It wasn’t easy, but Collegiate is headed back to another NYSAISAA Class B championship game.
The top-seeded Dutchmen rallied from a halftime deficit for a 54-48 win over No. 4 Riverdale at Trintiy HS in Manhattan on Friday. Connor Huff scored 20 points and pulled in 12 rebounds, Willie Gwathmey added nine points and Ryan Frankel notched eight points and six assists.
Collegiate (23-3), the four-time NYSAIS Class B and state Federation Class B defending champion, will meet No. 3 Poly Prep, a 74-63 winner over second-seeded Fieldston, in the ‘B’ final Sunday at 3 p.m. at Fieldston HS in The Bronx.
The Dutchmen trailed Riverdale (13-11) 32-28 at halftime, were behind by as many as six at one point and were even at 40 entering the fourth quarter. They led by just one until Huff sank a clutch 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to ice the win.
“It was a very interesting game,” Voelkel said. “Riverdale played a really solid game. They shot really, really well, especially compared to what I’ve seen out of them during the season. And they have a big, strong, solid team. It was a tremendous effort on our part to get the ‘W.’”
Collegiate is in the ‘B’ final for the seventh time in eight years and in Poly Prep, faces a familiar foe. The Dutchmen have won topped the Blue Devils in the final the last two years.
“We expect it to be a very tough game,” Voelkel said. “I’m very happy to be here and going to the finals again. We could easily have lost this game. We’re gonna show up and be ready to play on Sunday.”
Columbia Prep protest denied: NYSAISAA officials denied sixth-seeded Columbia Prep’s protest that the final score in its 81-80 loss to No. 3 and host Poly Prep in the Class B quarterfinals was the incorrect score. Following the first quarter, officials determined the score was incorrect, Columbia Prep coach Ryan Petit said.
Two baskets by the Lions were given to Poly Prep on the scoreboard, Petit said, and only one of them was changed. Columbia Prep submitted video and play-by-play breakdown as evidence and the referees admitted it was a mistake, but the Poly Prep scorekeeper had it 21-13 in favor of Columbia Prep instead of 21-11. The home book is the official book.
Petit said NYSAISAA referred the protest to the state Federation, but they don’t accept protests, so it was denied on those grounds.
“It’s a shame for as hard as we worked this year and as hard as my kids have worked for years now, to have it not be all about what happened on the floor,” Petit said. “The score was wrong. It wasn’t fair. I just feel for my kids. I don’t think it was right.”
CLASS C
No. 1 Rye Country Day School 73, No. 5 Lawrence Woodmere Academy 58: Matt Staubi scored 19 points and Tyler Fernandez and Darren Douglas followed with 14 apiece for Rye, which meet No. 2 Packer Collegaite in the ‘C’ championship game Sunday at 11 a.m. at Fieldston HS in The Bronx. Trent Parrish had 21 points for Lawrence Woodmere (21-4).
