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Playing only hours after a gut-wrenching home loss to Mahopac, the Ketcham Indians took a little while to wake up, but when they did, it was with an explosion, not a yawn.
Behind 19 points from Josh Alston, Ketcham staged a furious third quarter charge to pull away and cruise to a 69-48 victory on Jan. 12 at the Thomas E. Brooks Gymnasium.
The first half was riddled with turnovers and mistakes and Ketcham wasn’t the only team with excuses. Saunders, playing without three injured starters, drove up from Yonkers for the 11 a.m. tip-off.
Indians coach Matt Paino said his team snapped to just in the nick of time.
“Halfway through the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, we decided to play as a team and start sharing the ball. Our defensive intensity picked up and we got some easy points off of transition,” he said.
The coach noted that handling the basketball has been a key to his 3-8 team’s success or failure all year.
“Turnovers have been our nemesis all year. They’ve been limiting what we can do offensively because we don’t give ourselves a chance. Today, we went to a team mentality and took advantage of our height and ended up on the winning side,” said Paino.
Shortly after tip-off, Saunder’s Matt Clayton banked a shot off the glass to give his team the early lead. Ketcham’s Nick Leerdam responded with a driving lay-up to quickly knot the game. The Indians employed an effective half-court trapping defense, forcing a turnover which led to a transitional finger roll lay-up by Alston. That play was quickly followed by a three-point basket by Mike Orefice to give Ketcham a 7-3 advantage.
Alston was a force inside during the opening period, converting an interior pass from Orefice, slashing to the hoop and making a timely cut to the basket to convert an inbounds pass to give his team a 14-8 lead. At the end of the first period, Ketcham had a 16-10 lead, but Saunders would come out strong in the second quarter.
A traditional three-point play by Kishon Newton and a basket by Darius Mitchell gave the visitors a 17-16 lead. A Ketcham basket by Gabe Morales was followed by scoring plays by Newton and Joseph Curbelo to give Saunders the lead.
Ketcham’s Michael Cummings was a force on the glass all game and was fouled in the act of converting a lay-up off an offensive rebound to give his team the slight edge at 26-24. Saunders had a flourish at the end of the half, with Clayton hitting a three and Newton using a head-fake to drive the baseline and give Saunders the 26-24 halftime lead.
The second half picked up where the first had ended with Saunders maintaining its aggressive posture. Nicholas Shkrelji put-back a miss and Newton used a nifty spin move after accepting an inbounds pass to stake Saunders to a 28-26 lead. It was at this point that Ketcham woke up.
Taking control
After a lay-up by Orefice, Alston hit a baseline jump shot and Ketcham had the lead again. Baskets by Leerdam and Alston pushed the Indian lead to five points. Saunders would not go away, however. Clayton and Curbelo hit jump shots to pull Saunders within 36-33. Seconds later, Mitchell drove the length of the court for a basket to make it a one point game with 2:14 left in the quarter.
It was here that Ketcham put the pedal to the metal. Cummings, fouled under the basket, hit both free throws, Leeram hit a spinning lay-up and a steal by Joe DiCiaccio led to a Kyle Bender bucket to give Ketcham a 44-38 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The game could have potentially been lost early in the final period when Cummings had to leave the game due to a shot in the abdomen, but his teammates picked up the slack while he sat on the bench for a couple of minutes. The crowd rocked as an outlet pass from Leerdam turned into a thunderous dunk by Alston. Immediately after the play, Bender hustled to a loose ball and called a timeout. Alston added a hoop off an offensive rebound and Cummings, back in the ballgame, converted two free throws to give Ketcham the 50-42 lead.
The final four minutes completely belonged to the home team. Leerdam tossed an outlet pass to Bender for two points before converting a coast-to-coast lay-up, and Cummings hit a reverse lay-up to put the game out of reach at 60-42
The leading scorers for Ketcham were Alston with 19, Cummings with 13, Bender with 14 and Leerdam with nine points. Saunders was led by Clayton with 18 points, Newton with 10 points and Mitchell with nine points.
