Quakers Defeat Rye on the Road, 66-54

A significant turn of events took place yesterday at Rye High School when a top center went down.

The Rye Garnets lost to the Horace Greeley Quakers 66-54, playing with guards and forwards until the final buzzer after starting center Brenden Nagle left the game after he hurt his back in a fall. Nagle went out in the first half and did not play the the rest of the way.

"He's a big force on the board for us," said Garnet Head Coach Chris DiCintio. His status for the next game was not yet known at the conclusion of the contest. Backup center Alex Antico was already out before the start of the game.

Amid this adversity the Garnets did not back down. "They played very hard," DiCintio said. "We faced a team that's very talented, well-coached and very coachable."

DiCintio compared his players hard word in the game to all of the games so far this season. "It's one of the biggest efforts this year," he said. 

"This was a big win for us," said Horace Greeley Head Coach Dave Fernandes. He said that players Adam Honig and Matt Townsend had good performances. "Adam had a great game," Fernandes said, also mentioning Townsend's great play. 

The Garnets and Quakers held it close throughout the first quarter. The Quakers jumped to a 6-0 lead until Nagle scored his two points of the game with under four minutes left. The Garnets trailed 6-4 with 2:51 to go on a two by Chris Twyman. The Quakers went ahead by four 13-9, with under forty seconds to play and an eventual 16-9 lead going into the second.

Garnet Brian Pickup netted a three from the top of the key with 6:48 to go before the half, putting Rye behind 16-12.

Horace Greeley prevailed midway through the quarter, as Adam Honig shot a jumper at 5:35 and then scored another two points at 5:08 for a 23-12 lead.

With Rye's defense collapsing, Quaker Justin Ciero stole the ball from the Garnet defense shortly after for another two points in what was a significant turn of events throughout the rest of the half. 

DiCintio called a timeout with 4:47 to play that put Horace Greeley's big break to rest for the time being as Rye went into halftime down by three, 29-26.

The Garnets started the second half strong when Twyman cut the Quaker lead to 29-28 at 7:30. The Quakers would increase it to three and then five, 33-28 on a play involving Honig, Robert Cross, and Billy Sadik-Khan. Twyman then cut it down to three for Rye  to 33-30 at 6:39. Honig would go 0 for 2 at the line allowing the Garnets to regroup during a timeout and move to within one, 33-32 on a two by Max Twyman.

Horace Greeley led the rest of the quarter, prevailing 50-36 in entering the final quarter of play.

After being down by as much as 18 at the 3:18 mark in the fourth, the Garnets fought back to pull trail by nine, 59-50 with 2:01 to play. "They never quit," DiCintio said of his squad. "They never gave up." The Garnets sliced the lead by seven with under two minutes left.

The Quakers would prevail after three Rye fouls for a final score of 66-54 when Ferendes returned Honig and Townsend to the floor.

The Garnets are currently 4-2 coming out of the winter break and next play at Somers High School on Friday at 7 p.m. 

The Quakers are home to Harrison at the same time.