John Jay Can't Keep Pace with Peekskill

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After Peekskill arrived at the high school and scored the first 11 points on Wednesday, January 8, the home team called for time to regroup, and responded. A fast break layup and pair of threes by Colin Bishop made for a manageable 15-8 score. But the mini burst turned out to be a blip.

Peekskill closed the quarter with an 11 point lead, expanded to 18 at the half and won an easy 66-40 victory.

It didn’t take long for the Wolves to see what they were up against either. Mostly at the mercy of Jaden Chavis, the Wolves had nothing to gain when the big man stayed away. He hit two threes and a jumper to score eight of the first 11.

He did it down low too, and Bishop was the first to get that brunt. Chavis received a long pass and the devil had his due over his counterpart

Skying high, Chavis did lose the subsequent closeout to Bishop and so did DJ Paul on the next possession. So the home crowd going up with the falling treys, Tyrone Searight didn’t resort to a timeout.

Good call, Chavis made his coach look good. He drove through Brendan Corelli and Sam Rickel for two, and after hanging back on Ryan Valdes’ miss, the outlet pass turned into two more.

19-8, Valdes won the next round. He dribbled in between his legs to draw out his defender and with some open space, the guard hit Will Rickel for an easy layup.

A miss following for Peekskill, Valdes kept on point. The senior drove into the zone defense and dropped a perfect pass into Dylan Cooper. But the layup didn’t go.

Unfortunately, there were no style points, and Peekskill’s inside game was far from forgiving. Justin Headley grabbed the offensive rebound and put back a 21-10 lead.

Onto the second, Peekskill remained below board. First getting the defensive rebound, the Devils pulled down two more on offense before Headley went off the glass for a 13 point lead.

Not done down low, Isaiah Crawford didn’t need height to do the dirty work. As Bishop rolled to the hoop, the guard stepped in and drew a charge.

Turnovers taking over the next few possessions, Mathias Baez got John Jay as close as they would get. He made a move from the corner, cut through the zone but his layup didn’t save the day.

Another long pass reset the tone. Umaru Conteh got behind the defense and made two foul shots on the fast break.

Up 13, Peekskill kept the margin there on the acrobatics of Crawford. Starting above the arc, the guard got around a pick, and went between Bishop and Will Rickel for an underhand reverse layup.

Falling to the ground, the gasp from the bleachers was well earned, and the highlight reel continued. Conteh turned a cross court pass into a fast break dunk, and the Red Devils did not slow down. Peekskill got the steal on the John Jay baseline, Chavis took the outlet and Crawford was fouled the bounce pass at the rim.

Two free throws and the 17 point lead did at least gave the Wolves one last good look. Cooper drove baseline, fed inside to Bishop, and his miss was followed by Will Civetta.

Unfortunately, Chavis was still on alert. First scooping up a 50-50 ball inside half court, he drove all the way to the hoop and then played the long ball again. He grabbed the defensive rebound and immediately spotted Crawford on the fast break.

35-17 to close the half, any ideas of a comeback were immediately addressed by Crawford and once again, he brought down the house. With Valdes and Corelli challenging him in the paint, the Red Devil extended his reach beyond the duo, and his underhand layup was on target.

The lead would reach 26 and Chivas was the one putting his stamp. He put down a post up and found Darius Smyth for an open layup that made the rest of the way moot.