STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The three highest seeds and an upstart prevailed in the quarterfinal round at the Borough President Vito Fossella SIHSL JV Tournament.
Top-seeded Curtis kicked off its tourney play in style with a 94-40 walloping of No. 8 New Dorp in the first of a two-game card at the Warriors’ gym in St. George. No. 5 Susan Wagner edged No. 4 Moore Catholic, 45-44, in a nip-and-tuck, overtime battle in the nightcap to advance as well.
In the opener of a double-dip at Tottenville HS in Huguenot, three-time defending champion St. Peter’s got past the host Pirates, 54-39, and No. 2 Monsignor Farrell used a 22-11 fourth-quarter run to overcome an upset bid from No. 7 St. Joseph by-the-Sea, 47-40.
The semifinal matchups are now set for Friday evening at Curtis. The Eagles and Lions kick things off at 4:30, followed by the Falcons and host Warriors at 6 p.m.
Susan Wagner 45, Moore Catholic 44
The night’s most intriguing matchup needed an extra session to determine a winner and Abidina Baldie’s four OT points proved to be the difference as the Falcons pulled off the minor upset over the Mavs.
Kyle Kyee found Kasyn Ford, who knocked down a short jumper at the close of regulation to force the OT, and despite trailing by five points in the extra period, the Falcons were able to pull it out behind solid defense and leading scorer Jayden Acea.
The Mavs scored the first five points in OT before Baldie’s two buckets cut the lead to 44-43. Acea’s layup proved to the the gamer with under 10 seconds to play.
“I’m proud of the effort and the refusal to back down,” SW head coach Bash Pelinkovic boldly stated. “It’s high school basketball; mistakes are going to be made, but the question is how do you respond and tonight my team responded accordingly. They moved forward to the next play.”
“As well as we played the success starts with Kyee. He handled the pressure well and controlled the tempo of the game,” lauded Pelinkovic. “We look forward to our matchup with Curtis on Friday. They are a well-coached team and are playing at a high level. It should be a good game.”
Farrell head coach Pete Tutrone has his Lions headed to the SIHSL JV semis. (Kara Buzga for Staten Island Advance)..
Monsignor Farrell 47, Sea 40
The Lions got a big fourth from Bryce Moye, who scored nine of his team-high 12 points over the game’s final eight minutes to stave off the Vikings’ upset bid to advance.
Sea led 20-15 at the break and still held a four-point bulge heading to the final stanza, but in addition to their play in the paint offensively, head coach Pete Tutrone’s squad stiffened up the defense and held the Huguenot school to just six points in the period.
“Moye was a force for us in the fourth quarter and Jamie Cruz and Mike Olson gave us a big lift off the bench in the second-half and those were some of the keys to the turnaround,” stated Tutrone, whose club defeated Sea for the third time this season.
The Vikings big opening-quarter burst was highlighted by a pair of threes from Jack Murphy and another from Mike Prue.
“They really didn’t do anything that we haven’t seen. They just came out and played hard and were in a rhythm and in turn took us out of our rhythm,” said Tutrone. “We were able to settle in in the second-half and chip away.”
“Peter’s is always tough to play, they’re well-coached and even though we beat them twice in the regular season those games are completely irrelevant. You can throw those games out the window and let’s just go play,” admitted Tutrone.
Vincent Kraker netted eight for the Lions, while Cruz and Anthony Viani split 12.
Rob Johnson led Sea with 11, while James Yannantuona had nine.
St. Peter’s 54, Tottenville 39
The Eagles got all they could handle from the pesky Pirates (who entered the game unbeaten in PSAL play) in a game that head coach Matt Genovese described as “much closer than the final score.”
The Pirates led 16-14 after one period of play and although the New Brighton school took a 27-21 halftime advantage, it had to work all game against the upstart No. 6 seed.
“I was impressed with the way Tottenville battled us all night and we really didn’t start to feel comfortable until the second-half when we started getting the ball inside to our big man John Greenwald (12 points),” said Genovese, who has led the Eagles to three consecutive SIHSL titles.
Greenwald scored 10 of his points after the intermission and teamed with Mikhial Lopez (team-high 13) to avoid the upset bid. Ben Terry and Ryan Tuite split 18 for the Eagles.
“We need to be tougher, plain and simple, next game if we want to beat Farrell,” added Genovese. “They beat us up in both games, inside and outside. They’re really good. We just have to play a complete game, because they will. Pete (Tutrone) always has them ready to play so we have to be ready from the jump.”
Blair Tadros led the Pirates with a game-high 15 points.
Curtis 94, New Dorp 40
The Warriors flexed their muscles early and often as they routed the Centrals in St. George.
Colin Reinhold and Matthew Grace tallied 20 points apiece for the winners to lead the charge. Omar Jenkins and Ramiek Black added 13 and 12, respectively, while Kayden King chipped in with eight.
Jayden Crawford had 14 and Leo Quoku 10 for the Centrals.