By Ted Waddell
LIVINGSTON MANOR — January 23, 2007 — At halftime of Thursday night’s non-league basketball game, the visiting Bears of Tri-Valley were up 31 points over the Livingston Manor Wildcats.
And in the final two quarters T-V (12-0) kept right on going, defeating the Wildcats, 77-23.
The unbeaten Bears’ scoring attack was spread evenly across the periods, as they scored 21 points in the first, second and fourth frame, while racking up 14 points in the third.
The frame-by-frame point totals for Manor (6-8) were 5, 6, 10 and 2.
The Wildcats took to the floor minus their top two starting offensive threats – James Baker and Shane Lewis. Baker and Lewis were forced to sit out the game because they got ejected from last Tuesday’s hotly contested 62-57 overtime loss to host S.S. Seward in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division VI game in Florida.
“The game got out of hand, it was horrific… I was surprised I didn’t get ejected,” said Manor Coach Charlie Hicks, walking the fine line of political correctness while talking about the tone of the battle and officiating in the loss to the Spartans.
“It was very physical, and I feel it wasn’t being called both ways,” he added.
Double-digit scorers in Thursday’s game for T-V were John Merchant (17 points), Fred Moore (14 points), Dustin Van Lieu (11 points) and Bo Murphy (10 points). For Manor, Mike Hendrickson netted a team-high 12 points.
Stats from the free throw line: T-V was 3-of-5 (60 percent); LM was 1-of-1 (100 percent).
Hicks’ take on the game?
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse. Tri-Valley is unbelievable this year, they’re ranked fifth in the state.
What about the season?
“We’re having our ups and downs, just like any other team,” Hicks said. “One minute we look awesome, and one minute we look horrific. We are very young and inexperienced. I start three sophomores, we have no depth and only play six or seven guys.”
“We’re learning, we have our moments,” he added.
Brian Tingley, first-year coach of the Bears, was a man of few words when he was asked to describe the season.
“It’s going pretty good,” he said. “You can’t complain about 12 and 0. They seem to be doing some of the little things you need to do to win.”