NEWBURGH – The Eldred Yellowjackets boys basketball team is on a 9 game win streak. On Monday night they defeated Section I Greenburgh-North Castle Knights. Eldred will be heading into their next Regionals matchup against a 20-1 Bridgehampton on Long Island tomorrow at 4:30 pm at Center Moriches High School. 

By the end of the first quarter the Yellowjackets had built an early 10-point lead with Trai Kaufmann at the helm. Kaufmann led the way with 25 points and 12 rebounds.

 Coach Furler’s game plan was to control Greenburgh-NC forward, Deion Murray. “What a game! We came in knowing that #24 was their best player and we knew that he was going to come in and take 90 percent of the shots from the film we watched. He’s a great player but we knew if we limited his makes, we would let the other four guys try to beat us. And when you have #1 on your team that can do the things that he can do, he’s the Class D player of the Year for a reason, but he’s [Trai] smart enough to know that it’s not about him it’s about all five of them and this is a great team win right there!”

Although Greenburgh-NC outscored Eldred by just three points in the second quarter after the Yellowjackets turned the ball over on multiple offensive plays, the deciding factor of the game was free-throw shooting. Eldred had created more opportunities and plays to draw the foul and capitalized on those chances by shooting 75 percent at the line to Greenburgh-NC’s 33 percent. Heading into the break Eldred was up by six points. The second half would tell the tale of which team would go on to meet Bridgehampton on Saturday. 

After the half Eldred turned up the heat on several offensive plays with some slick ball movement around the court. A three pointer from deep put the Yellowjackets up by 11. 

Going into the final eight minutes Eldred held a 38-28 lead. The Yellowjackets pushed the tempo outscoring their opponent 16-11 on offense and outmuscling them on the boards in the last quarter.  Koen McGill scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and James Deyermond was instrumental on the boards for Eldred snagging 15 rebounds and contributing nine points on offense.