By TONY BELLISSIMO
Two days after outlasting semifinal opponent Dalton in overtime, the Tigers lived up to their top billing and put together four quarters of solid basketball to beat second-seeded Collegiate, 65-53, to win the title on Sunday afternoon at Manhattan College.
Senior Carl Benn had 22 points and seven assists, while senior Tarik Viaer-McClymont (13) and sophomore Jonathan Han (12) also scored in double figures to pace the offense for LWA, which takes a record of 22-5 into the State Federation Tournament March 22-23 in Glens Falls.
Our goal all season was to make it to the states, Coach Jeff Weiss said. This is a very hard-working and deserving group of kids. They've been especially focused during the latter part of the season.
Han had the hot hand in the first half for LWA, scoring the last of his three consecutive three-pointers with three minutes left in the second quarter to give the Tigers a 28-18 lead. Will Scott then scored Collegiate's last eight points of the half, which ended with LWA leading 32-26.
We had a scrimmage against them back in November and we knew we had to stop Scott and [Mike] Beal, Weiss said. Those two kids score most of their points.
Beal finished with 18 points and Scott added 17 but neither did much of anything in what turned out to be a pivotal third quarter. LWA scored only nine points in the third, but with seniors George Riley (nine points, 12 rebounds) and Chad Davis spearheading the defense against Scott, Beal and Co., and the 6-foot-8 Viaer-McClymont (12 rebounds) helping control the boards, the Dutchmen managed only six points.
Collegiate took some chances late in the game and it led to a wide-open fourth quarter that saw the teams combine for 45 points. All told, LWA hit 18 free throws and sealed the outcome from the free-throw line.
I didn't think we were in danger of losing, but it was still close right down to the last minute, Weiss said.
Perhaps the Tigers' toughest victory of the season came last Friday evening in the NYSAIS semifinal versus Dalton. They led 55-46 after three quarters but squandered the advantage. Dalton sent the game into overtime when Ted Bressman nailed a three-pointer with 40 seconds left in regulation to make it 64-64.
We were down a bit and needed to get that momentum back in a hurry, Weiss said. We were aggressive in the overtime and got most of our points from the foul line.
In the extra session, LWA's defense had an answer for everything Dalton could muster. Meanwhile, Benn (24 points) hit four free throws to cap a 10-2 overtime run that pushed the Tigers into the final. Davis (13), Viaer-McClymont (10) and junior Daniel Hawkins (10) also had big contributions on the offensive end.
Just prior to the tournament, LWA won the Independent Private Parochial School Athletic League (IPPSAL) title Wednesday, Feb. 27. Han nailed a trio of three-pointers in about three minutes to spark a 19-4 second-quarter run that helped LWA roll over Lexington in the Western Conference IPPSAL title game, 62-37.
LWA led 13-5 after the first quarter, and Han jump-started the top-seeded Tigers' rout. He opened the second with the first of his three-pointers. In the next two minutes, he stole a ball and assisted McCloskey, stole another ball and fed it again to McCloskey for a three, and then hit his other three-pointers on back-to-back possessions.
The Tigers led 35-13 at the half and never looked back. Riley led the offense with 11 points. Hawkins had 10 and Han added nine.
