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NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. Eastchester coach Fred DiCarlo and the rest of the Eagles are well aware of the running joke that they have a two-man team made up of David Solano and Jack Daly. They even talk about it in the locker room.
They decided to prove they had a deeper roster than just that dynamic duo on Saturday, especially after Solano went out in the third quarter.
The Eagles (7-2) outscored the Blue Devils, 26-10, in the fourth quarter and erased a nine point deficit for a 66-57 win on Saturday at the Monroe Athletic Complex. The two teams met in the third game of the highly entertaining Hoops for A Cure tripleheader.
Eastchester received contributions from several players, including Kevin Teahan and the returning Nick Campana, to complement Dalys MVP performance. The sophomore recorded a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds, both of which led all players. He also had six assists and three steals.
Coach is like, Everyone says this is a two-man team. This is your time to prove its not, said Campana, who played in his second game back after missing time due to an ankle injury he suffered in the first game of the season.
Mike Sullivan had 10 of Saunders 14 first-quarter points and finished with 17 in total to lead the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils led, 47-40, at the end of the third but the Eagles refused to go quietly and kept taking Saunders best shots. Eastchester tied the game at 49 with less than six minutes to play and again at 55 with 3:45 remaining.
Teahan came off the bench and hit two huge threes to change the entire flow of the game. The second three-pointer came with 3:10 to play to give Eastchester its first lead of the game at 58-55. Campana drained a jumper with slightly less than two minutes to play to put the Eagles up by five. Daly then drove to the basket after a steal and laid it in to give Eastchester a seven point lead.
After a Saunders basket, Daly hit two free throws with 35 seconds remaining to again put Eastchester ahead by seven. He hit two more with 9.6 seconds left to end the scoring.
While the Eagles certainly needed to put the ball in the hoop to win the game, Daly said his teams play on the other side of the ball sparked the comeback.
It was our defense, Daly said. We picked up our defense and we converted on fast breaks. We got a lot of points off turnovers and thats the key to winning games. Get rebounds, steals and convert.
Eastchester coach Fred DiCarlo said his team finally showed on Saturday that it has a full roster of players who can win games for the Eagles.
I kept saying its going to be the games where other people step up, not just Dave and Jack, where they can score, DiCarlo said. But I think today was the day that I think maybe it finally hit home.
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