The Pine Bush boys’ basketball team opened the season with two non-league wins, including a thrilling double overtime victory over the Marlboro Iron Dukes on Dec. 7.

The Bushmen finished the week with their first Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II victory in a 64-43 victory over the shorthanded Valley Central Vikings on Thursday night at Pine Bush High School.

“I was feeling good,” said Pine Bush’s Jacob Santiago, who led the Bushmen with a team-high 18 points. “We were just coming off a good win against Marlboro in double overtime. We were just looking to get it out and push on the team.”

The Vikings, meanwhile, were reeling at the start of the season, losing Raysean Johnson to a shoulder injury that will sideline him for six months. The Vikings were also missing two other top-of-the-rotation players, one to a broken nose, and another in COVID-19 protocol.

“Roles change and guys step in, but it takes time,” Valley Central coach Frank Nutt said. “We’re a work-in-progress. The message is we’re going to be better tomorrow than we were today, and we were better today than we were on Tuesday. I think an underrated thing is that a lot of these guys have never played in front of a varsity crowed before. I think that really hurt us on Tuesday and I think we responded much better.”

In the absence of Johnson, Jerrell Taylor stepped up and scored a game-high 21 points, leading two Valley Central scorers in double figures. Ruben Sims added 10 points for the Vikings, who were routed 75-34, by Beacon in their opener.

“Jerrell was fantastic,” Nutt said. “I think offensively he’s transitioned more of a ball-dominant player. He’s got to make us go, whereas him and Ray could feed off each other last year. One gets going and the other coasts a little bit, but we’re going to ride Jerrell as far as he will take us.”

The Bushmen also showed a great deal of balance with three players in double figures.
Following Santiago were Derek Hickman with 14 points, most of which was on the inside. Dion Couthin had a big third quarter, scoring eight of his 10 points.

“That’s huge,” Pine Bush coach Dan Conley said. “I always said on the JVs, and on the varsity is the same thing, you have to average an X amount of points and it’s got to come from five spots. If this guy’s going to score 20 points, he’s taking from your position, what are you going to give? You might be the guy bringing the ball, distribute the assists guy, maybe you’re the rebounder.”

It was also key for the Bushmen to not have a letdown in their first league game after the double overtime win in a non-league contest two days earlier.

“It was really important to win that,” Santiago said. “It was a tough. It was a battle. It was really tough. We were down most of the game. So, it was good to claw back, get back into the game and it was good to come out here and get a nice win.”