Quakers Hoping to Finish Regular Season Strong

Horace Greeley's boys basketball team hopes that an equal mix of experienced and new talent will help it make its mark in the upcoming sectional playoffs.

"Before this year, I had a total of three freshmen on the varsity," 17th-year coach Dave Fernandes said.

But the Quakers have equaled that number with a trio of ninth-graders on this year's roster:  6-foot-3, 160-pound forward/center Harrison Brown, 5-11, 155-pound guard Teddy Graves and 6-3, 175-pound Max Xie.

"They've all shown they belong here," Fernandes said

While the flurry of freshmen is an interesting aspect to this year's Quaker squad, a pair of upperclassmen — 6-1, 185-pound senior guard Adam Honig and 6-6, 230-pound forward/center Matt Townsend — provide the Quakers with as formidable an inside-outside combination.

"They're definitely our top two," Fernandes said.

And they've been playing that way, with both averaging close to 20 points scored per game.

Honig and Townsend share captains' duties with senior guard Rob Cross.

What has so far been a good season for Greeley could easily have been even better had the Quakers been able to pull out a couple of last-second losses.

They fell to Port Chester 51-49 on Jan. 14 as the Rams' Anthony Ordonez connected on a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer from about 22 feet away from the basket.

The loss was even more frustrating when you consider Greeley limited Ordonez, the Rams' top scorer, to just six points — but five of them came in the final minute.
That loss came less than a week after Greeley fell to five-time sectional champion Peekskill 52-50 as Daquan Brickhouse also hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The win was the Red Devils' 50th straight on their homecourt.

Greeley has also been beset by a rash of player illnesses that also affected Honig and Townsend

"It was going around and it one kid was getting sick after another," Fernanes said.

Honig played through his illness against Port Chester, finishing with eight points. Townsend had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Billy Sadik-Khan, a  6-3, 185-pound senior forward, scored 12.

Sadik-Khan and Justin Ciero, a 5-11, 185-pound sophomore guard, were both sidelined in the loss to Peekskill.

Yet through it all, Greeley is in solid shape to make a strong run in the playoffs. The Quakers start this week's action with a 9-4 record.

Greeley has four remaining games in the regular season, including a home-and-home series against a resurgent Somers team (at home on Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. and at Somers on Feb. 8 at 4:30 p.m.). In addition, Greeley plays at rival Fox Lane on Feb. 3 at 4:30 p.m. and hosts John Jay in Senior Night on Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. The Quakers beat Fox Lane 70-52 and defeated John Jay 80-43 in their earlier meeting this season.