A Narrow Loss to Eastchester on Senior Night

It was a special night at SHS on Monday, February 4, when the Raider's Boys Basketball played their last home basketball game against Eastchester and celebrated Senior Night by honoring the team's eight seniors. In an emotional pre-game ceremony hosted by Coach Jon Feld, each of the eight seniors and their parents were introduced, with each players' mother wearing her son's away jersey and receiving flowers from her son. Honored were second-year varsity players Tyler Nathan, Jon Cohen, Dylan LoBue, Peter Simon, and Brad Fiedler, together with third-year varsity players Robert Plummer, and co-captains Alex Squadron and Jack Hewitt.

Below are pictures of SHS seniors and their parents during the pre-game festivities.

Eastchester entered the game with a 14-1 record, fighting to hold off Byram Hills for the top seed in the upcoming Section 1 Class A tournament. In what has become a tradition, co-captains Squadron and Hewitt relinquished their starting roles to other seniors in a gesture of gratitude and appreciation for their hard work and dedication. Not surprisingly, the starting line-up of Cohen, Nathan, Plummer, LoBue, and Simon played inspired basketball and the game remained a hard-fought, physical battle with the first quarter ending with Eastchester clinging to a 13-12 lead.

In the second quarter, Scarsdale seemed unable to match Eastchester's quickness and turned to one of its rarely used juniors for a spark. Showing that he belonged on the court, junior Grant Goodman answered the call, delivering quickness, energy, and solid defense in addition to six second quarter points to keep the Raiders close. Goodman was followed by junior forward Matthew Katz, who added a basket, leaving Scarsdale trailing by only three points at the half, 28-25. The Raiders suffered a scare during the second quarter when senior guard, Tyler Nathan, was thrown to the ground and lay motionless on the court for several seconds. Nathan was assisted from the floor with a calf injury, received treatment during halftime, and was able to return in the second half.

The Raiders came out in the second half and quickly found themselves down 33-25. But Hewitt (who finished the game with 15 points and 17 rebounds) put the team on his back and, as he has done so many times this season, brought the Raiders back, scoring nine of the Raiders' next 12 points to reduce the deficit to 38-37. After Eastchester pulled ahead, 46-41, the Raiders answered with baskets from LoBue and a three-pointer from Nathan (who delivered a gutty performance, coming back twice from what looked to be serious injuries) to tie the game at 46-46. But, again, the Eagles had an answer. After an Eastchester basket and two foul shots by Squadron (6 points, 7 rebounds), Eagles guard Jack Daly (who finished the game with 23 points, six rebounds, eight assists, and five steals) showed his versatility finding Nick Campana and Dan Ciardiello for consecutive three pointers to put Eastchester ahead 54-48 with just over 90 seconds remaining. Eagles' coach, Fred DiCarlo (who utilized 12 players during the game) credited his team's strength, depth, and stamina as keeping his team fresh in the late stages of games.

Following a foul by the Eagles, DiCarlo was called for a technical foul, resulting in 4 foul shots and the ball for the Raiders. Jon Cohen (6 points) made 3 of 4 foul shots and Nathan (8 points) followed with a long jump shot to cut the Eagles lead to 54-53 with just over one minute to play. But the Raiders would get no closer, as Eastchester connected on free throws following a Scarsdale turnover and the Raiders attempt at a game-tying three pointer fell short when Scarsdale was unable to free up any shooters and had to settle for an off balance three-pointer by Cohen. A final foul shot by Eastchester made the final score 57-53. Scarsdale, which has dropped three consecutive games, sits at 12-5, with their final game of the season this Friday at New Rochelle. A Raider win on Friday increases the team's chances for a first round home playoff game.