Raiders Second Half Comeback Against New Rochelle Falls Short

The Scarsdale Varsity Basketball squad has had a season of "ups and downs" according to senior Matt Katz. After beating South Bronx High School on opening night (12/6) in the Maroon and White Kari Pizzitola Tournament 60-55, the Scarsdale Raiders, led by sophomore guard Caleb Krohn (13.8ppg), lost a heart-breaking one-point game to Fox Lane in the finals the next day, a game that Katz and junior Chris Langrebe agreed could have been a victory. After the tough loss, they had to go and play a ranked Mount Vernon team on its home floor (12/11), losing in an 85-47 blowout followed by their third loss in a row to Putnam Valley HS two days later, 62-46.

However, they were able to turn it around. Instead of taking out the negatives from the losing streak, the Raiders took the positives to beat Pawling by a whopping 43 points in the Brewster Tournament on December 15th. The winning would be short-lived as Scarsdale then traveled north to play an undefeated Mahopac HS on December 20th and lost by 23 points. The lose-win pattern would continue after the two-week Christmas break with a nail-biting 71-66 win at Clarkstown North on January 7th. They fell short of a comeback the following day at home to a New Rochelle team led by senior guard Derek Dorn (16.9ppg) to suffer another heart-breaking loss. Junior Chris Langrebe analyzed the season: "we have had a rough start to the season but I don't think our record reflects our true potential."

On Wednesday 1/8, the Raiders met New Rochelle at home. When the Huguenots scored the first seven points of the game, it looked like it could be another blowout for the Raiders. Then, just past the halfway point of the first quarter, senior Grant Goodman (7pts) hit a corner two, senior Andreas Larsen (18pts) came back with an And 1, which was followed by a Langrebe (8pts) jumper to tie the game. The Huguenots answered with four quick points and took a 14-11 lead into the second quarter.

The visitors came out in the second quarter with a full court press that the Raiders were able to break with a lot of ball movement, and the two teams spent most of the quarter exchanging points. That changed in a hurry with over two minutes to play in the half when a tired Scarsdale team allowed New Rochelle to finish the half on a strong 10-0 run, giving New Rochelle a healthy 36-22 lead into the locker rooms. Once again, it looked like Scarsdale would get blown away. Said senior Matt Katz, "We played a very poor second quarter and got down big and just couldn't fight all the way back even though we came close."

A comeback looked possible when the Raiders scored five quick points to open up the second half. In the first minute, they hit a jumper and a three ball and fans rallied when they saw a fourteen-point lead cut to a more reasonable nine in the blink of an eye. Led by Larsen, the Raiders showed a lot more energy than they had in the first half to outscore the Huguenots 15-8 in the third quarter. Scarsdale was down ten, when in the closing seconds sophomore guard, Caleb Krohn, nailed his first points of the game on a clutch buzzer-beating three and narrowing the Huguenots lead to seven, 44-37.

New Rochelle saw a once 14-point lead cut in half going into the final quarter, and it looked like this game would come down to heroics. The buzzer-beater by Krohn fired up both his teammates and the crowd as he and Larsen continued to lead a spectacular comeback. A huge And 1 on a Larsen fast break cut the Huguenots lead to a just a single point with 3:10 to go when New Rochelle coach Bill Murphy called yet another timeout to try to stop this run. Scoring continued after the timeout back and forth, but another three-pointer from Krohn with under ten seconds to go proved too late as the Huguenots held on to win 57-52 behind Derek Dorn's 27 points. Raider Langrebe said that "we proved how tough and resilient we truly are, and Katz added, "I definitely think we can beat this team next time."

Katz summarized the season as having "its ups and downs" and "definitely had some missed opportunities." Langrebe added, "I think we will pick it up and exceed some expectations." The two agreed that they lost two close ones to Fox Lane and New Rochelle and could have won those games. Scarsdale went on to lose to Byram Hills on Friday night (1/10), 68-57, after falling down big in the first quarter despite Krohn's 21 points. The team now stands at 3-6 on the season.
Its next three games are @Mamaroneck on 1/14 at 7PM, @White Plains on 1/16 at 4:15PM, and vs. Mt. Vernon on 1/22 at 4:15PM.