Leading off today: William Bouton's 55-foot heave at the buzzer banked off the backboard and into the basket last night, giving Newburgh Free Academy a stunning, 71-70 victory against Mount Vernon in the NYSPHSAA boys basketball quarterfinals.
Mount Vernon appeared to have pulled out a victory with Kadeem Dinham's offensive rebound and layup with :02 to go to break a 68-68 tie.
Mount Vernon coach Bob Cimmino told The Journal News he looked at the clock and saw 1.3 remaining after the layup, but officials put 2.0 on the clock with Newburgh inbounding under its own basket.
With the first option covered, Bouton raced up from the foul line, caught the pass from Mike McLeod and turned and fired. It capped a comeback from a 68-62 deficit with :50 to go, built largely on Sherrod Wright's 14 straight Mount Vernon points in the fourth quarter.
More boys Class AA: Center Michael Goodman led Syracuse CBA to a 78-42 rout of Massena by posting 12 points and 14 rebounds while playing just over half the game. Junior guard Troy Bullock added 16 points and sophomore forward Greg Thomson scored 14.
Uniondale's Devon McMillan was too much for North Babylon, pouring in 21 points and running the offense during a 77-37 romp despite the absence of 6-7 center Dane Dixon, who was ill. Justin Brown (22 points, 10 rebounds) capped a 17-1 run when he made the first two baskets of the second quarter.
Boys Class A: Peekskill clawed past Cornwall, 57-54, to reach Glens Falls — but not without some oddball moments. With 1:42 left and the score tied at 53, an automatic timer turned off the gymnasium lights at SUNY New Paltz.
"I didn't know which team that was going to benefit," Peekskill coach Lou Panzanaro told The Journal News. "We'd done a lot of talking to that point but then the delay went on and on and I thought, 'They're going to forget everything we talked about.'"
The game resumed after a 25-minute delay.
East Hampton outlasted Roslyn, 57-48, to win its second straight Long Island Class A championship.
East Hampton led by 45-29 with 5:45 to go, but Jordan Richman (21 points) and George Beamon rallied the Bulldogs to within three with 1:31 left before Jarred Bowe put the game away with a late steal.
East Hampton guard Jerome Russell scored 15 points, including his 1,000th in the third quarter.
Dajuan Coleman, a 6-8 freshman center, scored a game-high 17 points defending state and Federation champion Jamesville-DeWitt cruised past Malone Franklin, 90-42. Red Rams coach Bob McKenney used 18 players in the contest, which was as close as 14-11 in the early going until Coleman and Brandon Triche (15 points) sparked a 9-2 run.
Boys Class B: Gene Bouyer scored 33 points and snared 17 rebounds in leading Ogdensburg to a 69-38 victory over Northeastern Clinton and a spot in the quarterfinals tonight against Broadalbin-Perth.
"We simply had no answer for him," Northeastern Clinton coach Robb Garrand told The Press-Republican.
Boys Class C: Valhalla rallied from 14 points down after three quarters to earn a 52-47 victory over Millbrook at SUNY New Paltz to advance to tonight's final against Oyster Bay.
"It's not like we haven't done this before," Valhalla's James Jensen told The Journal News"I mean, we didn't plan this, but we came back early in the season after Nanuet
