Left to right, Colin Bishop scores inside for two of his game-high 21 points. Ryan Valdes drives baseline for the Wolves. Brendan Corelli pulls up for a jumper in the lane. Jim MacLean Photos
By JIM MACLEAN
Trailing by six points in the fourth quarter, John Jay rallied back and took a 38-35 lead, but the Wolves couldn’t find the basket again as Brewster scored the last five points of the game to secure a 40-38 victory in the season opener for both teams.
John Jay struggled to find the basket all game long as the Wolves kept battling from behind and had the home crowd fired up when Colin Bishop scored and sank the free throw to complete a three-point play and give them the lead in the final minutes, but that was the last basket for the Wolves.
“We played tough defense and held them to 40 and you should be able to win doing that, we just couldn’t get the ball in the basket,” admitted John Jay coach Tyler Sayre. “We didn’t shoot well, missed layups and missed opportunities. I was happy with our defense, the energy was good, just offensively we have a lot to work on and we need to do a lot better.”
John Jay held a 7-6 lead as both teams struggled to score in the first quarter. Bishop scored all seven of the Wolves’ points in the first quarter as the sophomore provided the offensive highlights all game and finished with a game-high 21 points.
However, Brewster heated up in the second quarter and led 18-14 at halftime. The Bears extended the lead to 10 points early in the third quarter, but the Wolves went on a seven-point run with Bishop scoring five points to close out the quarter trailing by three at 26-23.
That set the stage for a wild fourth quarter. Will Dignan sank a three for the Bears to up the lead to 29-23, but then Ryan Valdes got hot for John Jay and sank a pair of three pointers to cut the lead down to 31-29. Bishop scored four points and Marc Fein scored two to tie it up at 35-35. Bishop then converted the three-point play to give the Wolves the lead, but the rest of the game belonged to Brewster as John Jay was unable to score again.
Bishop had a big second half scoring 14 points and leading all scorers with 21 points, and Valdes scored nine points sinking three, three-pointers for the Wolves. Fein scored four points, and Brendan Corelli and Owen Gitelson each scored two for the Wolves. Dignan led Brewster as he scored 18 points and sank four three-pointers. Billy Pappas and Drue Joell each scored 10 points for the Bears.
“Colin was great, they played a lot of zone and he had to attack some space and finished around the rim; he’s stepping into his own and hopefully can have a good year for us,” Sayre said of Bishop. “Ryan (Valdes) put in a lot of work and I was happy to see him make some shots. It’s hard, Will Rickel is injured working his way back, and we just couldn’t make shots and that’s what it comes down to.”
Despite the loss, Sayre is optimistic that the Wolves can move forward and put it together for a winning season with eight seniors on the roster to lead the way.
“Game one, we get 20, so we’ll keep working hard and get better,” added Sayre. “I’m optimistic. I think we’re going to be a good defensive team and the goal is to score. I think if we can get up into the 50s most games we’ll be in it because defensively we’re strong, we just have to get more guys to score.”
John Jay was set to play in the Briarcliff Tournament this weekend, Dec. 6-7, and the Wolves then travel to Edgemont Tuesday, Dec. 10.