Boys basketball: Byram Hills slams the door on Hastings and moves on to Class B final
WHITE PLAINS – There’s no hiding the urgency.
Byram Hills is here to make a memory and went right to work on Hastings in a Section 1 Class B semifinal on Monday, posting a methodical 54-32 win at the Westchester County Center.
“The big thing is coming out with confidence,” Bobcats forward Sean Siegel said. “You have to come out with that swagger, but calm and not too cocky. We kind of let everyone know it’s just a basketball game on our side and that we’re all in this together. We knew what this game meant.”
Mission accomplished.
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Robert Kennedy got the first bucket of the game, but the Yellow Jackets never got a chance to settle in and get comfortable. They went 1 for 8 and committed five turnovers in the first quarter.
Byram Hills was up 14-2 when the buzzer sounded.
“When you see that first shot go in, your confidence immediately goes up,” said Tyson Repa, whose 3-pointer sparked the Bobcats. “The whole team surrounds you and everyone starts hitting shots.”
Hastings did come up with a momentary surge at the start of the second quarter. Byram Hills cooled, but manufactured enough offense to close out the half on a 10-5 run.
The lead was up to 25-13 at the break.
“If you let a team get close anything can happen coming down the stretch,” Repa said. “You have to put them away early.”
The defense was high level start to finish and the door was slammed early in the third quarter, going up 33-18
“We always talk about five guys thinking as one,” Siegel said. “We’re always on the same page. When something isn’t going our way defensively, we come together and work things out together.”
What it means
Byram Hills almost looks at ease. The offense is coming from multiple sources. The defense is rarely compromised and recovers quickly when it is.
This isn’t the same Bobcats team that lost to Hastings by three back in early December.
“I thought we were one of the more talented teams in Class B this season,” Byram Hills coach Ted Repa said. “To be completely honest, I don’t think I did the best job as a coach early on. I was enamored with our size and wasn’t necessarily putting the best lineup out there. It took a couple of tough losses for me to figure things out. The guys, credit to them, it never became an issue who was starting.”
Player of the game
Tyson Repa was under control and making things happen from the jump. He finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
By the numbers
No. 3 Byram Hills (18-5): George Gelaj was the inside presence, getting 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench. ... Brady Ceisler finished with nine points. ... Luca Scali and Siegel added six points apiece.
No. 2 Hastings (18-5): Keith Capuano had nine points and 10 rebounds. ... Casey Maiorino, Billy Murnighan and Jason Nadley each netted five points.
They said it
"If we take good shots we’re going to be fine," Ted Repa said. "Defensively, we really dug in this game. The first time we played Hastings, Keith Capuano had 30 points or something. That kid’s a tough player."
"I’m super pumped," added Siegel, who's last Section 1 title game appearance was a humbling loss to Briarcliff on the lacrosse field. "Last time I was in a sectional final it didn’t go my way. I’m not here to lose another one."
Up next
Byram Hills plays Valhalla on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Class B championship.
MIke Dougherty covers basketball for The Journal News and lohud.com. He can be reached at mdougher@lohud.com or via Twitter @lohudhoopsmbd.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Byram Hills tops Hastings 54-32 in Section 1 Class B semifinal
