Espinoza hit two free throws to give Panas a 55-53 advantage midway through the fourth quarter.

The Indians though regained the lead later and were actually up 62-59 when Ferentini broke a tie with a trey with 2:30 left in the game. Panas though outscored the visitors 11-4 after that to finish the game and secure the victory.

"We need to find a way late in the game with two minutes to go, to make the play and get a stop," Nelligan said.

John Jay will look to make the one play and stop that can make the difference when it next plays against host Yorktown at 6:15 p.m., Jan. 5.

POINT TOTALS   John Jay-Matt Ferentini (36), Will Owen (13), Kevin Feinstein (8), Will Jahn (5), Marc Johnson (4)   Panas-Vaughn Dweck (27), Bobby Taub (18), Javier Espinoza (18), Zac Preuss (5), Brandon Lee (2)