Dukes overcome challenge from Wallkill

By Mike Zummo
Posted 2/14/19

It was a night when everyone contributed on both sides of the floor.Daniel Rusk carried the first half, Giovanni Tamburri gave the Marlboro boys’ basketball team the lead for good and Sam …

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Dukes overcome challenge from Wallkill

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It was a night when everyone contributed on both sides of the floor.
Daniel Rusk carried the first half, Giovanni Tamburri gave the Marlboro boys’ basketball team the lead for good and Sam Mongelli recovered a loose ball to put the finishing touches on a 66-63 win over Wallkill on Friday night.

“We always make it interesting,” said Tamburri, who finished with 12 points, all in the second half. “That’s what I was telling my teammates.”

Tamburri went on a 6-0 run in the fourth quarter, tying the game with 1:31 to go and then scored on a putback to give Marlboro the lead for good.

Mongelli then made it a two-score game with 25.4 seconds to go when he knocked down a pair of free throws.

“Our whole bench was standing,” Tamburri said. “All that momentum and all that energy, it all carries through the end of the game.”

Even, still the Panthers (4-10, 2-5 MHAL) had a chance to force overtime when a foul by Jack Young sent Wallkill freshman Matthew Shea to the free throw line.

He hit both shots to make it a two-score game, and finished with a game-high 21 points.

“Matt has been phenomenal all season,” Wallkill coach Hunter Andrews said. “He’s a freshman and he’s been locking in on the defensive end. I’ve been so proud of him all season.”

Rusk had a chance to make it a two-score game, but he missed 1 of his 2 free throws, leaving the Iron Dukes (11-5, 6-2 MHAL) with a 3-point lead.

“It was a crazy game,” Rusk said. “We were down I think 7 with four minutes left and we just had to grind it out. That showed our heart and our passion for the game to never give up.”

Rusk finished with a team-high 21 points, doing most of his damage in the first quarter.

He scored 11 points in the first as Marlboro built an 18-13 lead.

“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Rusk said. “Trying to take my man and take what they were giving me.”

Wallkill held the Iron Dukes to five points in the second quarter to take a seven-point lead at the break, but were whistled for six fouls in just over 2 minutes to start the third, allowing Marlboro to close to within 3 points.

Demetress Wilson scored 18 points for Wallkill and Jack Baccaro added 11.

“Wallkill played great,” Marlboro coach Mike Koehler said. “They made shots when they needed to. Baccaro and Wilson, they were getting by. Our defense wasn’t great and they were taking advantage of it. Whenever we would make a run in the second half, they would run right back at us.”

A.J. Musacchio scored 14 points for Marlboro.

“We’re feeling good,” Rusk said. “We’ve had some tough losses, but we’ve definitely learned from them and we’re just going to ride this momentum and keep winning and winning.”