Prior to Mahopac’s 68-51 pummeling of border town blood rival Carmel Saturday, Mahopac’s senior forward Ryan Simone peppered teammate support R.J. Martinez with motivational maxims.
The focus from the get-go was on Martinez, who transferred from Carmel to Mahopac over the summer, an unprecedented move that intensified the renewed hostilities on Saturday.
Martinez is not only Simone’s teammate but also his childhood friend.
They’ve developed an accurate depiction of a basketball brotherhood, culminating with one last year together. The two have played with and against each other from the driveway to the AAU circuit to JV and Varsity.
And so it was Simone who illustrated his belief that Martinez is better suited for Mahopac.
“We told (Martinez), ‘Mahopac is your town and this is where you belong’,” Simone said.
“We basically told him to go off and to show these kids that this is where you belong. And, to his credit, he did go off.”
Martinez poured in a game-high 23 points, decimating Carmel’s defense on a mixed bag of five 3-pointers, surges to the rim, and hustle points inside the key.
The combination guard’s eruption was necessary, as Mahopac (12-1) came roaring back from a seven-point first half deficit to stamp a resounding victory.
In-the-grill defense triggered Mahopac’s game-breaking, second half surge.
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