Santore Brings the Rain in 65-45 Win Over Panas

Please see tip, pledge or subscribe buttons or my venmo is : @Rich-Monetti

Slideshow vs John Jay at Somers

Slideshow at John Jay

On Friday January 24, Somers had a pretty tough go against John Jay. Falling behind 15-0, said Coach James Loughran, “We got punched in the face and couldn’t recover.” So a reset was needed and practice began the conversations.

The team resolved to put the game behind them and has made good. The boys played a very competitive game against Arlington on Tuesday, and by the time Panas left on Thursday night, the Tuskers were the ones unclenching their fists in a 65-45 blowout.

The game started out pretty even handed, though. After Lucas Delima led Mike Salaberrios with a perfect bounce pass in the paint for a conventional three point play and Walli Wallace sank one from the line, Chris Spano got a little help from his friends. Leo Keimig and Phil Santore fed their center for layups, and Somers took a 4-3 lead.

Three minutes gone by, teams stayed on script. Wallace got to the line again, and the Somers backcourt continued to do their thing. Keimig’s curl around Spano’s pick made for a nifty one handed pass to Ben O’Brien for the layup, and after Spano pulled a defensive rebound, Santore drove the baseline for three points.

Even so, Panas wasn’t letting Somers get away just yet. Delima answered from downtown, and Wallace turned a half court steal in a 10-9 lead for the Panthers.

The last one it turned out, and Santore began the honors. He made two free throws after being fouled above the arc and then entered the passing lanes. He hit Chris Decker alone on the baseline, and the forward’s drive netted two more foul shots.

Still, Panas maintained to close the quarter. Salaberrios came around a pick and made an underhand layup in traffic to end the period.

13-12, the real circus was on the way, and Santore did the taming. First he put a little fake above the arc to slice the interior defense for two, and after Decker drove for two more, the guard juked himself into an open three at 3:57.

In for a 21-15 lead, the rain was just starting to fall. After Sean Cone drove baseline for two, Santore made sure the Panthers didn’t get any funny ideas. The senior took a long cross court pass from Kareef Martin and buried another three.

The crowd up and roaring, Santore turned and acknowledged. But his appreciation wasn’t just in the moment. Always sitting front and center in the student section for football games, Santore appreciated the noise from the state champs. “It’s great when they come and support me,” said the self-described 12th man for Somers football.

The guard didn’t give his boys a chance to sit down either, and Panas inexplicably obliged. Dropping off him to double team O’Brien in the corner, the forward passed back, and Santore made the Panthers pay.

Of course, Somers is not a one man team, and O’Brien proved it by making like a guard. He swung around the arc and was fouled driving through the morass.

Two free throws opened a 30-20 lead to close the half, and Panas had to be hoping the intermission would cool off Santore. No such luck, Santore quickly relit the match.

He drove baseline for a deuce, and in then hitting a pair of threes, Santore knew exactly what zip code he was in. “It feels good when you’re in the zone,” he assured.

A 38-22 game now, more Tuskers got into the act. In the paint, Spano spotted Nico Quinones for a corner three and next played pick and roll with Santore.

Not just a matter of good passing, the play ties back to Santore’s air show, according to Spano. “It makes my job a lot easier because it opens things up,” he clarified.

The lead would eventually grow to 28 points and all doubts were removed, but the onslaught did allow Martin to show off his game. With a series of highlight reel drives, the sophomore scored ten points in the fourth and the creativity didn’t go unnoticed by Coach Loughran. “When we take sophomores on varsity, our pride and joy is to see them grow,” he boasted.

A definite spurt, Martin isn’t the only one not to be underestimated. Acknowledging the 3-12 record, Loughran still cautioned Section One as the post season creeps up. “We’re in every game. So I have a lot of hope for this group, and we would be a tough first round matchup for sure,” he concluded.