Anytime a team comes into a new season with lofty expectations, opponents start to take notice. For Mamaroneck’s senior-laden basketball squad—one of the preseason favorites to vie for a Class AAA title—that means they know they’re going to get the best effort from opposing teams all year long.
So far, however, that has made seemingly little difference to the Tigers, who won their second game of the season on Tuesday afternoon, downing league foe Scarsdale 58-43 on the road.
Mamaroneck was led by its duo of standout seniors, as Will Plunkett paced the field with 24 points, adding 12 rebounds and five assists for good measure, while Brandon Burrell served as the team’s chief distributor, dishing out seven assists and adding 15 points of his own. The duo was integral to Mamaroneck’s run to the Section 1 semifinals last year and will once again be called to lead Mamaroneck into the fray this year.
Head coach Tyrone Carver was pleased with his team’s play on Tuesday, noting that Scarsdale’s energy—especially early on—was to be expected, as the Raiders came out of the gates looking to make a statement against the highly-touted Tigers. The hosts led through the first quarter, until the Tigers were able to claw back in the second and take control of the game.
“We expect people to be ready. We talk about how teams going to give us their best shot,” said Carver. “This is not an easy place to play, but we came out, did what we needed to do, and got out of here with a win.”
Carver believes that his team’s success this year will be not only contingent on the stellar play of Plunkett and Burrell but also on the efficiency and depth of the rest of a talented roster. He cited the contributions of players like Jake Reese and TJ Grimes as being key pieces to the puzzle, along with Jonah Walsh, who tallied seven points against the Raiders.
“We’re expecting some great things from Walsh this year, he’s been doing some really nice things so far,” said Carver. “We think he’s going to be one of the guys that’s going to have a special season for us.”
The Tigers have a fairly busy December schedule this year, with a game against last year’s Class A runner-up Rye looming on Dec. 13 and another matchup with the Raiders scheduled for Dec. 19.
As the calendar turns to January, Carver said he hopes his team will continue to show signs of improvement.
“We need to have guys continue to step up and continue to grind, even through adversity,” said Carver. “We have a lot of seniors on this team, so we’re going to lean on our experience and we’re going to have to play a full 32 minutes every night.”
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