The competition was intense. But the message was the most important thing:
Each year, over 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States. Statistics prove that if more people knew CPR, more lives could be saved.
The are just two steps needed to help save a life: Call 911, and begin hard and fast compressions. It’s called Hands-only CPR.
On Saturday, the fifth annual Slam Dunk Heart Disease Games, benefitting the American Heart/Stroke Association of the Hudson Valley, took place in the Mount Saint Mary College gymnasium. Hosted by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York and the Orange County Basketball Officials Association, ten local high school varsity boys’ basketball teams participated. All funds raised, which included monies from admissions, t-shirt sales and concessions, went to helping to fight heart disease.
The teams participating were Chester, Seward, Washingtonville, Monticello, Cornwall, O’Neill, Valley Central, Minisink Valley, Goshen and Fallsburg.
The big match-up in this part of the county was the O’Neill-Cornwall game, which took place at 1:45. It ended, as did a first meeting of the two schools back in early December, with a 51-44 win for the Raiders. They went into the game with a 5-2 record, compared to Cornwall’s 4-3 record.
O’Neill started off slow, scoring just six points to Cornwall’s 13 in the first quarter. But then Coach Debbi Crowe’s boys came alive in the second quarter, outscoring Cornwall 19-17. The Raiders showed the same explosiveness in the third and fourth quarters, outscoring Cornwall 19-7 and 10-8 respectively.
Crowe had been a little worried going into the game because her team hadn’t played since December 22. A January 3 game against Monticello had been cancelled due to a facilities problem at that school. But, they played well.
Darius Boben scored 20 points in the game, including hitting 5-of-5 at the free throw line. Tony Njoga had four three-point shots in the game, and Hector Borgos added eight points. Crowe went eight boys deep into her lineup, notably after Fred Hendriks was injured early in the third quarter of the game.
Crowe said she enjoys bringing her team to the Slam Dunk games each winter, and has for the past several years. They will also play in a Coaches v. Cancer tournament at Dutchess Community College on Saturday, Feb-ruary 9. They’ll play Spack-enkill at 5:45 p.m. that day.
“In addition to being for a good cause,” she said, “I think it’s good for them to play on the college courts.”
Playing in the tournaments has meant giving up some home games, she added, noting there were just seven this year. They play next at home on Thursday, Jan. 17 at 6:30 p.m. against Port Jervis
For more information on hands-only CPR, visit www.heart.org. To be a part of the local efforts in raising money to fight heart disease, including the Sunday, May 5 Tri-County Heart Walk in Stony Point, visit www.tricountyheartwalk.org.
