Boys basketball: White Plains battles back, outlasts Scarsdale in overtime for 54-48 win

SCARSDALE - Through the first few weeks of the winter sports season, White Plains coach Spencer Mayfield has seen his team grow tremendously.

The Tigers' record may not be fully indicative of that growth, as they battled through a challenging early-season stretch to open the season, but Wednesday's overtime clash against Scarsdale was an opportunity to showcase their progress as a team.

"This win, and in our loss to New Rochelle and our loss to North Rockland — I see progress," Mayfield said. "We're a work in progress, but I think other teams better get us early. I think once we mature a little bit more, I think we'll be right there."

The Tigers battled back from a second-half deficit and tied things up in the final minute of regulation with a Shane Washington jumper. In overtime, they completed the comeback, pulling off a 54-48 victory.

"We went into double-overtime with Scarsdale last time, and we just worked on turning the ball over less," White Plains junior Menzy Carden said. "We wanted to come out hard. We really needed this game, and this was a good game. The team played good, and we're going to use this game to hopefully continue to build up."

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While the Tigers were looking to atone for past mistakes and get back on track, the Raiders were looking to amend their lone loss of the season.

White Plains held onto a narrow 20-19 halftime lead, but Scarsdale came out of the break with a renewed effort. The Raiders turned the tide with a 12-2 run that allowed them to push their lead to as high as nine points.

"We just didn't give up," Carden said. "We stayed on them, stayed hustling, and locked in. We didn't even keep track of score, we just played hard the whole game."

Carden buried a three to break up the Raiders' momentum, and the Tigers worked to trim the deficit down.

Scarsdale clung onto a 39-36 lead entering the fourth. The final quarter of play was another closely-contested frame, but the Tigers managed to force the game into overtime.

From there, White Plains got the key baskets in overtime, but it heightened the intensity on the defensive end. The Tigers limited the Raiders to just one made shot in overtime.

"It was a real gutsy effort," Mayfield said. "We did a lot of good things better. We're improving, but I loved how they finished it. We stayed strong, made key free throws, and made some good defensive plays. We were down nine or whatever it was, and we just fought back. We made some big plays in overtime. They're a young team, they're growing

Turning point

After battling back to tie things up at the end of regulation, the Tigers set the tone early in overtime. Logan McCormick started things off with an and-one, then followed up with another basket after a Scarsdale turnover to give the Tigers a 48-44 lead, with 2:50 remaining.

"Big moment, and then we went to him a couple times in a row and he made some plays — some big plays," Mayfield said.

Player of the game

Menzy Carden, White Plains: He finished with a 26-point, 13-rebound double-double, and he pestered Scarsdale all game long, whether it was from the three-point line, at the basket, or on the glass.

By the numbers

White Plains (2-6) — Logan McCormick had 13 points. Shane Washington had eight points and five assists, including a perfect 6 for 6 showing from the free-throw line in the second half and in overtime.

Scarsdale (5-2) — Asher Krohn led the Raiders with 19 points, nine rebounds and two steals. Carlos Rodriguez added 13 points and five assists. Jody Alter had 10 points.

Quotable

"Effort, a lot more efffort," Carden said of how his team has changed over the first few weeks of the season. "Just running down the floor for everything, more energy. We want it more now. Earlier in the season, we were struggling. Now, I think we have a nice turning point and we're just gonna keep continuing."

Follow Eugene Rapay on Twitter at @erapay5 and on Instagram at @byeugenerapay.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Boys basketball: White Plains outlasts Scarsdale in 54-48 overtime win