Collegiate’s Pascal Croak (l.) and Fieldston’s Michael Bregman battle for the ball. (Christina Santucci)
Over the last 11 days, idle Fieldston had one thing on its mind: Collegiate, the four-time NYSAISAA Class B and New York State Class B Federation champions. But really, the Eagles had been thinking about Friday afternoon’s showdown with the Dutchmen for quite some time, ever since it was crushed in the private school state tournament by the Upper West Side school.
“We were waiting all year for this,” Fieldston junior forward Mike Bregman said. “We talked all spring and all summer and all fall about this.”
It showed.
Despite the nearly two-week layoff, Fieldston handed Collegiate its first Ivy Prep League loss, 50-43, in The Bronx. The commanding victory creates a three-way tie with Poly Prep and Friday’s two foes atop the league with just a handful of contests remaining.
“We always believed in ourselves,” Bregman said. “People said we were the underdogs coming into the game, but we didn’t feel like that. We weren’t getting the respect we wanted. Hopefully this helps us get it.”
Bregman led Fieldston with 12 points and 10 rebounds, Tyler Ridley added 10 points, Will Savage had nine points and three assists and Grady Smith had eight points and four assists.
After a slow start, Fieldston caught fire from the field and its defense was air-tight, limiting Collegiate’s senior stars, Ryan Frankel and Connor Huff, to just 18 points.
“Our big guys were focusing on Connor and our guards were really focusing on Frankel,” Fieldston coach Steve Bluth said. “It was important to take care of Huff and Frankel.”
A 15-3, first-quarter run in which five different players scored created a double-digit lead and the cold-shooting Dutchmen (10-2, 5-1 Ivy Prep League) would never get any closer than seven the rest of the way.
Bluth said A.J. Santos was his team’s MVP for his work on Huff, the 6-foot-4 dynamo. Huff scored 12 points, but most of those came from the perimeter as he was limited to very few offensive rebounds and opportunities around the hoop, his bread and butter, by the 6-foot-7 Santos. Frankel, the MIT-bound point guard, struggled with his shot from the perimeter as he was hounded by Smith.
“We were focusing on playing physical and out-muscling them and getting into their head,” Bregman said. “I guess it worked.”
Collegiate coach Ray Voelkel felt Frankel hesitated thereafter. He was far from the only culprit as the Dutchmen made just 5-of-23 3-point attempts.
“We shot very poorly and credit their defense to a certain degree, but we had a lot of open looks,” Voelkel said. “We just didn’t put the ball in the basket. When you shoot that poorly it’s hard to win against a team that is even with you.”
That was a major issue for Fieldston entering this showdown. It cost them in a 59-52 loss to Poly Prep.
“The first week [of practice last week] all we did was shoot – shoot, shoot and shoot some more,” Bluth said.
The Eagles (10-2, 4-1) didn’t shoot the lights out, but baskets from Bregman, Savage and Smith were timely answering Collegiate mini-runs. Though Fieldston did celebrate the victory somewhat, this isn’t uncharted territory. It knocked off Collegiate at Collegiate last year, before dropping the last two matchups. This win, however, is important for its psyche, Bluth said.
“More than anything, it got us the confidence back we lost in the Poly Prep game,” the coach said. “More than beating Collegiate it gave us confidence we’re a great team.”