YORKTOWN, N.Y.—Kaden Gonzalez is Yorktown’s sharpshooter, and in the fourth quarter of the Huskers’ contest at Horace Greeley on Jan. 4, he showed why.
Gonzalez registered 14 of his team-high 20 points in the final quarter, on the strength of a trey, three field goals, and 5-for-5 foul shooting from the charity stripe.
“I was in the zone because I knew I had to step up big after a slow start,” said Gonzalez, who also grabbed seven rebounds.
Unfortunately, Gonzalez’s fourth-quarter shooting prowess wasn’t enough to derail the Quakers, which came up with a 65-59 victory.
Yorktown outscored Greeley 20-16 in the second quarter, to take a 31-28 at halftime. Leading the Huskers was Sander Stone, who scored 9 of his 12 points in the second quarter, thanks to a 3-pointer, 2 field goals, and by making 2 of 3 foul shots.
Greeley answered by coming out strong in the second half, outscoring the Huskers 16-9 in the third quarter, giving it a 44-40 advantage.
The Quakers extended their lead to 57-48 late in the final stanza but Gonzalez, after being fouled attempting a 3-pointer, made all three of his foul shots. That cut Greeley’s advantage to 57-51 with 1:24 left in the game.
“I was just thinking take deep breaths and be calm,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez came up clutch again with a trey, slicing Greeley’s lead to 61-57 with 29.2 seconds remaining but that was as close as the Huskers got.
“That play came about because the play before we set it up with a layup,” Gonzalez said. “So they were chasing then I let it fly.”
Adian Flynn (11 points, 7 rebounds), Colin Worden (6 points), Brian Hansen (5 points), Phil Harbolic (3 points), and Franklin Ringel (2 points) also produced for Yorktown.
Yorktown opened up the 2025 portion of its season at Clarkstown South on Jan. 3, losing in overtime 58-52.
While the end result wasn’t what the Huskers wanted, they were happy just to be playing again after an extended period of time without games due to the holidays.
Yorktown’s last game was a 47-32 victory at Lakeland on Dec. 16, 2024.
“Even though it wasn’t our best game as a team, it felt great (playing in a game again),” Gonzalez, who tallied a team high 22 points and 10 rebounds against the Vikings, said. “Our spirits are still high and it’s a long season.”
Husker coach Mark Pavella was excited to be back on the sidelines and coaching his team in a game.
“It felt good to be back in action after a long break,” Pavella said. “We have a lot of games coming up, and we look forward to improving each day.”
After trailing at halftime 25-17, Yorktown turned it on in the third quarter, outscoring the hosts 18-7, to take a 35-32 lead going into the fourth stanza.
Putting pressure on the Vikings helped the Huskers get the lead.
“In the third quarter our press led to some easy baskets for us,” Pavella said.
Gonzalez got two buckets that tied the game at 29-29, the second coming off a steal right around the Clarkstown South basket.
“Those hoops came about because we ramped up the pressure,” Gonzalez said. “It felt good because it was big energy shift.”
Up 33-32, Gonzalez extended the Huskers’ lead to three when he connected on a jumper with 8 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“I got that shot off by just getting to my spot,” Gonzalez said. “It was big because having any kind of lead feels good.”
Gonzalez continued his clutch shooting with another hoop that put the Huskers (3-2) up by four with 2:55 to go in the final quarter.
“Going up 43-39 was because of our defense,” Pavella said. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to close the game out like we were hoping for.”
Clarkstown South outscored Yorktown 7-3 at the end of regulation and 12-6 in overtime to garner the victory.
Stone (9 points, 5 rebounds), Ringel (6 points), Flynn (5 points), David Marasevic (4 points), Hansen (2 points), Harbolic (2 points), and Worden (2 points) also got into the scoring column for the Huskers versus the Vikings.
Yorktown’s next game is at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8, when it hosts Rye.
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