Indians Suffer Tough Losses to Carmel, Yorktown

The Mahopac High boys’ basketball team dropped a tough game to Carmel on the road 67-57 on Saturday to fall to 4-8 overall and 2-4 in League C play.

That followed a 55-42 road loss to Yorktown in another league game last Wednesday.

Against Carmel, senior center and tri-captain Eric LoPata led the Indians with 12 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Anthony Annunziata, another captain, had nine points and four rebounds.

Mahopac coach Kevin Downes thought his team played well, adding that the Indians’ defense held Carmel to only one field goal in the second quarter and four in the third.

However, free throws were the big difference in the game. The Rams had 29 free throw attempts and converted 23 of them. Mahopac only had eight attempts from the free throw line.

“They made more than we took. It was an uphill battle. I thought we played hard. I thought we played well. I felt we played well defensively. I think we played well offensively,” Downes said.

Although this is just one game, contests between Carmel and Mahopac have a special meaning due to the rivalry that has been going on between the two schools for many years. The Indians had beaten the Rams the last six times they had played them before Saturday’s game, including a game a few weeks ago at Mahopac in which the Indians defeated the Rams by more than ten points.

All of these things factored into what made Saturday’s loss tough to take for the Indians.

“This one is going to hurt. It is probably going to hurt for awhile,” Downes said.

He noted that it can be difficult to play in a game that is constantly being stopped due to fouls.

“You do not get into a rhythm offensively and you are not sure how to play defense,” said Downes.

In the 55-42 loss to Yorktown, junior guard Ryan Wagner led the Indians with 12 points. Kevin Mallon, another junior guard, contributed nine points.

As in the Carmel game, Yorktown went to the foul line many more times than Mahopac did. That also had an impact on the outcome of this game as well.

“We felt that we were in control most of the first half. We are just not getting to the line as often,” Downes said.

He believes that this is partly his team’s fault. However, he does not completely understand why the opponents having been getting significantly more opportunities from the line than his team has.

“ I do not think we have been as aggressive going to the basket as we could be. It is surprising that there is such a disparity (in free throws) though,” Downes said.

Like most coaches, he considers free throws to be easy shots and pointed out that no matter how well a team is playing on defense, it is hard to recover when the opponent is getting so many of them.

“It is tough to make up for it on defense when they are getting easy shots,” Downes noted.

He credited LoPata with having good performances against both Carmel and Yorktown.

“Eric has definitely been a pleasant surprise the last couple of games,” Downes said.

He also credited junior forward T.J. Foley with having played well.

The Indians hoped that two big victories on back to back days a few weeks ago against Lakeland in overtime and against Carmel would serve as a good springboard into the rest of the season. However, that has not been the case. However, the team has not given up and continues to work hard.

“It is disappointing that we have not found a way to get a win, but the kids have been playing hard,” Downes said.

The Indians will next play in the Matshtik Tournament at Mahopac High School. The tournament will start on Friday also take place on Saturday. They will then play Lakeland at home on Monday at 6 p.m. in a league game. That will be followed by another league game against Walter Panas on the road on Wednesday at 6:15 p.m.