SPARTANS ROLL OVER WARRIORS-76-34-PUNCH TICKET TO SECTIONAL SEMIS
New Hartford’s Tom Clifford (21) rejects Whitesboro’s Joel Jakubowicz (1) late in the game.
Jeff Pexton-MHTS/PGI Photo
Click here for instant replay!
New Hartford hit on all cylinders in tonight’s Section III, Class “A” boy’s quarterfinal basketball game against Whitesboro and head coach John Randall’s Spartans came away with a convincing 76-34 win over arch rival Whitesboro.
The win, New Hartford’s 16th of the season, as opposed to just three losses, means that the fourth seeded Spartans have a space reserved in the Class “A” semi-final this coming Sunday against number one seeded Carthage at Onondaga County Community College. Carthage (19-1) was a 69-54 winner over eighth seeded Oneida this evening.
New Hartford High School’s gym was packed to rafters this evening, despite the slippery weather outside and the droves of folks away for the mid-winter vacation break.
Whitesboro matched New Hartford stride for stride, in the opening minutes of the tonight’s contest.
Spartans junior forward Mark Chanatry (33) goes up for two of his 15 points as Whitesboro’s Vin Cotrupe defends.
In fact, Vin Cotrupe’s put back with 4:10 remaining in the opening quarter gave the fifth seeded Warriors a 13-8 lead, momentarily quieting the huge “Spartan Nation” contingent.
A 9-2 run over the next four minutes, capped by a text-book back door cut by Tom Clifford, sent New Hartford into the second quarter with a 17-15 lead over the Warriors, who seemingly couldn’t get a ball to fall in the final few minutes of the opening period.
Mark Chanatry led all scorers with seven points in the first eight minutes and the big fella also hauled down five key defensive boards in the same time frame to pace the Spartans.
The second quarter was all Spartans, as the home team won the battle for virtually every defensive rebound, resulting in rapid outlet passes to speedy guards, Joey Donovan, Jordan Henderson and Clifford, who combined for 16 of New Hartford’s 22 second quarter points.
Consecutive three balls from Jordan Henderson, off of Whitesboro misses at the other end, took the collective air from the lungs of a very frustrated Warriors team that just couldn’t find the basket.
The Spartans went into the intermission with a commanding 39-22 lead, which really didn’t seem to surprise Coach John Randall all that much.
“We did an excellent job rebounding in the latter part of that first half and it paid off on the offensive side for sure” Randall told My Hometown Sports – ESPN Radio 99.1FM at the intermission, adding “if we can continue that in the second half we are going to be OK tonight”.
Whitesboro head coach Steve Heitz was just as clear with his view of his team’s performance in the first half, telling My Hometown Sports – ESPN Radio that his team needed to do a much better job getting back on defense in the second half if they had any hope up making up the 17 point half time deficit.
Spartan Nation celebration!
Heitz also emphasized that the big lead at the break was partially as a result of some bad breaks on offense in the first sixteen minutes.
Things didn’t get any better for the Warriors in the third quarter as Jordan Henderson and Mark Chanatry got a little inside-outside rhythm going, combining for 11 of New Hartford’s 13 points, against just 4 total points from Whitesboro in the third quarter.
New Hartford built a 52-26 lead after three periods. Chanatry had another big quarter on the glass, taking down a total of 4 boards in the next to last period.
New Hartford blew this one wide open in the fourth quarter, getting points from seven different players en route to a crowd pleasing 76-34 playoff win.
Mark Chanatry finished his double – double effort with 15 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Spartans. Jordan Henderson had 13 points, while twin brother Jared Henderson poured in 12 in the Spartans win.
After the game, Monster Energy Drink Player of the Game Mark Chanatry told My Hometown Sports – ESPN Radio that he was very happy to see all of New Hartford’s seniors getting such a big win in their last game on their home floor.
Chanatry was quick to commend the play of the Spartans trio of guards who not only fed him the ball down low with proficiency all night long, but also spotted up and buried key three pointers to deflate the Warriors tonight.
New Hartford’s Jared Henderson (10) flies into traffic as Tim Borza (left) and Nick Carzo (right) hope to slow him down.
Head coach John Randall said he looks forward to the contest against number one seeded Carthage on Sunday, given that both the Spartans and the Comets like to shoot the three, but the coach added one very important factor that may just be the difference for his club, “But we’ve got Mark too,” Randall said, speaking of veteran big man Chanatry, who controlled the boards this evening and has the potential of changing any game he takes part in.
Whitesboro, which finished the season at (13-6), got 9 points from Joel Jakubowicz.
A Section III Basketball Committee meeting on Wednesday morning will determine the time of Sunday’s semi-final games.
New Hartford 76 Whitesboro 34
Box Score
1 2 3 4 Total
Whitesboro 15 7 4 8 34
New Hartford 17 22 13 24 76
MHTS Scoring Summary:
Whitesboro:
Joel Jakubowicz-9
Vinny Cotrupe-6
Collin Salisbury-5
Tom Sblendorio-5
Luke Moore-5
Nick Carzo-2
Bohdi Forbes 2
New Hartford:
Mark Chanatry-15
Jordan Henderson-13
Jared Henderson-12
Tom Clifford-6
Nate Donaldson-6
James Franco-6
Vinny Maugeri-6
Matt Desens-5
Joey Donovan-5
Cooper Deck-2
