For R.J. Martinez, Mahopac’s 48-47 win over Somers was about unfinished business.
As much as the Indians had been eyeballing this particular game, a litmus test against a cross-town rival (before a pair of wild and wildly loyal fan-bases), Martinez knew his hot hand from Saturday needed to bleed into Monday.
Martinez’ second half shooting display, during Saturday’s 51-43 loss to White Plains, was purely a harbinger of what was next.
Rewind the clock, for a moment, back to Saturday…
A transfer via Carmel, Martinez engineered a second half shooting spree against the Tigers.
It lifted Mahopac from the depths of an offensive rut, as they managed just 17 points in the game’s first 15 minutes.
During the pivotal third quarter, Martinez reeled off a personal 7-0 run and scored 10 of the team’s 17 points.
Martinez kept spotting up, kept pulling, kept creating in one-on-ones and on the fly. No defender would risk sagging off him.
After creating a matchup difficulty with bullish Chris Jordan, Martinez was paired up with Game MVP Mike DeMello (16 points, five rebounds, three assists), the Tigers best on-the-ball defender.
Martinez (17 points in 25 minutes against the Tigers) wasn’t scorching the nets as much as he was making up for lost playing time.
In the first half, the routine cadence of both teams was stalled by a spate of ugly calls.
Martinez was pegged as a primary culprit, picking up three fouls.
On the bench for some of the second quarter, the Tigers pumped its lead to 24-17 as DeMello hit Jordan for a corner 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining.
While a barrage of debatable calls drew the ire of Kevin Downes and Mahopac’s staff on Saturday, there were no wistful reminders of what could have or should have been.
While Mahopac will gladly be the first to tell you they love to jump on a pair of scatterbrained officials, nobody was contemplating the “what-ifs.”
This big Indian boat, which has a GPS route to the County Center, moves forward and forward only.
Mahopac moved forward with a wild, 48-47 win over Somers on Monday.
Martinez rediscovered the stroke quickly, putting up 19 points.
The senior knocked down crucial, pressure-knifing free throws in crunch time, allowing the Indians to survive.
Somers, taking form as a well-balanced core after the Tuskers’ football success delayed the start, was bolstered by Matt Moros’ game-high 24 points.
Moros, who lit up Lakeland for 25, has evolved into a dependable scorer.
His play has helped fill in some of the scoring gap created by sniper John Decker’s departure.
Decker, now a freshman at Dominican, was the bulwark of Somers’ offense last season, authoring a 59-point game…
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