The Ossining J.V. boys basketball team took on Putnam Valley in a “Christmas Classic.” Ossining had a fantastic first half outscoring Putnam Valley 26-19, with stellar offensive production from Jacob Toppin and Nasheem Mackey. Toppin knocked down three 3-pointers in a row giving him nine points at the half. Mackey on the other hand, knocked down one three and scored a layup on a hard drive to the rim. He then went two for two from the foul line. The Pride continued playing well in the third quarter, outscoring Putnam fourteen to six. Mackey played well yet again in the 3rd quarter scoring 5 points off going to the basket. Jahmad Thomas, Kasheem Trotter and Shamar Holebrook also played well offensively. Thomas with one three, Trotter with 4 points off of going to the basket, and Holebrook with 2 from a solid post move to shake the defender. However in the fourth quarter, things did not swing the way of the Pride as they allowed Putnam to score twenty one points tying the game up at 46-46 and sending Ossining into overtime. Although everyone played well on both sides of the court the Pride fell in a heartbreaker to Putnam, 59-56.

Coach Casey later spoke with The Current and noted, “The team needs to manage the game better and at the Junior Varsity level, the games are still a learning process, so these are situations and games that we will continue to work on in practice, and learn from.”

Leading Scorers: Nasheem Mackey: 20 points, Jacob Toppin: 12 points, Kasheem Trotter 10 points, and Shamar Holebrook 8 points.

As for Varsity, things did not go the Pride’s way early on, only scoring 6 points on buckets from Quari Alleyne, Sean Trenholm and AJ Stokley. The score at the end of the first quarter, Ossining: 6 Putnam Valley: 23. In the second quarter, Ossining tried its best to come back, outscoring Putnam 16 to 15 to go into the half 22 to 38.

Leading scorers: (1st Half) Sean Trenholm: 9 Points, AJ Stokley: 8 points, Quari Alleyne: 5 points.

The Pride did not fare better in the second half as the team fell 68-49. There were some contentious moments in the game as Robert Jones was pushed by a player on Putnam after Jones had fouled him. Jones responded by shoving the Putnam player causing an uproar on the Putnam bench. These outbursts resulted in the ejection of three Putnam players and Ossining’s Robert Jones.

Leading Scorers: AJ Stokley: 14 points Sean Trenholm: 12 points Quari Alleyne: 8 points.

Honorable Mention: Obadiah Toppin started and played very good defense, while also producing on the offensive side scoring 5 points.

James Minzesheimer JV Manager signing off.