In the most exciting game since Harvey’s last second upset victory at South Kent last year, the Cavaliers took the defending HVAL League Champs Chase Collegiate into overtime Wednesday and pulled off another upset, winning 61-57 at home. Chase had defeated Harvey three times last year, each by at least 25 points including the HVAL semifinal game that sent Harvey home for the winter.
After suffering two tough back-to-back losses to NYMA and Storm King, dropping Harvey’s season record to 2-3, the Cavaliers responded with an excellent all-around team effort. Junior guard Ricky Hicks led Harvey on the attack and was the leader and court general on the floor.
“Hicks did a great job spreading the ball around and being vocal on both sides of the ball,” said his coach Dom Narcisco.
Harvey took a seven point lead into halftime. The defending HVAL champs would not go down quietly and made a strong run in the second half. Chase had a three point lead with two and a half minutes left in the game. Hicks tied the game on a long three-pointer. Harvey took a two- point lead with under a minute remaining on a basket from junior Eamon Murphy of Chappaqua. Senior A.J. Vasquez of Chase scored with five seconds left on the clock to tie the game. A desperation half-court shot from Hicks nearly went in, sending the game went into overtime.
In overtime, Harvey shared the ball and got two quick points from Hicks. The Cavaliers maintained the lead with four points each from Murphy, senior Deshawn Hilliard and freshman Evan Roteman of Chappaqua. A key free throw from senior Christian Artuso of Pleasantville gave Harvey the four point cushion it needed to seal the game.
Coach Narcisco said, “The team did the little things right. We boxed out. We took charges, and communicated. The team morale was through the roof.”
Eight Harvey players got into the scoring book. Hicks finished with a game high of 18 points. Murphy reached double digits with 10 points while Jake Cohn of Pound Ridge grabbed a team high 10 rebounds. Blake Hardy’s 13 points led Chase’s offense.
Harvey, now 3-3 on the year and 2-0 in the league, takes on King School Friday at home.
