Vikings eye Section IX hoop tournament

By Mike Zummo
Posted 1/26/23

Raysean Johnson was sidelined by a shoulder injury last year, and the Valley Central boys’ basketball team had a long season.

With him back on the court, the Vikings are having one of …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Vikings eye Section IX hoop tournament

Posted

Raysean Johnson was sidelined by a shoulder injury last year, and the Valley Central boys’ basketball team had a long season.

With him back on the court, the Vikings are having one of their best seasons in recent years, starting last week with a 66-36 win over the Washingtonville Wizards on Wednesday night.

Johnson did his part, knocking down four 3-point baskets on his way to a season-high 33 points.

“It feels really good; I’m glad to be back,” Johnson said. “It was tough being out for six months, and I just had to stay focused, have a good mentality and come back stronger.”

It’s been an eventful high school career for Johnson, playing in his senior season. He came up to the Vikings’ varsity as a freshman in 2019-20. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leading to a reduced 2021 schedule, and then he missed his junior year. Add that all up, and he still entered Wednesday night’s game against the Wizards needing to average about 25 points per game to become only the second Valley Central player to score 1,000 points in a season.

“I’ve been associated with Valley Central basketball since 2003 in one way or another as a coach or a player, and Raysean Johnson is a once-in-a- career player for me,” Valley Central coach Frank Nutt said.

He’s not doing it alone, either.

While Johnson was out, Jerrell Taylor took the lead for the Vikings. He scored 13 points, doing most of his work in the first quarter, scoring eight points in the game’s first eight minutes.

“I would put this backcourt up against any backcourt in Section 9,” Nutt said. “It’s really tough to defend us when our primary ball handlers are as skilled as they are. When the other guys give us some help offensively and defensively, that’s when we really start to click.”

The Vikings started to click in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Wizards, 23-9 in the final period. Overall, the Vikings hit nine 3-pointers in the game. In addition to Johnson’s four, Jason Murphy hit two, Taylor and Armando Perez hit one each in the fourth quarter.

The hot shooting helped take a 14-point lead after three quarters, and blow it out into a 30-point victory.

“It was exciting,” Johnson said. “I’m glad all my teammates were confident to shoot the ball, and everything went down.”

It was the Vikings’ second win over the Wizards – the Vikings also posted a 59-52 win over them in Washingtonville – the only Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II opponent they have played twice.

They’ve also lost by three points to the previously unbeaten Warwick Wildcats, who suffered their first loss on Wednesday to the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks. They see the Wildcats again on February 15 and have two games to play against the Pine Bush Bushmen.

They need one more divisional win to qualify for the Section 9 Class AA tournament.

The Vikings headed into the Regents Week break with a 67-46 road loss to the Kingston Tigers.

“We’re going to take it one game at a time,” Nutt said. “I want to be a little bit better tomorrow than we were today. I think if we continue to work and continue to have all the guys and all the coaches buying in and preaching the same message, and pulling the rope in the same direction, I think we will be just fine.”