Monday night Poly Prep lost to Collegiate for the seventh straight time and third consecutive year in its own gym. The Blue Devils aren’t pleased with the current state of the rivalry, but the opposition wasn’t the biggest issue in the 41-34 loss in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
It was Poly Prep’s continued shooting woes.
“We gotta score more points,” Poly Prep coach Bill McNally said after his team fell into second place in the Ivy Prep League, a game behind league leader Collegiate. “It’s a simple game really.”
After the Blue Devils’ torrid start, it was anything but. They raced out to a 12-6 lead over the game’s first six minutes, but managed just eight points the rest of the first half. They mustered only five in the third quarter and went scoreless over the final 3:08 of the fourth.
“We hit some early shot and we have a tendency to fall in love with [the perimeter jump shots],” senior forward Bradley Gifford said. “Instead of working from the inside out we tried to work from the outside in, and no team can win that way.”
Even with its offensive woes, Poly Prep (12-3, 5-1 Ivy Prep League) was well within striking distance through the fourth quarter. Anthony Reyes (team-high 11 points) and Jay Vito each had 3-pointers rim out, shots McNally liked, in the final 1:24 that would’ve drawn them even. Instead they bounced out and Collegiate’s Rob Wechsler (11 points) hit a dagger of a 3-pointer with 37 seconds left to ice the showdown.
“We’re a good 3-point shooting team,” McNally said. “I didn’t think we were taking bad shots; they just weren’t going in. We’ve had a lot of success when we’re making them, which opens up your entire game. But you gotta make them. To me, a wide open outside shot it just as good as a contested inside shot.”
Though Collegiate (15-4, 9-0) has now won the last seven meetings between the two teams, McNally and Buford said they remain confident for next Monday’s rematch at Collegiate. The Blue Devils have handed a difficult schedule well, beating Holy Trinity (L.I.), Peeksville and LaSalle, and pushing undefeated Catholic school powerhouse Mount St. Michael last Saturday in an eventual 17-point loss.
“We did some good things, we had to do a couple more good things to win,” McNally said. “We had to make a couple more shots, get a stop here or there. … Hopefully next time we will. We’ve beaten some good teams, I think we’re capable.”