Sports

Cyclones Late Rally Falls Short; Loses to Newburgh, 71-63

Fourth quarter surge led by Spadaford and Waxon not enough against Goldbacks.

The South Side Cyclones matched Newburgh Free Academy in every facet during its game Saturday at the Third Annual Upstate/Downstate Challenge at Uniondale High School, but a barrage of third quarter three-pointers by the Goldbacks eventually downed the Cyclones, who lost 71-63.

Newburgh Free Academy, who lost in the Class AA state semifinals last year and were Class AA state champs in 2009, were one of four Westchester schools to play in the tourney that pits four Nassau County programs against four upstate teams.

"They shot the ball extremely well," coach Gerry D'Angelo said. "No. 2 (Antonio Harper) and No. 5 (Jarrod Scurlock) killed us."

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Harper buried five three-pointers in the matchup and led the Goldbacks with 22 points. For South Side, junior Ryan Spadaford led all scorers with 30 points and 12 rebounds, and senior Kevin Waxon chipped in with 19 and six boards.

South Side matched Newburgh on the glass — its Achilles heel in its matchup — pulling down 24 boards, even though the Goldbacks had a height advantage in its front court. "I think we held our own," D'Angelo said of the team's rebounding. "We did a fair job, but we didn't get enough offensive boards."

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South Side's game plan, however, changed early in the first quarter when starting point guard Darren Nickelson got hit with two quick fouls. In foul trouble early, Nickelson was forced to sit for the majority of the first half, which hurt South Side since most of its offense runs through the multi-talented scoring guard.

"It definitely changed a lot," D'Angelo said of the team's strategy after Nickelson picked up two fouls. "We're not as good, offensively or defensively without him on the floor. He's the one that knows and runs our system."

Though Nickelson was forced to sit, Waxon and Spadaford picked up the slack, pouring in 13 of the team's 20 first quarter points, leading to a 20-14 South Side advantage heading into the second quarter. The team also shot 4-5 from behind the arc in the first half. "Their games have definitely gotten better," D'Angelo said of Spadaford and Waxon. "They've been rebounding well, shooting well and steadily improving. I'm expecting big things from those two."

Newburgh roared back in the second quarter with a 14-4 run to give the Goldbacks a 28-24 lead, until South Side's Robert Picchioni drilled a three to bring the Cyclones within one. Harper then hit back to back threes to give Newburgh a 34-27 lead at the half.

In the third quarter, after a fast break layup by Spadaford brought South Side to within four three minutes into the second half, the Goldbacks surged on a 20-7 run, fostered by three South Side turnovers and four Newburgh three pointers. South Side found itself down 56-39 going into the fourth quarter.

D'Angelo said in the third quarter, his team got away from what it does best. "We didn't score for five minutes," he said. "We played too much individual basketball and not enough team ball. We usually come off screens well, but we just got away from it." 

But the Cyclones would not go down without a fight. South Side started the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run, with Spadaford dropping nine consecutive points. The Cyclones pulled to within seven at 58-51, but Newburgh responded with an 8-1 run of its own, with Harper and Scurlock knocking down contested jumpers in the lane to push its lead to 14.

Down 66-52 with under two minutes left, Waxon drilled back to back three pointers sandwiched between a three-point play from the charity stripe to pull South Side to within seven.  Scurlock then knocked down three free throws to seal the win for Newburgh, 71-63.

South Side starts its conference schedule on Friday against Bethpage at home.


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