On a Monday night packed with high school hoop action, the Yorktown Patriots won both games of their girls and boys playoff double header against Wakefield.
Emily Rebh led the way for the ladies with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Lena Negri and Mikayla Venson added 13 apiece. Nicko Esherick led the boys with 18 points, including four clutch free throws to hold off a furious Wakefield comeback.
The Patriots, as they so often do at home, came out on fire, led by the grat play of Nick Yore and Daniel Pietropaoli. Yore established a strong low post presence with six quick points and three blocks, while Pietropaoli lit it up shooting the ball from the outside.
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“Wakefield came to play,” Pietropaoli said. “We didn’t want to go home, so we made sure we stepped up to the challenge.”
The Patriots came out and scored the first two baskets of the second half to extend their lead to 17 and the game looked to be over. However, Patriots began to lag offensively, and cheap turnovers gave the Warriors confidence, along with a few easy baskets.
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“We weren’t setting up the offense,” Pietropaoli admitted. “We began rushing and taking bad shots.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors were taking, and making just about every shot they took. Sophomore Khory Moore, who head coach Tony Bentley moved up mid season, led the Wakefield comeback with 11 of their 25 third quarter points.
“We knew that eventually they would make a run,” Jack Earley. We just had to brace ourselves and finish strong.”
The fourth quarter began as a struggle for both sides, as the two teams combined for eight turnovers and only one point in the first four minutes of the final period. But when Deontae Murphy scored six straight points, including a thunderous tomahawk dunk to cut the lead to four, the Warrior faithful erupted and it looked as if the momentum had completely shifted.
As the moment intensified and cheers grew louder, both teams frantically looked to make plays, resulting in turnovers on both ends of the court. When the Patriots finally calmed down, they were the benficiaries of a pair of loose ball fouls that put them on the line to add to their lead. Nicko Esherick hit all four of his free throws in the final minutes to ice the 67-60 win.
“You know if we didn’t get in the bonus so early, that game could have gone either way,” Avila admitted. “Nick hit some big foul shots for us tonight.”
The Lady Patriots will advance to play Edison in the semi-finals, while the boys will tavel to take on Mount Vernon, whom they lost to by 16 points in a recent meeting at home, led by District player of the Year Jesse Konadu’s 33 points. After scoring 25 in last night’s playoff win over Hayfield, coach Avial stressed the importance of containing him Wednesday night.
“Konadu has that ‘it’ factor,” he said. “The game seems so slow to him and nothing phases him. But if we if we can hold him to under 20 points, we have a good shot at winning the game.”
“They are going to try and run and gun and push the tempo,” Earley said of the crucial rematch. “We just need to break their press and play our game.”
In other action, the Washington-Lee Generals were upset by the Falls Church Jaguars. Although the Generals put them down double digits on several occasions, they were unable to put the Jags out. The did a great job of containing Nizar Alamin, who finished with a season low 6 points, but junior Sachin Gangele led the Jaguar comeback with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Seniors Andrew Karpinski and Antoine Ingram led the Generals with 14 points each in defeat. The Lady Generals' season also ended with a 48-40 lost at Hayfield.
