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Unbeaten Tuckahoe coasts by Blind Brook
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NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – After Tuckahoe’s 55-26 win over Blind Brook in the first game of the “Hoops for a Cure” tripleheader at the Monroe Athletic Complex, Tuckahoe coach Al Visconti took a second to reflect on the opening half of the season.
Tuckahoe had just won its’ eighth game to remain undefeated, knocking off one of the other three remaining undefeated teams in the section in the process, and had remained perfect while playing a tough non-league schedule.
The defending Class C champions had played multiple larger-class schools, ranging from AA to B, and still didn’t have one blemish on their record.
Needless to say, Visconti was pleased.
“I said to people before the season, ‘We can’t do anything about the league schedule they gave us, but we are going to go out and play the better teams’,” Visconti said. “Anybody who was good and wanted to play us, we booked them. I’ve got some competitive guys and they thirst for that competitive challenge, so it’s great to see them step up so far.”
Sky Williams led the way for Tuckahoe against Blind Brook, taking home the game’s MVP. The 6-foot-1 senior scored 15 points and grabbed four rebounds in 21 minutes of play.
“It just shows the strength of our team; the chemistry,” Williams said. “I’m not surprised (we won). Not to sound cocky but I think we can beat every team in front of us. I think we can be undefeated heading into states.”
The Tigers defense was very impressive, holding Blind Brook to 7-for-59 (12%) shooting from the floor. Guard Shyhiem Nixon and forward Justin Nolan’s pressure defense gave the Trojans trouble throughout the game.
“We really wanted to pressure the ball,” said Nolan, who scored 14 points and had five rebounds. “We knew that we had to show great help defense and fight through screens if we wanted to keep them out of their flow. I think we did a good job with that.”
Blind Brook’s Sam Adler had 13 points and added six rebounds and three steals in the loss.
“I gotta give (Blind Brook) a lot of credit,” Visconti said. “It was a game of styles and (Blind Brook) coach (Mike) Welsh does a great job of making you play their game. We missed a lot of shots and we didn’t do what we wanted to do; even though we got the win, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Tuckahoe has now played through the tougher part of their schedule and will play the majority of their league games in the second half of the season. However, the Tigers know that they cannot look ahead if they want to achieve their ultimate goal.
“People doubt us because of the size of our school,” Nixon said. “We think we can play with anyone but we know that it all means nothing if we don’t achieve our main goal. We have to take it one game at a time and hopefully we can come out again in sectionals and go for a state championship.”
Email Jordan Griffith at: jgriffit@cablevision.com
Follow him on Twitter: @MSGV_JGriffith
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