Pleasantville Basketball Spoils Westlake Senior Night

THORNWOOD, N.Y. – Two seniors on Pleasantville High School’s boys basketball team stole the show on Westlake High’s senior night as the Panthers defeated the Wildcats 54-48 Tuesday night at Westlake High School in Thornwood. 

“Tonight we finished a game and we had two seniors who stepped up big time,” said Pleasantville High School head coach Chris Welsh after the game.

Pleasantville senior guards Glen Robinson and Greg Nicolai both contributed 12 apiece to give the Panthers the come-from-behind victory.  In the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, Westlake jumped out to a seven-point lead, 40-33.  A series of steals and fast break layups by Robinson allowed the Panthers to tie the game at 43 with four minutes left in the contest.  With just more than two minutes left, a free-throw by Westlake junior Tommy Hopkins gave the Wildcats a 48-47 lead.  Nicolai then responded on the other end with a three-point shot to put Pleasantville up, 50-48.  Free throws by Robinson in the final minutes sealed the victory for the Panthers.

“We wanted to come in here and beat them on their home court,” Robinson said.  “I didn’t want to lose this game.”

Welsh praised the playing efforts of his two seniors.

“Glen Robinson, with the steals and fast break points almost single handedly took over the game and Nicolai hit those four threes, which was probably his best performance of the year, and I couldn’t be happier for them,” Welsh said.

Westlake head coach Steve Pesick said he wished his team – with six seniors honored before the game – could have closed out the win in the team’s final regular season home game.

“We would have loved to get the win, we’ve been battling everybody this year and it seems all of our games have come down to the last couple minutes,” Pesick said after the loss.  “I’m happy with the way we played tonight though.”

Westlake junior guard Rich Maio led all scorers in the game with 14 points.

The win for Pleasantville sweeps the two-game season series for the Panthers against Westlake.

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