Boys Basketball Hangs Close but Falls to Middletown

If the Summit Hilltoppers can take solace from anything after their first loss of the season, it may be the realization that they probably won't face a better team than they did on Monday night.

They certainly won't face a better fast break.

The Middletown (NY) Middies scored 50 of their 68 points in the paint and pulled away for a 68-50 victory over the Hilltoppers in the first round of the Vernon Viking Holiday Tournament at Vernon Township High School.

The Middies converted 24 Summit turnovers into one fast break bucket after another, running the break in near flawless fashion.

"I was disappointed in our defense," said Summit head coach Eugene Maxwell, whose club fell to 2-1 and will take on the loser of the Vernon-Minisink Valley game on Wednesday at 6 p.m. "You cannot give up that many fast break points. We just weren't getting back on defense. But again, we haven't played that quality of team before."

Even when the Hilltoppers were getting back on defense, the Middies used crisp passing to one of several trailers for easy buckets.

Despite that, Summit gave Middletown all it wanted through the first 20 minutes of the contest. The Hilltoppers trailed by just a single point when Cris Cafiero got a steal and breakaway basket with two minutes left in the first half. Cafiero led Summit with 18 points, three assists and four steals.

David Newton's two free throws with 3:20 left in the third period still had Summit right in the thick of it with a 43-38 deficit.

But a 10-1 run that included two fast break buckets, a rebound basket and a tip-in busted open the close game as the Middies raced to a 53-39 lead early in the final period. Newton's baseline drive and Cafiero's 16-footer along the baseline got the Hilltoppers back to within 10 at the 6:08 mark. Middletown, though, scored 10 of the next 12 points to open up an 18-point lead, and that pretty much was it for Summit.

In a fast-paced game, the two teams traded buckets early before Middletown used a 7-0 run to grab a 14-6 lead. Back-to-back three-pointers by Cafiero and Dwaine Dabney cut that to two, and Terry McKenna's three-pointer at the buzzer had Summit within 18-17 after one, despite being outrebounded 12-7 and turning the ball over five times.

Other than a 2-0 lead on Newton's lay-up off the opening tip, Summit led only one other time – when Clayton Johnson scored off a rebound with 4:50 left in the half to give the Hilltoppers a 23-22 lead. The Middies went on another run late in the period to claim a 37-29 lead before Cafiero's three-pointer got Summit to the locker room trailing only 37-32.

In the first half, Summit hit 13 of 25 shots, including 5 of 11 threes. Middletown, thanks in large part to getting to the rim consistently, made 16 of 29 shots. But while the Middies continued their torrid pace in the second half, making 13 of 24 shots to finish at 55 percent for the game, Summit couldn't find the range after halftime, connecting on only 7 of 27 shots and missing nine of 10 from beyond the arc. The Hilltoppers also suffered 11 more turnovers in the second half.

"You've got to protect the ball better," Maxwell said. "You've got to rebound better. We didn't rebound the ball well at all today."

Middletown (6-0) finished with a 34-28 advantage on the boards. The Middies also used a very aggressive and extended 2-1-2 zone to challenge the Hilltoppers out top.

"It was a very good zone," Maxwell conceded. "But we weren't making our threes like we can."

Cafiero was the only Hilltopper to reach double figures. Newton and Matt Wholey added eight apiece and Shawn Hillas finished with six points and eight rebounds. Newton also had four boards, four assists and two steals, while Wholey had six boards and two blocks.

Cafiero played tough against the aggressive Middie defense, but scored only five points after intermission.

"Chris got a little tired at the end," Maxwell said. "We ask him to do a lot. We ask him to control the team, ask him to play defense and ask him to score. He's only going to get better."

And Maxwell figures games like this one will also only make his team better.

"It helps a lot," he said. "It's one of the reasons we're here – to play teams like that and get better."

As for Dabney, he's still trying to recover from an ankle sprain suffered during football season. And Maxwell said his team really needs him back at full strength.

"He's our one athletic body and we really need him," he said.