by Frank Caggino
Pat-Med comes away with a 50-49 victory over Centereach pic.twitter.com/5b9E81PzJd
— Axcess Basketball (@AxcessBBall) December 28, 2018
After a high scoring first quarter with Centereach leading Patchogue-Medford 22-13, it seemed as if it would be a high scoring game and a win for Centereach. That was not the case, as defense ended up controlling this game in what ended up to be a 50-49 win for Patchogue-Medford. After the game, Patchogue-Medford coach Will Dortonne said that his defense kept his team in the game and without it, “We probably would have lost by 20.” While there was good defense, there was a ton of back and forth action which it made it difficult to predict who would win the game.
To start off the game, Centereach was making three-point shots and mid-range jumpers led by Stephen Cartolano, with help from Jay Idzinski and Ryan DeCoursey. Neil Senior kept Patchogue-Medford in the game by scoring inside and outside. Once shots stopped falling for Centereach, the full-court pressure from the Patchogue-Medford Raiders, made it difficult for the Centereach Cougars to get their offense going again.
As the lead was starting to slip for Centereach, Coach Ed Miller told his team to clean up as they were struggling on both ends of the ball. The Raiders defense was causing turnovers and fast break points. One turnover in particular from the full-court press, led to a timeout from the Cougars. Centereach was able to hit some more shots and take a 32-25 lead into halftime.
The third quarter is where this game got tight as the Raiders attacked the basket and were able to get to the free throw line. Jalen Bias was active around the rim for Patchogue-Medford, which led to him being the recipient of many of those free throws. Defense resulted in offense for the Raiders, and caused them to cut the Cougars lead to one going into the fourth quarter.
With the game being close, every basket scored made the lead change and got the crowd on the edge of their seats. Patchogue-Medford got their first lead of the game from Nolan Crean. After the Cougars got the lead back, a three pointer by Dan Stevenson put the Raiders back in front. Jay Idzinski tied the game for Centereach, until Jalen Bias put Patchogue-Medford back in front. This game got closer in the final thirty seconds due to missed free throws by the Raiders. When Coach Dartonne was asked about his main takeaway from the game, he said, “Make our free throws.” What is ironic about that, is free throws are one of the reasons Patchogue-Medford was able to make the comeback. Coach Dartonne wanted his team to increase the tempo which he felt led to all of the free throws the Raiders attempted in the second half. Getting to the free throw line is valuable but being able to make the free throws is what helps in close games. Offense comes in goes as Centerach learned in this game, but defense always gives a team the chance to win and the Patchogue-Medford Raiders capitalized off it.
