Boys Basketball: Fox Lane gets hot, pulls away for win

Arthur Shevick drives and scores on his way to a game-high 31 points. C.J. Killian leads fast break for the Foxes against Washingtonville. Joe Cerone grabs a rebound for the Foxes. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

By JIM MACLEAN 

Another challenge against another good team they had never seen before, and that has been the philosophy for Fox Lane boys basketball coach Mike Tomassi as he hopes to prepare the Foxes for a strong finish against Section 1 teams during the playoffs.

Fox Lane had suffered a pair of tough losses against teams from upstate near Albany, and now the Foxes would take on Washingtonville from across the river in Orange County. Fox Lane hosted the Wizards on Dec. 30, and this time it would be a happy ending as the Foxes got hot shooting from outside and pulled away for a 60-47 victory.

“I just like playing the best of the best, we don’t shy away from playing big games,” Tomassi said of the match up against Washingtonville. “They came in at 4-1 and they were really good last year and went to the Section 9 finals. The coach reached out and wanted to play, so we played them. We had off last week and we’re in the Slam Dunk Tournament on Saturday, so we thought today would be nice to have a game and keep us going without too long of a gap between games.”

It was a slow start as both teams figured each other out in the first quarter and the Foxes held a slim one-point lead at 14-13, but then the Foxes got hot in the second quarter. Especially Arthur Shevick as he connected on four 3-pointers and the Foxes hit six threes in the quarter to open up a 36-23 lead at half time.

Shevick ended up hitting eight three’s overall and finished with a game-high 31 points to lead Fox Lane to the victory.

“A long break and we needed that game,” Shevick admitted after the win. “Definitely a slow start, missing shots early and I was lacking on defense, but second half we hit more shots and came together as a team to pull it out. It makes us better to play good teams that we don’t really know much about, and we just go in and try our best. It helps us get ready for Saturday at the County Center against Byram Hills, a really good program, amazing opponent, and we need to play a lot better, rebounding and on defense, for us to have a chance to win that game.”

Before the Foxes could think about the County Center against the Bobcats, they had to get past the Wizards, and it certainly helped that the shots started to fall despite the long holiday break. Five different Foxes hit from behind the arc as Fox lane had 13 3-pointers overall. In addition to Shevick, C.J. Killian had a big game with 9 points, including one 3-pointer. Will Broghammer hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 6 points, and Ethan Mayers also had 6 points for the Foxes.

Fox Lane was missing a couple of players out with injuries, including starting forward Janak bain. Tomassi admits he was happy to get the win, but he knows the Foxes will have to play better overall on Saturday as they get ready for the second half of the season and the playoffs ahead.

“Never apologize for a win and the guys stepped up and made good things happen, but I think we can do a lot better,” Tomassi said. “C.J. Killian was awesome today, he works hard and stepped in and did some nice things on both ends. Arthur got hot and we made shots and played good offense, but we have to be tougher on defense. We needed a win and now we have to get guys back healthy and get to full strength. We’ll keep practicing hard and good things will happen. It’s a grind, a long season, and hopefully we’ll be the best team we can be in February.”

With the win, Fox Lane improved to 3-2 overall on the season. The Foxes will take on Byram Hills in the Slam Dunk challenge Saturday, Jan. 3, at the Westchester County Center.