By Ed Townsend
PINE PLAINS – March 1, 2013 — It took a little over three minutes of the first quarter Wednesday night at Pine Plains to see why the Bombers are the No. 1 rated Class C school in the state.
In the Section IX–Class C semifinal the hosts took a quick 10-0 lead and coasted to a 74-37 victory over Tri-Valley using most of their bench players in the second half.
With under three minutes left in the opening quarter, Rodney T. Jester scored the Bears’ first points on one of his signature three pointers. By then the visitors were down 16-0. Jester again hit a trey and finished with another two pointer for all of the Tri-Valley first quarter points as Pine Plains took a commanding 27-8 lead after eight minutes of play.
It then became an outstanding display of offense and defense as Pine Plains waltzed away to up its record to 17–2 and the Class C championship tilt against S. S. Seward (15–3) tonight at 7 p.m. at SUNY New Paltz.
Jester led Tri-Valley (11-6) scoring with 12 points while Jesus Lozado added 10.
Pine Plains was led by Justin Cooper with 17 points, Zach Lydon with 16 and Tyler Lydon with 10.
Lady Bears heartbreaker
At Chester Wednesday night Kathrun Jankelunas hit a three-pointer with four seconds left in overtime to defeat Tri-Valley 45-42 in the Class C semifinal.
Chester (15–4), the top seed, plays Tuxedo for the championship at 5:30 tonight at SUNY New Paltz.
Jankelunas finished with 12 points for Chester and Katlynn Greffrath had 18 points for fourth-seeded Tri-Valley, which finished its season 14–6.