Over the first two months of the basketball season, few teams in Class A have been quite as hot as Eastchester. On Jan. 6, the Eagles proved why they’re becoming so feared as they authored a convincing 60-41 road win over league foe Rye. As the Eagles look ahead to more league games in the coming weeks, they are hoping that the win over the Garnets portends big things for the ballclub.

Although Rye came out of the gates hot on Thursday, jumping out to a three-point lead after one quarter of play, the Eagles stormed back in the second to head into halftime up 30-23 and would not trail again for the rest of the game.

Although Eastchester had not played since Dec. 18, rust did not seem to be an issue for the Eagles. Michael Lawlor led Eastchester with 18 points, but the Eagles also showcased their offensive versatility as John Russell (15 points) and Brendan Sullivan (14) tallied double-digit point totals as well. 

“I think that, as a team, this might have been the smoothest game we’ve had,” said Lawlor. “Everyone seemed to flow together, we hit a lot of big shots and we played good defense.”

Defensively, Eastchester was able to lock down the Garnets after their initial surge by increasing pressure on Rye’s ball-handlers, leading to several fast-break points on the offensive end. According to Lawlor, defensive effort has been a constant for the Eagles, who are holding opposing teams to 54.5 points per game—a number that would be even lower if not for a mid-December shootout against Nyack that saw the Eagles escape with a 70-69 victory.

“It’s something we’ve definitely been practicing for the entire season,” Lawlor said. “And I think we were really able to execute that tonight.”

Rye—which came into Thursday night’s game with a 4-3 record—was led by freshman Jake Kessner’s 22 points. The Garnets responded to the loss by winning their next two games against Harrison and Byram Hills to climb up the Class A standings. Eastchester (7-1) is the No. 2-ranked team in Class A behind unbeaten Tappan Zee and is 3-0 in league play. The Eagles will play Pelham (9-2) on Jan. 14, after press time, in an important matchup between two teams with designs on a league title.  

“Obviously it’s a great way to start out the year; Rye is a tough team and it’s important to get a league win,” said Lawlor.” But we just have to build on this momentum, we can’t let up.”

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