GUILDERLAND CENTER — George Gaine told his Tappan Zee boys’ basketball team during a timeout with 4:28 remaining Saturday that the Federation Tournament of Champions Class A semifinal contest against Albany Academy “is going to come down to body language and will.”
Throughout a fabulous run in winning a New York State Public High School Athletic Association state championship, the Flying Dutchmen’s will was unmatched. Saturday, the Cadets displayed ample mettle. Tappan Zee made it this far on its tremendous man-to-man defensive prowess. Over the course of the game’s final 10 minutes Saturday, Albany Academy went 9-for-12 from the floor.
Senior point guard Gianni DiCerbo entered the fourth quarter having scored two points, but the Hamilton College-bound baseball player drained the biggest basket of his career with a 3-pointer with 2:58 remaining and the Cadets went on to register a 59-55 victory at Guilderland High School.
“It was a huge 3, and he air-balled the one before that one so credit to him for showing huge guts to take another one,” Albany Academy coach Jim Driggs said of DiCerbo. “It was a big shot for us and I am so happy for that kid.”
“At the beginning of the year, he was probably averaging a point a game or two,” Albany Academy senior standout Bobby Chandler said. “We kept telling him to shoot it.”
“It felt great. Somehow, I end up making those daggers,” DiCerbo said. “It was just the momentum of the game. I felt we needed that.”
DiCerbo curled around a screen, took a feed from Arthur Foster and confidently drained his 3-pointer to provide the Cadets a 48-40 advantage with 2:58 left. Foster later completed a sequence during which Albany Academy beat a press from Tappan Zee, and the Cadets (15-6) converted 9 of 10 foul shots over the final 1:42 to secure a berth in Sunday’s title game. The opponent will be Catholic High School…
Read the full article here