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TUCKAHOE, N.Y. The Children Understanding Cultural Differences seventh grade boys' basketball team ended its season Saturday with a 45-30 loss to top-seeded Scarsdale in the semifinal round of the Tri-County Basketball League playoffs.
The team didn't play well enough and when you are playing in the playoffs every game must be played with determination, focus and execution, CUCD coach Donald Gunther said. With all respect to our opponent, we didn't play well and we beat ourselves by not protecting the ball, missing easy field goal attempts and missed free throws.
Scarsdale opened strong and led 17-6 after one quarter. Fourth-seeded CUCD struggled on offense and had several turnovers. Despite holding Scarsdale to just six points in the second quarter, CUCD managed just 10 and trailed 23-16 at halftime.
At halftime I tried to make some adjustments because Scarsdale was using the same 1-3-1 defense that we perfected, but we didn't attack it and most importantly we were making bad passes and missing shots, Gunther said. It just seemed that the boys effort and desire was there, but those shots we made all year long were not falling.
CUCDs defense continued to be effective and held Scarsdale to six points again in the third quarter, but the boys from Tuckahoe, Bronxville and Eastchester scored just seven and went into the fourth quarter down 29-23. Scarsdale extended its lead in the fourth to earn the 15-point win.
CUCD finished with a 13-3 record, 12-2 in the regular season.
The team roster included sixth graders Alex Williams, Jason Douglas, Will Maze, Connor McHugh and Danny Belles, and seventh graders; Isaiah Gunther, Jamon Murray, Zachary Tucker, Michael Stellate, Christian Pinto , Michael Rizzo and Ceasar Dulanto.
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