Sleepy Hollow Wins Thriller

Those who attend Sleepy Hollow games, be it at home or on the road, sure get their fill of excitement.

That was the case again when the Headless Horsemen defeated rival Dobbs Ferry, 56-55, yesterday.

Sleepy Hollow (12-3) avenged an earlier loss this season when it fell to Dobbs Ferry (8-7) by a score of 51-48 after taking a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter.

"I think it (the first game again Dobbs Ferry) did play a factor," Sleepy Hollow coach Tony Baxter said. "Obviously, our kids knew what happened last time. We talked about it for the last week. I think sitting there with two minutes left and up eight, it creeps back into your head that we had them in a similar position."

This time though Sleepy Hollow finished strong. Justin Best, who scored a game-high 20 points for Sleepy Hollow, came down with a rebound with 2.4 seconds remaining off a shot that could've won the game for the visitors.

"If I don't get that rebound, the game could've been over," Best said. "If we get control of the ball, we win the game."

Sleepy Hollow's gym was packed with fans from both schools. The visiting fans were the ones making the noise early as their squad jumped out to a 17-7 first quarter lead, led by Denzell Hasell, who scored seven of his team-high 18 points in the opening quarter.

Sleepy Hollow picked things up in the second quarter, outscoring Dobbs Ferry 18-9, led by nine points from Best. Best had missed a dunk late in the quarter but responded by hitting a jumper at the buzzer, to pull the host to within one of the Dobbs Ferry lead, 26-25.

"I told my teammates don't worry about that (the missed dunk), I will make up for that," Best said. "That was my fault. I told them I wouldn't make that mistake again. I told my teammates when they need me I will be there."

Jorge Beranguer was there in the third quarter for Sleepy Hollow, scoring eight of his 10 points. His production enabled the Headless Horsemen to lead 42-37 at the end of three.

"Jorge has been a very consistent player for us all year," Baxter said. "He's the guy who brings the ball up, he plays the other team's point guard. We depend on him for nine or 10 points a game and he's only a junior. He's come a long way."

Joining Beranguer and Best in the scoring column for Sleepy Hollow were Bobby Small (nine points), Joe Scarpati (eight), Jonathan Martin (seven) and Damon Davis (two).

 "We have had a lot of close games," Baxter said. "We played Hastings here, we won by three, played at Irvington, we won by three. We played at Dobbs, lost by three, we played at Hastings, won by one and now here we won by one against Dobbs. You'd like to win by 15 once in awhile but it develops a mindset in your kids where they really never think that it's over. That whether we are up or down, we can change the outcome."