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Call it redemption, or just call it another victory on the road to the White Plains County Center.
Before a packed and vociferous home crowd on Wednesday night, the Poughkeepsie Pioneers boys basketball squad soundly defeated the White Plains Tigers by a score of 93-65 in a Section I, Class AA quarterfinal. The victory sent the Pioneers back to White Plains for a semifinal match-up with New Rochelle.
By turning back White Plains, the Pioneers avenged a heartbreaking semifinal loss to the Tigers last year in the sectional semifinals at the County Center.
Poughkeepsie Coach Brian Laffin said his team was fortunate to play well against a tough opponent.
“It’s a tough draw this year when you have to play (White Plains) as the seventh seed. We were just fortunate to get them at home,” he said.
The Pioneers overcame what could have been a devastating turn of events in the first quarter when starting point guard Taquan Webb was felled with a wrist injury. Webb cheered on his teammates from the bench with a sling on his wrist.
Into the fray stepped sophomore guard Dayvone Whitaker, who poured in a dozen points and skillfully handled the point guard duties.
“I thought Dayvone stepped in and took care of the ball. I was happy with how he handled the situation,” said Laffin.
The game was nip-and-tuck for most of the first half. Poughkeepsie’s Antonio Davis grabbed a rebound, put-back a lay-up and was fouled to give Poughkeepsie the early 3-0 lead. White Plains forward Sean Kilpatrick answered quickly with a gliding lay-up to pull the Tigers within one.
On the next possession, Webb hurt himself while being fouled. Whitaker stepped in and sank one of two from the free throw line. Poughkeepsie added to its lead when Darryl Charles Jr. scored from the low post
Kilpatrick kept the Tigers within range of the energetic Pioneers, first with a jumper that rattled home and then with a three-pointer to give White Plains an 8-7 lead. Kilpatrick and RaShad James were the prime movers for White Plains, scoring 28 and 19 points, respectively.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair. Williams hit a jumper from the left corner to give Poughkeepsie a 10-9 lead, minutes before scoring a reverse lay-up. Kilpatrick made a backdoor cut that resulted in an easy basket to put White Plains back up by a 13-12 score. By the end of the quarter, Poughkeepsie held a tenuous 14-13 lead.
The early second period opened in the same fashion, with Kilpatrick hitting a bucket, before Williams leaned in and was fouled, converting a three-point play to put Poughkeepsie up 17-15. However, James came right back, drawing a foul and hitting both free throws to knot the game up again.
The turning point in the contest came with roughly two-and-a-half minutes left in the half. Both teams were scrambling for loose balls and Poughkeepsie had a 26-25 lead. First Charles stole the ball, leading to a dribble drive for Whitaker who was fouled and hit one of two from the line.
Next, on a fast break, Charles grabbed his own rebound and scored for 29-25 Pioneer lead. Tigers forward Sean Brooks traveled on a head fake, leading to a long three-point shot by Williams to give his team a 32-25 lead. On the next Poughkeepsie possession, Moquan Dickens hit a three-pointer prior to another White Plains turnover, leading to a gliding finger roll by Duane Clarke. Clarke then converted a traditional three-point play on the next possession with 19.3 left in the half. As an exclamation point to an extraordinary run, Dickens stole an inbounds pass and shuffled an assist to Clarke, sending the near sell-out crowd into a frenzy and giving the Pioneers an effectively insurmountable 42-27 halftime lead.
Poughkeepsie came out a little slow in the third period and White Plains pulled to within 48-39 on a James double-clutch jumper, but a three-point play by Charles, a baseline drive by Clarke and driving lay-up by Whitaker finally put the game out of reach.
Charles and Williams each had 21 points for the Pioneers, while Clarke added 17 and Whitaker had a dozen. The Pioneers’ next opponent in the sectional semifinals will be New Rochelle, a team they beat recently in double overtime. The time and date of the contest is yet to be determined.
