Deliverance: Revelry And Rivalry Redux
Liberty Withstands A Furious Sullivan West Charge To Hold On For A Humongous Division IV Victory; Byrd Ejected Behind A Pair Of Technicals But Indians Close Ranks; Westies Whittle Liberty’s Big Double-Digit Lead Down To Two But Indians Deliver From The Stripe To Ward Off The Upset Amidst Ongoing Spirit War Between The Rouge Et Le Noir (The Red And The Black)
Liberty 46, Sullivan West 40
By RICHARD A. ROSS
Photos at: www.sportsinsights.smugmug.com
Revelry and Rivalry II (clockwise) Liberty fans show their pre-game verve with a sign nixing the Sullivan West Bulldogs. Moses, or at least his look-alike-parts the Red Sea to help deliver his people out of the bondage of a season-ending defeat into the deliverance of the Promised Land of continued hopes. Sullivan West fans led by their exalted General Charlie Ciccione answer the Liberty challenge with their own spirit. Sullivan West's Matt Cardona is closely guarded by Liberty's Eddie Byrd. Byrd's ejection following his second technical set the stage for the Westies' stunning comeback rally that nearly closed the door on Liberty. E.J. Franskevicz electrifies the crowd with a trio of treys in the third quarter that helped reduce a deficit that had soared to 19 down to seven by quarter's end. Sullivan West Coach Bruce Nober and Liberty Coach Mike Salvia discuss an incident with .1 of a second remaining wherein a near fracas erupted following a rebound. Technicals were issued on both sides but no free throws were assessed, It was Byrd's first technical. He got the other in the third quarter. Liberty's Taylor Vankeuren hits crucial free throws in the game's waning minute. In the fourth quarter he iced five of seven including the dramatic final four.
LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY—And so the saga continues with another compelling chapter in the Neverending Story known as Sullivan West versus Liberty.
If anything, this February 10 rematch of the two teams that took place exactly one month to the day after the initial clash, was even more cathartic than its forerunner given all that has transpired since.
The game was replete with a changing landscape that featured a first half Liberty onslaught manifested in leads of 12-2 after one quarter and a 26-9 at the break and for an accent it offered a physical exchange following a rebound that led to a pair of technical fouls that would set the stage for Liberty’s Eddie Byrd’s ejection following a second “T” that occurred in the third quarter.
A Trinity of Hope comprised of a beauty, a beast and a super hero gather their collective force and allure in Sullivan West's Dawg Pound to help will a win for their home team.
It went on to author a furious Dawg comeback bid defined by rabid third quarter and fourth quarter heroics and finally entered the spiritual realm with the appearance of a Moses look-alike to part the Liberty Red Sea as a foreshadowing of the deliverance to victory.
The season-saving Liberty win was cemented by Taylor Vankeuren’s crucial free throws as this game trumped the earlier one in its content value, while building on the tenor of the rivalry so definitively on display in the teams’ first meeting.
That night in an atmosphere second to none, fans from the two schools summoned their collective spirit and verve to create an electrifying atmosphere that surpassed any regular game milieu this writer has seen in a decade.
That inspired the title for the story of that game which, if you have not read it, you most certainly need to reference in order to better understand the subtext of what has been built up between these teams and the schools they represent. Here’s the link; http://74.220.215.54/~sportsi2/revelry-and-rivalry/
Liberty’s ease in hammering Sullivan West 60-38 that night seemed at the moment to have propelled the Indians forward in their avowed dual purpose. It not only provided some redemption for the stultifying October overtime football loss to the Dawgs which had barred Liberty from a gridiron playoff berth, but more importantly the league win was to be a crucial step forward on the warpath towards a hoped-for Section Nine tournament powwow.
But all of that was dashed to smithereens with the discovery that Liberty had somehow overlooked the ineligibility of Yovanni Fields. When the District uncovered the fact, they exemplified their sense of fair play and forfeited all of their four wins at that juncture.
By default, Sullivan West was declared the victor of that game. Since then, the Westies which entered this fray at 11-4 (2-1 OCIAA) have been on a tear and have already punched a ticket to the Big Dance.
Quarterback re-encounter: Sullivan West's E.J. Franskevicz and Liberty's Marshon Williams meet again in the heat of battle, this time on the hardwood in lieu of the gridiron.
Meanwhile, Liberty girded itself to play out the string and hoped to make a case for an appeal to Section Nine based on a résumé of wins, particularly of the league variety.
A stultifying loss to O’Neill and a thrashing by Burke didn’t help the cause. So that made this game versus Sullivan West and the coming home fray against O’Neill do-or-die ventures thereby setting the stage for the drama that was about to ensue.
Despite its record and confirmed playoff inclusion, Sullivan West wanted this game in the worst way too. Yes, the rivalry is bigger than big and pride is always the sixth man on the court. But sectional seeding looms large too.
The Westies could ill afford to lose this game and/or the rematch with O’Neill and find themselves with a first round game against the Burke juggernaut or the Ellenville Blue Devil shredding machine.
So there you have it by way of the preliminaries.
As expected the gym soon became a sea of opposing red and black hordes. The Dawg Pound with its General Charlie Ciccione on one side and the Red Out regiment of Tribal troops on the other.
The din mounted, though this time minus the Liberty band, as the warm ups ensued and the seconds ticked down towards the much-anticipated tip off.
Ciccione, who includes in his résumé of fame, an appearance on Varsity 845 as a predictor of football playoff outcomes, voiced his confidence during the pre-game. “Sullivan West is going to win big tonight. The crowd is going to go crazy,” he proffered. As it would turn out, he was right about the crowd.
A sonorous rendition of the National Anthem by Bulldog hoopster Shawn Bailey provided a moment for thoughtful reflection. At its conclusion the gym erupted with a mighty roar as Sullivan West’s Patrick Pierce and Liberty’s Travis Beaupierre prepared to leap skyward for the tip.
Liberty won that first battle and proceeded to try and scalp the Sullivan West cavalry with a terrifying first quarter onslaught. With a bevy of rebounds Liberty fueled its speedy transition game.
Following an opening bucket by Ryan Henry, they made their trips up the floor pay dividends as Byrd added four points and Henry had another bucket. Marshon Williams was two-for-two from the stripe and aside from a lone bucket from Patrick Pierce which had tied the game at two all, the Bulldogs got zilch in the stanza as Liberty tore off a 10-0 run to close the period. It wasn’t for lack of opportunities mind you, Sullivan West just blanked on shot after shot including missed lay ups and put back attempts.
Sophomric? Not in this case as Patrick Pierce nets one of two treys in the game as he led his team with ten points. The second one was electrifying as it threatened to trigger the final push in the Dawgs' bid for a late upset win.
Liberty had established the early tenor with its 12-2 first quarter lead which did not diminish the fervor in the Dawg Pound as nothing could totally silence that group which continued to cheer and jeer.
On the opposite side of the gym the Red Sea was cresting with enthusiastic vigor. The quarter ended dramatically as a fight nearly broke out on the floor.
Following a rebound secured by Sullivan West’s Andrew Parsons, he swung around to pass the ball with his elbows out which caught Byrd who shoved back.
Other players quickly rushed forward but officials quickly separated the teams and whistled a time out with .1 of a second remaining. They conferred with Liberty Coach Mike Salvia and Sullivan West Coach Bruce Nober.
Byrd was issued a foul on the play as well as a technical. E.J Franskevicz was awarded a technical too though his role in all of this was dubious at best. With the offsetting technical fouls no free throws were awarded.
Byrd would remain on the bench for the entire second quarter thoughLiberty didn’t appear to need him at that juncture anyway. Beaupierre effected a steal and put up the first two points of the second quarter. John Masten picked off an errant pass by VanKeuren and scored as the Dawg Pound issued for a collective howl.
Henry answered with an easy backdoor cut as Sullivan West went blank on its defensive assignments. Liberty continued to rule the glass as Beaupierre in particular was ripping down rebounds and Sullivan West was not boxing out effectively.
Sullivan West had shown some life in the second quarter as they had scored seven points but the Byrd-less Indians had doubled them up with 14 of their own to mount a seemingly implacable 26-9 lead heading into the break. In that second stanza the Bulldogs got four points from Sawyer Erlwein, two from Masten and a free throw from Matt Cardona.
Liberty had been propelled by a three from Joe Franke, four points from Williams who had slashed through the lane and kissed it off the glass, both times uncontested. The Indians profited from three points from Beaupierre and two from Henry. A balanced attack had masked the absence of Byrd.
Hero of the moment: Given the absence of Eddie Byrd, other players would have to step up in the maelstrom and hit big shots. Enter King Henry (Ryan that is) to register this huge three to staunch the bleeding during the run of the charge of the Sullivan West cavalry.
Byrd returned to action as the Westies inbounded to start the third quarter. Henry gave Liberty its largest lead of the night at 28-9 with the period’s first bucket. At that moment it seemed inconceivable that Sullivan West would proceed to outscore Liberty 16-4 for the remainder of the quarter.
Here’s how that unfolded:
With about five minutes remaining Byrd went up for a shot that was blocked by Franskevicz and Cardona. Contact was clearly made but no foul was whistled.
A frustrated Byrd claimed he was hacked and said something that resulted in his second technical and ejection. The Dawg Pound erupted with a hoot and a holler.
While Liberty had effectively replaced Byrd’s absence in the second quarter, they seemed taken aback by this occurrence. For their part, Sullivan West took this as a green light to really play their “A” game and to take the momentum back.
A trio of three-pointers by Franskevicz would lead the way, along with one from Pierce which provided ammunition for the counterstrike. A bucket off a steal by Masten and two free throws from Cardona stoked the cannon as well.
Lone buckets from Franke, Williams and Henry were all the Indians could muster against the swirling Western cavalry.
When the smoke cleared at the end of the quarter, Liberty was clinging to a much-diminished 32-25 lead with all of the momentum clearly in Sullivan West’s favor as Franskevicz’s third trey provided the quarter’s final barrage.
With revitalized energy Pierce and Cardona authored a pair of blocked shots on Liberty’s first two trips up the floor. The noise was deafening. Henry hit a big three to try and stanch the bleeding. Believe me, that shot was huge to make it 38-29 with just less than five minutes to go.
Both teams were blanking on much-needed shots. Pierce lost it out of bounds on the dribble but moments later Cardona hit a jumper along the baseline to reduce it to a seven point spread again. “Let’s get a little bit rowdy. R-O-W-D-Y, chanted the Liberty throng.” It couldn’t’ get much rowdier.
Liberty was trying to milk the clock and show patience. It paid off as Beaupierre drove the baseline and scored to make it 40-31 with 2:26 remaining. With 1:48 to go Pierce drained a three to make it 40-34 amidst an atmosphere that was approximating March Madness caliber.
Liberty looked like it might need some Divine Help.
Leading the wave: Dawg Pound General Charlie Ciccione leads his rabid revelers in the wave. We haven't seen the last of this to be sure.
Enter Moses replete with flowing white mane and rod in hand to run up the stairs and part the Red Sea.
It was just another iconic moment as the costumed crowd pleaser hoped his timely appearance would deliver his besieged people out of the desert and into the Promised Land.
Henry’s pass was picked off by Erlwein and then Franskevicz’s pass was picked off in traffic. Henry was fouled from behind. Masten fouled Wiliams who missed the front end of a one-and-one.
In an epic moment Pierce came down with the rebound but Beaupierre snatched the ball right out of the sophomore’s hands.
Williams was fouled but missed another front ender of a one-and-one . The Westies trailed by six at 56.6 seconds but Cardona missed a pair of crucial free throws. Beaupierre was fouled as the Westies needed to stop the clock and get the ball back. With 54.4 to go he missed and Pierce got the rebound now with 46.6 to go.
Erlwein hit a wide open three to make it 42-40 with 17.5 seconds remaining. Williams was fouled. He missed but Beaupierre pulled down a crucial board. Liberty looked to inbound with its season on the line with 14.2 seconds to go.
Sullivan West fouled Vankeuren with 12.8. He hit the first one and the Dawgs called a time out to ice him with 12.8 to go. They hoped to get the rebound to set up a game-tying strike and send this into OT.
See no evil or no news is good news, take your pick. Liberty fans eschew watching Sullivan West players being introduced. Later as the Bulldogs roared back a couple of these newspapers resurfaced as dreading Liberty fans tried not to watch the unfolding of a dreadful headline upset.
But Vankeuren delivered on the second free throw for the 44-40 lead. Cardona fired up a trey that rimmed out. With 2.2 seconds remaining Vankeuren iced his final two free throws.
The Westies didn’t attempt to do anything with the two seconds remaining as Liberty players rushed to embrace each other in a moment they won’t soon forget.
Games invariably have their heroes and by his cool free throw shooting, Vankeuren deserved that status as he had helped to preserve Liberty’s hopes and dreams.
With great humility, he quickly deferred the glory to his teammates. “We shoot a lot of free throws in practice but it wasn’t just me. It was a total team effort. I didn’t do half of what my other teammates did tonight,” he said.
Pierce led Sullivan West 11-5 (2-2 OCIAA) with ten points. Franskevicz had nine and Erlwein had seven. The Dawgs were a dismal four-for-11 from the stripe and that 36 percent cost them the game. The Dawgs netted six treys in the game with three from Franskevicz, two from Pierce and one each from Cardona and Erlwein.
Liberty 4-10 (1-3 OCIAA) was paced by Henry who scored 13 that included that fourth quarter trey. Williams had eight and Vankeuren had seven which included five of seven from the stripe. Liberty was eight-for-17 from the line (47%).
Seeing Red..The sight denotes Tribal Pride on the one side of the gym and hostile fury on the other.
Salvia said “In the second quarter a lot of kids stepped up including Ryan Henry, Marshon Williams and Travis Beaupierre just to name a couple.
When the third quarter came around and Eddie picked up his second technical, I think their crowd got into it and that fired their team up.
We gave them some open looks with mistakes on defense. We overplayed a couple of players and that’s not how we really want to play them.
A couple of their kids stepped up and hit some big shots for them. They hit four threes in the third quarter and they got hot. We saw them do the same thing against Monticello. One of our goals coming out in this game was to control the boards, take care of the basketball and control the tempo of the game,” he noted. Clearly Liberty had the best of play on the offensive and defensive glass.
“We rebounded as a team today. Even when we didn’t get the first rebound, when the ball was tipped around we made sure to get the second one. Our kids know very well what’s at stake. We talk about it every game at practice. We’ve just got to win a couple of games here and put a good résumé together.
We’ve got a quick turnaround to play Monticello tomorrow afternoon (The Fourth Annual Coaches Versus Cancer Classic) and Eddie can’t play because of the ejection. That was a brain freeze on his part but we’ll get past it and we’ll be okay tomorrow. We’ll play some defense. Every game matters. The more wins we can put together the better our case for an appeal for a sectional berth will be,” he noted.
“Every game from here on out is a playoff game for us.” Liberty will host O’Neil on February 15 for its senior night.
Franke didn’t feel like he was demoralized by Byrd’s ejection. “I think it was more about them. E.J. was killing it tonight,” he noted. By comparison Williams acknowledged the impact. “Eddie does score a lot of points for us and a lot of people on the team aren’t used to that pressure. Some of us are fine with it but it’s harder to get good looks because he’s a better ball handler. I know if we run the plays and we know what we’re capable of when we stay within what we can do,” he concluded.
Nober didn’t mask his response to the outcome. “It’s a huge disappointment. It’s a league game on our floor. We dug ourselves a big hole. I give them credit they played good defense and they outrebounded us significantly in the first half and then when it mattered at the end. We couldn’t get anything going offensively. We had a few decent looks but we weren’t working our offense very well,” he added.
Clearly the barrage of threes got the Dawgs back in it. “We battled back and got a momentum swing in there when Byrd got his second technical. We climbed right back in it,” he added but it was clear that the Bulldogs had to expend a lot of energy to put themselves back in contention.
“We didn’t close the deal and we made a couple of key mistakes including not having our fourth guy in on that last rebound. We didn’t box out. We’re still somewhat of a young team and we’re not used to being in these kinds of adverse situations,” he added.
Asked if he felt the loss would impact his team’s seedings, Nober was quick to reply, “this was a big game for seeding. That makes the next two against Burke (senior night) and at O’Neill that much more crucial.
Nober believes that Liberty should make a case for inclusion in the sectional array. “It’s unfortunate for the whole team what happened. I hope the committee listens to them. It’s unfortunate to penalize the whole team,” he averred.
We played better during that comeback. We created some turnovers and that was fueling our transition which is always easier than trying to set up in the half court. We hit some key shots. At the end of the day you’ve got to put the ball in the basket. E.J. stepped up and hit three threes there in the third. Patrick and Sawyer did so too. They didn’t quit and I’m proud of them,” he concluded.
Revelry and rivalry are far from over when it comes to these teams and the schools they represent . I live for the next installment.
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