Dream Season for Sleepy Hollow Boys Hoops

Sleepy Hollow's boys basketball team enjoyed a dream regular season, going 14-4 and earning a No. 2 seed in the Section 1 Class A tournament.

The postseason didn't go nearly as well for the Headless Horsemen—No. 18 Rye beat them in the opening round of the playoffs. Still, that couldn't erase the season they enjoyed this winter.

"It was a very successful season," Sleepy Hollow coach Tony Baxter said. "It ended much too short but we have to look at it in a big picture way. We accomplished some great things. The dinner (March 12) will be an opportunity to bring those things out. We had the best record the school has had in a while. Certainly we were very competitive in the league and there were a lot of bright spots."

The biggest bright spot was senior guard Justin Best, who made the all-section, all-conference and all-league squads. Best, a co-captain along with senior forward Joe Scarpati, was the consummate senior, Baxter said.

Best, who averaged 18 points per game, was someone that the rest of the team was able to look to for inspiration and leadership.

"I'm so proud of the way Justin stepped up," Baxter said. "He did everything that was asked of him and more."

Junior forward Jonathan Martin, who was named all-league, averaged 16 points and eight rebounds per game.

"Jonathan was someone who was very consistent and really a strong presence," Baxter said. "Where Justin was out on the perimeter at guard, Jonathan cleaned up a lot of the mess on the boards."

Besides having players shine on the court, Sleepy Hollow also showed it can do the job in the classroom as well. One of those players is Scarpati, who on March 5 was named honorable mention for the Court of Excellence awards. Those are the scholar-athlete awards given by the Westchester County Basketball Coaches Association.

"It is given to only 10 student athletes in all of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, and while Joe wasn't one of the 10, he was one of the next 10 named honorable mention," Baxter said. "So when you consider how many young men are playing basketball in those three counties, to be named to that is a true testament to Joe."

On the floor, Scarpati gave everything he had and improved his game, Baxter said. Whether it was taking a charge on the other team's best player, defending the other team's top player, snatching a tough rebound or making a difficult shot, Scarpati did it for the Headless Horsemen.

Running the offense at point guard for Sleepy Hollow was junior Jorge Berenguer, who averaged 10 points per game.

"Jorge was very consistent throughout the year," Baxter said. "We asked a lot of him. We asked him to bring the ball up and guard the other team's point guard."

Berenguer and Martin will be two of the main cogs for the team next season.

"We have to build on this year," Baxter said. "We can't rest on our laurels. We can't say all of a sudden we are there and take a breath. We have to keep our foot on the accelerator and really try to continue to get better and go even farther."