Huguenots fall in semis

Written by Mike Smith

Thursday, 04 March 2010 20:16

Unbeaten Section I streak ends

Confidence can be a tricky thing. Two Sundays ago, the New Rochelle Huguenots were nearly everyone’s favorite to bring home a Class AA section title at the County Center, and for good reason. At 17-1, they were the area’s best team during the regular season, they were unbeaten in section play and held two hard-fought wins over their league rival and perennial powerhouse Mount Vernon.

By the time last Sunday rolled around however, the Huguenots had been ignominiously bounced from the playoffs.

At the County Center last weekend, Mount Vernon avoided a season sweep at the hands of their New Rochelle foes, earning a decisive semifinal victory beating the Huguenots 75-61 to advance to the Class AA finals.

“They were just better than us,” said New Rochelle coach Bill Murphy. “It was a matter of we were going to have to play our ‘A’ game to beat them. It’s a different court, a different atmosphere and a different kind of pressure, unfortunately. There’s a lot that goes into it, there’s luck and sometimes balls just bounce a certain way.”

The semifinal game, much like the two that preceded it, started off with Mount Vernon taking an early advantage behind the play of Jabarie Hinds, who would go on to finish with 24 points. Unlike the two previous games, however, the Huguenots, with top players, Antoine Mason and P.J. Torres in foul trouble early on, simply didn’t have the personnel on the court to turn the tide with their full-court press. The result was that the lead kept growing. By halftime, the Knights had amassed a 12-point lead that New Rochelle was never able to chip away at.

“I think the foul trouble [of Mason and Torres] brought us down,” said Murphy. “I don’t think we were as confident running certain defenses with the guys we had, so it was a detractor on the defensive end.”

Murphy also believes that, despite two come-from-behind wins against the Knights, New Rochelle’s sterling performance against Section I teams in the regular season may have worked against his team.

“It’s unfortunate that we did as well as we did, really,” said the head coach. “If we had lost a game, we might have had more to work with, we may have had a more of a spark. We had a great regular season but unfortunately, you’re only as good as the last game you play.”

Having said that, Murphy remains proud of what his team was able to accomplish this year, as the Huguenots posted their best regular season record in years.

“There was a lot of work that went into what we did last year, starting with the off-season. We worked very hard to get to where we were,” the coach said.

The Huguenots graduate six seniors from this year’s squad, including standout Antoine Mason who scored a game high 26 points in Sunday’s losing effort. But Murphy is certainly excited about the core he has coming back.

In addition to Torres, the Huguenots return some gritty and talented hoopsters like Jordan Green, Craig Dorn, Chris Burton and Darrell Blacktock.

“These kids have great makeup and character,” said Murphy. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in them. They’ve played in a lot of different environments against good teams, and they’ll work hard in the off-season and in the weight room. We’re positive we’ll be in a good position by next preseason.”

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