It was a tale of two halves and two contrasting styles in the first round game between the Beacon Bulldogs and the Roy C. Ketcham Indians. In the end, the bigger, more athletic Indians pulled out a close, hard-earned victory in the first round match-up of the Large School Bracket of the Dutchess County Coaches Holiday Tournament. Mike Cummings had a game-high 18 points to lead the victors and Mike Orefice added 17 and a pair of clutch free throws in the final seconds to secure a place in the semi-finals for Ketcham. Beacon, who held a slight lead throughout the game and outscored the Indians in every quarter except the final one, was led by Wade Carmichael’s 17 points.

Beacon held a slight advantage throughout the first period behind the hot shooting of Carmichael and a 3-pointer as time expired by Tony Lee. Still, Ketcham was dominating the inside game and out-rebounding due to their superior physical height and strength. Carmichael was able to net 14 in the first half and keep Beacon with the slight lead of 29-24 heading into the half.

Ketcham fought back in the second half with the inside-outside game of Cummings, but a driving power slide-in lay-up from Orefice knotted the game at 56 with 2:21 remaining. With 51 seconds remaining, a Joe Dicioccio steal and shot attempt drew a foul and put the senior on the line with the score again tied at 60. Dicioccio connected on 1-2 from the line and put the Indians up 61-60. The Bulldogs missed two opportunities on the ensuing possession and were forced to foul with 20 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs were not over the limit at the time and had to foul twice more to put RCK on the line and try and get the ball back. Eventually, Orefice nailed two free throws with 9.9 remaining and put the Indians up by 3. In Beacon’s final attempt to tie the game and send it into overtime, the long arms of Nick Leerdam, who also tallied 12 points in the victory, tipped the ball away on the side-out and Ketcham’s come from behind victory was complete.

Ketcham Coach Matt Paino credited their victory to “key defensive efforts against Carmichael to limit him to only 4 points in the second half and perseverance to continue playing hard despite not having the lead the entire game.” Beacon and RCK will both be in action again on Friday at Our Lady of Lourdes High School.

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