A season of exhilarating wins ended with a decisive loss on March 2 as the Poughkeepsie boys basketball team lost to Mt. Vernon in the Section One, Class AA championship game at the Westchester County Center, 75-52.
Employing a pressure defense, Mt. Vernon wore down a Poughkeepsie backcourt that was missing both of its starters due to injury. Seniors Tyquan Webb, who broke his wrist in the quarterfinals against White Plains and Moquan Dickens, who hurt his ankle in last week’s semifinal against New Rochelle, looked on from the bench. Coach Brian Laffin said the injuries forced the team to depart somewhat from the game plan that had advanced the team to within one game of the sectional title.
“Going into a one-game situation, you don’t want to go away from the things that have worked in the past. We couldn’t press as much as we wanted to. We had to pick our spots and unfortunately it didn’t work out,” said Laffin.
Deciding go with 6’6” center Brandon James as an additional low post presence against Mt. Vernon’s formidable front line of Kevin Jones, Kadeem Dinham and Sherrod Wright, Laffin tried to make do without the athleticism and defensive versatility of Dickens.
“Moquan’s injury was very tough because he’s a great athlete and he gives us a great defensive presence. Most of the time he would be asked to cover the best scorer on the other team. We gave a shot to Brandon James to give us a little more size and he did a great job of competing with their big guys, but they come in waves. They are one of the best teams in the country and they always are, bottom line,” said Laffin of a Knights team which has won eight out of the last nine sectional titles.
Guard Duane Clark and forward Antonio Williams each made the All-Tournament team. Clark paced the Pioneers with 15 points, while sophomore Darryl Charles chipped in with 14 points. For Mt. Vernon, Jones walked off with the tournament MVP award and scored 27 points to go along with 16 rebounds in the final.
In a season that started with the loss of senior starters Rasheed Harrell, Tyquan Bellamy and James Patterson, Poughkeepsie benefited greatly from the development of sophomore guards Duane Clark and Dayvonne Whitaker.
“I don’t think you are going to find two more talented guards at any age. This was a great year for them because they got a taste of what varsity basketball is all about and they responded to it,” said Laffin.
The Pioneers finished the season with a record of 20-4 and although Laffin said he has high expectations every year for his teams, he hinted that this year’s team may have been an overachiever.
“Realistically, looking at what we lost last year, with three starters graduating, I can say 20 wins is a great season, considering what we lost. I don’t like to predict wins, but 20 was a nice number for this group. You always want to win the last game, but I’m very proud of their effort,” he said.