South Kortright advances to regional final with thrilling OT win

Mar. 5—The South Kortright boys outlasted Greenburgh-North Castle 75-70 in overtime in a tight, physical Class D Sub-Regional matchup at Oneonta High School Tuesday.

Connor Quarino once again led the Rams, this time finishing with 39 points, six rebounds, four steals and four assists.

Darren Dengler added a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds while Jack Byrne added 11 points and four assists while Boston Quarino was close behind with 10 points and four assists in the win.

Chris Popotte tallied 39 points, 20 rebounds, six blocks and five steals for G-NC while Tayvaughn Saylor added 20 points and nine rebounds in the loss.

This was the third straight meeting in regionals between these teams and the Rams knew they were in for a battle.

"That's what we've prepared for," SK coach Aaron Kaufman said of the back-and-forth win. "We knew [Popotte] was going to be a handful. Our plan was to double him as much as we could. We knew [Saylor] was a shooter outside, we tried to guard him.

"If you think about it, our last three games have been the same way," he added. "Morris is the same way, they had a shooter and a driver, these kids have a shooter and a driver, Edmeston had a shooter and a driver, so it's kind of helped us the last three games, the same type of defensive mentality."

Connor Quarino was rolling right out of the gate, opening game with a layup and would go on to score the first six points of the game to give SK an early lead.

Boston Quarino made a three to extend the lead to 9-0 four minutes in.

G-NC responded as they immediately stormed back with an 11-0 run to take an 11-9 lead six minutes in, capped by a pair of threes from Saylor.

Byrne answered with a three of his own to give the Rams an 12-11 lead before Saylor scored on a transition layup to put G-NC up 13-12 as lead changes quickly became a theme of the game.

Popotte scored with 30 seconds left and the Knights ended the first quarter with a 16-12 lead. Another Popotte basket extended it to 18-12 before SK would respond with another run.

["Popotte] is a heck of a ball player, he really is," Kaufman said.

Connor Quarino would eventually give the Rams the lead back with two free throws to put them up 25-24 with two minutes left in the half.

G-NC scored again on the other end but Boston Quarino made it 27-26 SK with a steal and score play. Baskets from Connor Quarino and Dengler sent the Rams into the break with a 32-28 lead.

Boston and Connor Quarino each nailed threes to open the third quarter to push it to 38-30.

An eventual Connor Quarino steal and layup extended the lead to 48-40 with a minute and a half left in the third before G-NC once again responded with a Popotte layup and an off-balance three from Dajuane Owens to beat the buzzer and cut the lead to 48-46 heading into the fourth.

Byrne extended the lead to 54-48 with a coast-to-coast layup before another pair of threes from Saylor and a basket from Popotte gave G-NC its first lead of the second half at 57-56 with about three minutes to go.

Things got especially chippy in the final minute when Connor Quarino was fouled hard on a layup attempt, earning G-NC a technical foul.

A Boston Quarino steal with 42 seconds left led to a free throw from Connor Quarino to tie things at 61. Neither team was able to cash in on opportunities to take the lead in the final seconds, sending the game to overtime.

Dengler converted a three-point opportunity to give the Rams a 66-64 lead and he drew a foul on the other end, leading to a basket from Byrne to extend the lead to 68-64.

Another steal and score from Connor Quarino opened up a 70-64 lead with 1:26 remaining and the Rams had gained all the momentum.

G-NC would inch closer but two huge free throws from Byrne made it 73-70 SK with 16 seconds left.

Fittingly, Connor Quarino iced the game with a transition layup with five seconds left and sent the Rams to the Regional round, where they will meet Smithtown Christian at SUNY Farmingdale Saturday at 10 a.m.

Each player on the floor for SK made a positive contribution in overtime, which was something that Kaufman agreed with emphatically.

"One hundred percent", he said. "The bench came up big today; we got to do some defensive and offensive substitutions which helped us."

"I think our team is tough," he added. "I think they're mentally prepared for this. I think a lot of it has to do with the season that we tried to play earlier. We played a lot of bigger schools, we played a minimum amount of D schools that we can, try to get ready for the games like this and the games that are ahead of us."

South Kortright 75, Greenburgh-North Castle 70, OT

SK ... 12 20 16 13 14 — 75

G-NC ... 16 12 18 15 9 — 70

SK: Boston Quarino 2 4-4 10, Jack Byrne 4 2-4 11, Darren Dengler 6 3-5 15, Shane Edwards 0 0-0 0, Connor Quarino 12 13-18 39, Logan Reinshagen 0 0-2 0, JB Trimbell 0 0-2 0, Lance McClure 0 0-0 0, Parker Popp 0 0-0 0, Skylar McIntryre 0 0-0 0, Jacob Staroba 0 0-0 0, Jackson Hudson 0 0-0 0, Brayden Sparkes 0 0-0 0, Jesse Hungerford 0 0-0 0, Jaiden Regazzi 0 0-0 0, Jeff Palmatier 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 22-35 75

G-NC: Stephanie Almonte 0 0-0 0, Dajuane Owens 2 0-0 5, Roland Nkansah 2 1-1 6, Tayvaughn Saylor 8 0-0 20, Nathaniel Franqui 0 0-0 0, Jair Rizo 0 0-0 0, Daniel Garcia 0 0-0 0, Jaiden Watkis 0 0-0 0, Alejandro Padilla 0 0-0 0, Chris Popotte 14 11-23 39, Armani Dudley 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 12-24 70

Three-point baskets: SK 5 (B. Quarino 2, C. Quarino 2, Byrne); G-NC 6 (Saylor 4, Owens, Nkansah)