John Jay Ends Holiday Season with 60-50 Win Over Yonkers

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On Friday January 3, John Jay welcomed Yonkers to the high school and jumped out to a 10-2 lead. But the Bulldogs didn’t stop barking, and a 38-32 third period score had the visitors hanging tight. That is until John Jay’s center made like a guard.

Colin Bishop grabbed the rebound, dribbled forward and went behind his back to reach the front court. “He can handle the ball,” said Coach Tyler Sayre, and after the offense set up, the center got the ball back inside for a conventional three point. From there, the Wolves opened a 16 point lead and went onto a 60-50 victory.

Actual guards started the Wolves, though. Ryan Valdes drove through the paint for two and dropped a triple to give John Jay a 5-2 lead. Hoping for two more, his miss left Bishop to clean up underneath for a five point lead, but more little guys were next. Will Civetta drove baseline for another deuce, and Sam Rickel made one from the line after getting fouled on a put back attempt.

Of course, Yonkers brought a few guards too, and they responded. Justin Assing hit a pull up, Shael Lopez made a running layup, and Vincent Cruz’s penetration freed Jacob Calabro up for a layup.

11-8, Sam Rickel put a stop to the mini run. The sharp shooter got the ball back from Brendan Corelli, and he buried the undefended three.

The quarter closed, Yonkers remained warm. Twice Justin Rosado drove left for layups, and Yonkers trailed 14-12.

30 seconds in and after the teams traded the next two baskets, John Jay got some separation. Valdes and Mathias Baez both went 50 percent from the line, and then made up for their misses on the next sequence. Baez grabbed Bishop’s block, fed to a streaking Valdes, and he scored the conventional three point play on the break.

Timeout for Yonkers didn’t quite have the desired effect, and back the other way, Bishop continued to demonstrate his multi talent. Above the arc, the big man spotted Civetta turning the backdoor, and the layup scored didn’t surprise the passer’s coach. “He keeps developing because he works hard,” said Sayre.

23-14 now, the Bulldogs didn’t let the Wolves get away. Rosado drove through traffic again, and Ameer Disla made a reverse layup, which had Sayre praising the Yonkers backcourt. “They have some good guards and made some tough shots,” said the coach.

The lead shrunk to five, Sam Rickel had the answer again. Left alone in the corner, he ignored the oncoming cover and put John Jay up 26-18.

Rosado did answer with a pull up, so the Wolves went around the horn. Baez alone in the corner this time, he drove baseline instead, kicked to Corelli and Rickel was on rewind as the lonely boy. The three went down and his brother Will tipped his hat. “Sam had a huge game today with four threes,” said the twin.

A little quiet himself, the double take causes problems no matter which brother has the upper hand. “When we come subbing in and out, they don’t know who’s coming,” Will joked.

Nine points to make up, Yonkers ended the half by turning it to a quick six. Cruz got to the line for one, and Lopez made a mini hook on the baseline to close the half at 29-23.

Unfortunately, the mini momentum shift was negated by a technical foul, and Valdes hit both foul shots to start the third.

Still, Lopez hit a three to contain matters, but Valdes and Collins were just too big. First, the guard answered right back from downtown, and next, Collins played big underneath. His boxout led to an out of bounds to John Jay, and on the inbound, Yonkers didn't guard Civetta. He made the wide open layup, and the Wolves went up 36-26.

5:50 left in the third, Yonkers refused to wilt. Twice Rosado met the interior defense, and both times made midair adjustments for layups. Then on a missed jumper, Disla snuck inside between the giants, and his layup got Yonkers as close as they would get.

38-32, Collins did his thing on the dribble, and in sync, Dylan Cooper made it hurt three times as bad. In for a triple, Collins really inflicted pain at the buzzer. He first kept the ball alive with 3.6 seconds remaining, and after the deflection went Sam Rickel’s way, the center stayed in the air for the putback on his teammate’s miss.

Onto the fourth, Rickel went to work by himself and did so by closing in. He drove across the paint, took the bump and flipped in the basket while falling to the floor.

A 14 point lead, the lead grew to 16 on more contact. Two drives for Civetta turned into four points from the line, and with only six minutes to go, John Jay had enough wiggle room to acknowledge the improvement to 3-5. “They team is looking good,” concluded Will Rickel.