The Poly Prep boys’ basketball coach is always yelling instructions to the point where you wonder how he still has a voice, pacing in front of the bench and occasionally banging the scorers’ table.
So, if you listen very carefully you can sometime hear him same the darndest thing.
At one point early in the game McNally was pleading with his squad for a more intense effort on defense.
“No free lunch! No free lunch!” he yelled.
Absurd, but effective.
“This year we are not as experienced, so I feel like I am coaching every dribble a little bit,” McNally said.
His antics inspired his squad to play aggressive, relentless and intelligent defense the rest of the way to gradually pull away from Rutgers Prep (N.J.) in a 58-48 win at the Coaches
“We love it,” shooting guard Alex Goldfarb said. “I hear people complaining, ‘you must get angry when he screams at you.’ We don’t even notice honestly. It just helps us out.”
It pushed the Blue Devils (6-4) to force numerous turnovers and attack the defensive backboards, leading to one-shot possessions for Rutgers Prep (9-4) and transition baskets and crisp passes for open jumpers for them.
An 8-0, second-quarter run was capped by a fast-break layup by Goldfarb, who scored 17 points, off a pass from Stephan Lazzaro to give Poly Prep a 24-16 lead. The Blue Devils did a good job of containing Jordan Robinson (15 points) and David McDaniel (13 points).
“All our offense comes from defense,” Goldfarb said. “We love to get out in transition.”
Bradley Gifford took care of things in the paint to start the third, scoring 10 of his 15 points in the quarter. His short jumper gave Poly Prep a 39-29 lead with 3:20 left in the third.
“We really aren’t a team that has a lot of room for error,” McNally said. “We are starting to focus more and they are starting to not have those mental breakdowns. That’s big for us.”
St. Peter’s (Girls) 57,
“We came out and played uninspired basketball,” Daggett said.
That quickly changed as Catherine Lewis (10 points) and Victoria Jones (nine points) began to take control of the game. The duo combined for 13 of St. Peter’s 15 first-quarter points to build an 11-point advantage. Elise Roughan led
“Me and Victoria know each other inside and out,” Lewis said. “If she’s calling for the ball, I basically know. She doesn’t have to call for it.”
The Eagles (12-2) then used an 8-0 run capped by a Jackie Passalacqua 3-pointer from the left side to increase their lead to 24-7 at the half. The fire alarm went off for the second time – the first coming in the fourth quarter of Mary Louis’ loss to
There was an 11-minute break as the team waited for the alarm to stop, but it had no effect on the Eagles. When play resumed they went on an 8-0 run capped by Jamie O’Hare finding Ashley Motrechuk, who added seven points off the bench, for a layup to increase their lead to 37-15 heading into the fourth.
“Against weaker teams you still have to come out with energy,” Lewis said. “We definitely didn’t do that today.”
