By Mike Zummo
The Wallkill boys’ basketball team played even with the Burke Catholic Eagles for most of the first half.
But then the bottom fell out as the Eagles held the Panthers to five points in the second half, blowing out the Panthers 63-34 in a non-league contest on Wednesday night.
“They hit eight (three-pointers) in the first half and we needed to increase our level off their intensity in the second half and that just didn’t happen,” Wallkill coach Hunter Andrews said.
“They really went to the basket well. Give credit to them. They shot the ball well and attacked the basket.”
The teams were even for most of the first half, but the Eagles pulled away in the final minute of the second quarter with 3-point baskets from Chris Shust and Richie Paltridge and took away the Panthers’ lead and gave the Eagles the lead for good.
Shust, who led the Eagles with a game-high 24 points, hit a free throw to give the Eagles a 34-29 lead at the break. Paltridge added 16 points and Frankie DeMayo scored 10.
The Eagles (1-3) blew the game open in the third quarter, outscoring the Panthers, 14-4 in the third quarter.
The Panthers only managed a single point in the fourth quarter, a free throw by Anthony Scarano with about 56 seconds left in the game.
“Defensively, holding us to 34 points was an excellent job on Burke’s part,” Andrews said.
Matthew Shea and Kyle Krebs led the Panthers with eight points each.
The loss got the week off to a tough start for the Panthers as two days earlier, they dropped an overtime divisional contest, 63-60 to the FDR Presidents.
“Just coming off an overtime loss to a good FDR team, we thought we’d have a better effort tonight, but that wasn’t the case,” Andrews said. “We’re young. We’re learning, but we have high expectations for ourselves.”
They finished the week at the Dick “Coach” O’Neill Jingle Ball Classic in Ellenville.
“They knew who our scorers were,” Andrews said. “They kept us off the glass. There were no second chance opportunities for us at all. I was impressed with them, but we need to focus on ourselves and bounce back for Friday.”