By Rob Potter
LIVINGSTON MANOR — January 27, 2006 – Whenever athletic teams from Livingston Manor Central School and Roscoe Central School meet on the field or court, the contest is usually a close, spirited affair.
Last Friday night’s Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division VI boys’ basketball game between the Route 17 rivals was another great example of that close competition.
Manor (3-8, 2-2 Division VI) overcame deficits at the end of the first quarter, at halftime and at the end of the third quarter to record a 57-48 victory over visiting Roscoe (2-7, 0-3 Division VI).
The Blue Devils held a 38-35 lead heading into the fourth period, but they could not hold off the Wildcats in those final eight minutes of play. Just over a minute into the stanza, Manor’s Ethan McCann drilled a 3-point shot to knot the score at 40-40.
About 30 seconds later, at the 6:18 mark, Manor’s Rob Baker gave his team a 42-40 lead when he scored a basket inside following an errant shot.
Mike Perry’s 3-pointer with 2:20 remaining pushed the Wildcats’ advantage to seven points at 50-43.
Manor took a double-digit lead with 58 seconds left when freshman forward Shane Lewis made a free throw to give his team a 53-43 advantage.
Dan DeVantier swished a 3-pointer with 36 ticks remaining on the clock to bring Roscoe to within six points at 54-48.
But those were the final points the Blue Devils would score on the evening.
Baker iced the Wildcats’ victory by making a pair of foul shots with 18.1 seconds remaining.
“You have to give Manor a lot of credit,” Roscoe Coach Fred Ahart said. “They really started to control the boards in the second half. We really didn’t get a lot of second shots and that was a key factor.
“Their defense forced us to make some poor shot selections,” Ahart added.
DeVantier led all Roscoe scorers with 18 points. Troy Kirchner added 12 points and Jayson Harris netted eight points.
The Manor offense was paced by Baker, who scored a game-high 21 points. Perry recorded 16 points, McCann had nine points and Lewis chipped in with seven points.
Manor converted 15-of 28 shots at the free-throw line, while Roscoe was only 4-of-10 at the foul line.
After falling behind early in the game and scoring only 15 points in the first two quarters, Manor Coach Charlie Hicks implored his players to have a better second half when they talked during the intermission.
“Rob Baker only had four points at the half,” Hicks said. “But he went out and played better in the second half and ended up with 21.
“The whole team had a very strong second half,” Hicks added. “We played a lot better.”
Lewis grabbed 11 rebounds to go along with his seven points.
“Shane really impressed me tonight,” Hicks said of the first-year player.
While the Manor coach was happy with the way his squad responded in the second half to secure the victory, he was also impressed by the Blue Devils’ performance.
“Roscoe played very well tonight,” Hicks said.