Peekskill’s Red Devils magical season ended in a one-point loss on Friday night to Our Lady of Lourdes, 48-47 at Mt. St. Mary College in Newburgh. It was a game filled with steals, turnovers, missed foul shots, and the irony that Lourdes went 0-11 on the foul line until the last few seconds when they scored two from the ‘charity line’ and a three-pointer to put them ahead for good.
Peekskill’s first bucket was scored on a steal with the sold out crowd chanting ‘Let’s go Peekskill’. They turned over the ball three times on four possessions.
Ezekiel ‘Zeke’ Jones was responsible for 7 of their first 11 points and then a three pointer from Jaden Chavis put them ahead 14-13 and they were never behind until the last second of the game.
The game’s commentator on the NFHS Network referred to ‘Red Devil Nation’ as the large Peekskill crowd was making their presence known, chanting ‘defense’ throughout each of the four 8-minute quarters. At the end of the second quarter, going into halftime Peekskill was ahead: 21-17.
The third quarter saw Travis Brown put up two, bringing the score to 23-17. Coach Tyrone Searight called for a time out as Lourdes closed the gap to 2. Jones comes out of timeout and gets another 2. Lourdes ties it up at 27.
A two-handed dunk by Amir Thames brings the Red Devil nation to its feet and a foul gets Isaiah Crawford to the free throw line. He steals from Lourdes, loses it but quickly recovers and goes to the foul line for one point. Brown scores and Marquette Webster also gets one, bringing the score to 36-31 Peekskill.
A lot of second chance opportunities for Peekskill, recovering rebounds of missed shots have made all the difference for them.
With 47 seconds left in the game, Peekskill is up 45-43 and Lourdes goes to the foul line for two. For the first time all night, the Warriors make their free throws tying the score at 45. Peekskill makes a basket on an inbound pass, nudging ahead 47-45 but it wasn’t enough as the Lourdes three pointer with 2.2 seconds on the clock puts them ahead by one.
It was a good run for Travis Brown, Jaden Chavis, Isaiah Crawford, Ezekiel Jones, Lavon Mott, Amir Thames and Marquette Webster, led by Head Coach Tryone Searight and Assistant Coaches Daquan Brickhouse and Jayme Gooding, all three PHS alumni.
Peekskil’s turnaround from 7-13 last year and 3-17 the year before to this year’s remarkable playoff run in 2023-24 will go down as one of the great seasons in Red Devils basketball. They brought home the gold ball as sectional champs on March 2.
This team restored the glory of the past, which features the remarkable record of legendary Coach Lou Panzanaro, a mentor to Coach Searight, who retired from coaching in 2014 with 576 wins and five state titles between 1995 and 2007.
