Boys basketball: Tommy Linehan and Jack Maloney land Tappan Zee in Class A final
WHITE PLAINS – Knowing all too well how quickly a dream can unravel at this point in the season, Tappan Zee played with purpose on every possession.
And very little wasted energy.
The Dutchmen came into the Section 1 tournament last year with the No. 1 seed and suffered an emotional semifinal loss. It’s fueling this run. They inched within a win of a gold ball on Thursday, pulling away from Yorktown and posting a 54-50 win.
“We’re always just looking toward our next game,” Tappan Zee senior Jack Maloney said. “It’s probably in the back of our minds, but we build off whatever happened in the past and use it as motivation.”
Class ATommy Linehan and Jack Maloney land Tappan Zee in Class A final
Scoreboard: Check in here for 2023 Section 1 postseason schedules, picks and recaps
Class C:Haldane survives double-overtime drama against Hamilton
The Huskers came in with a logical plan.
“Since they’re a team that usually thrives against man-to-man, we knew coming in we wanted to go zone,” Yorktown coach Mark Pavella said. “They had a kid step up and make tons of 3s.”
Yep.
Tommy Linehan went right over the top, knocking down five 3s in the opening half to give the Dutchmen a 29-24 lead at the break. He drained three of them in the last 91 seconds of the second quarter.
“He’s special,” Maloney said of the sophomore. “There’s nothing else to it. He’s my best friend. I love the kid. I couldn’t be happier after everything we’ve been through together. That was awesome. It makes everything so much easier. The game opens up. When somebody is that hot, we know who to get the ball to.”
Yorktown adjusted, but that gave Maloney additional time and space.
He again had a major impact for the Dutchmen when it mattered the most, netting 12 points in the fourth quarter to keep the Huskers in chase mode. “I know what this kid is capable of,” Linehan said. “I see it every day in practice so it’s really no surprise to me. We’re just fighting for three more days together. That’s all it is. We don’t want this to end.”
What it means
Tappan Zee has been a top program for years, but has not won a Section 1 title since 2012. Rest is going to be a key as the Dutchmen have largely gone to a five-man rotation. And getting three players involved at the offensive end makes this a more dangerous team. Sean Berrigan and Maloney were shouldering most of the load, but the emergence of Linehan has upped the odds of a championship.
Player of the game
Linehan finished with 24 points and seven rebounds.
By the numbers
No. 6 Yorktown (17-6): Kaden Gonzalez was hot from the start and led the Huskers with 18 points. He dropped four 3s. ... Billy Feeks had 12 points and four rebounds. ... Justin Price finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
No. 2 Tappan Zee (21-2): Maloney came up with 14 points and six assists. ... Berrigan added nine points, five assists, four rebounds and two blocks. ... Jack Piccione hit a 3 to give the Dutchmen a five-point lead going into the fourth and grabbed five rebounds.
They said it
"It’s a great group and I’m very proud of them," Pavella said. "They brought Yorktown basketball back to notice. … We held them to 54 and I would’ve taken that the way we’ve been scoring the ball this year, but we didn’t score the ball enough."
"It’s five guys who all have the same goal in mind," Maloney said of the rotation. "We don’t feel tired until the day after. It’s not something we feel during the game. We just want to win."
Up next
The Dutchmen play Somers for the Class A title at 2:15 on Sunday.
Mike Dougherty covers basketball for The Journal News and lohud.com. He can be reached at mdougher@lohud.com or via Twitter @lohudhoops.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Tappan Zee beats Yorktown, advances to Section 1 Class A final
