Four Quarters Not Enough For Rams And Huskies

Friday night lights is a term usually reserved for high school football in the south, but on Friday night the stars were shinning at the Harrison High School gymnasium in front of a capacity crowd and television cameras.

The game started out with Dennis Rinaldi hitting a three pointer. However, the first half belonged to Harrison Husky senior sharpshooter Jared Hodes. Hodes has an unlimited range and couldn't miss a shot early in the game. He nailed five baskets, three of which were from beyond the arch, giving him a total of 14 points in the first half.

The Rams had a well balanced scoring attack throughout the first two quarters. Anthony "Scooby"  Ordonez and Laron Norman picked up 8 points each and Laronte Norman added 7.

Propelled by Hodes, the Huskies took a narrow lead at half time 32-27.

After some half time adjustments by Port Chester, Jared Hodes was held without a point in the second half and the Huskies were rendered ineffective from deep.

"We had to mix it up with the zone," Port Chester Head coach Craig Holcomb stated, "Rinaldi and Hodes score better against man, so we kept changing our defenses."

"I had some decent looks in the second half," Hodes said, "But I really didn't get the ball enough to be effective."

The game went back and forth to a virtual tie up until the final minute of the game where the score was tied at 51. Harrison took the ball up and hoped to end the game the same way it started, with a Dennis Rinaldi three pointer. Rinaldi was left open in the corner and nailed the shot with just over twenty seconds left.

"Dennis has worked on his offensive game tremendously. He has carte blanche to do whatever he wants on offense," Coach Chiarella said of his big man, "He has made shots like that for us in the past and he did it again for us today."

Harrison inexcusably elected not to foul with a three point lead and little time left, hoping that the man defense would be enough to stop the Rams one more time.

Ordonez took the in bounds pass and was heavily contested by Harrison's Matt Pipitone as he crossed half court. Pipitone played fantastic defense against the guard but Ordonez was able to nail a deep three to tie the score and send the game into overtime.

"It was like an NBA three, it was big," Coach Chiarella said of the last play in regulation, "Maybe we should have fouled and made him earn it at the line but it's a coach's philosophy, we didn't tonight, and we got burned."

"We didn't call a time out at the end there because Scooby and both Normans could hit a three." Coach Holcomb stated, "I didn't want to let Harrison set up a defense and Scooby came down and just made a terrific shot."

"I wanted the ball, I told the coach I really wanted the ball," Ordonez said of his shot, "I felt good about it, and I was able to get a good release on it and the ball went in."

In overtime, each team took a while to get started. In the end, the Huskies only made good on one field goal, a Brendan O'Shea bank three point shot, while the Rams made their open shots and hit their free throws to finish out the game and win 61-60.

Harrison's Rinaldi ended the game with 18 points and 8 rebounds, where Pipitone dished out 8 assists.

Port Chester was without one of their leading scorers David Rones but with big efforts such as Ordonez's 23 points and Laron Norman's 17, the Rams were able to survive without Rones.

This marks the forth consecutive loss for the Huskies, who will look to end the regular season with a win Tuesday night at home against Byram Hills.