The Garnets lost by double digits to the Horace Greeley Quakers Wednesday after losing its center during the first half.
The Garnets lost to the Quakers 66-54, playing with guards and forwards until the final buzzer after starting center Brendan Nagle fell and injured his back.
Nagle went out in the first half and did not play the rest of the game.
"He's a big force on the board for us," said Garnets Head Coach Chris DiCintio.
The Garnets also didn't have their back-up center, Alex Antico, who did not play in Wednesday's game. It's unclear whether Nagle's injury will prevent him from playing in the Garnets' next match-up.
Without a key player, the Garnets still played a competitive game.
"They played very hard," DiCintio said. "We faced a team that's very talented [and] well-coached."
"It's one of the biggest efforts this year," Dicintio said of his team's performance.
The Garnets and Quakers held it close throughout the first quarter. The Quakers jumped to a 6-0 lead until Nagle scored his only two points of the game with under four minutes left.
The Garnets then trailed 6-4 on a two by Chris Twyman. The Quakers later went ahead by four with under forty seconds to play and an eventual 16-9 lead going into the second.
Garnet Brian Pickup netted a three from the top of the key with 6:48 to go before the half, putting Rye behind 16-12.
Horace Greeley prevailed midway through the quarter, however, as Adam Honig shot a jumper and then scored another two points at 5:08 for a 23-12 lead.
With Rye's defense collapsing, Quaker Justin Ciero stole the ball from the Garnets' defense in what was a turning point for the rest of the half.
DiCintio called a timeout with 4:47 to play that slowed the Quakers' big break, but Rye went into halftime down by three, 29-26.
The Garnets started the second half strong when Twyman cut the Quaker lead to one, 29-28. The Quakers would increase it to five, 33-28, on a play involving Honig, Robert Cross, and Bill Sadik-khan.
Twyman then cut it down to three for Rye, 33-30, with almost six minutes left in the period. Honig would go o-for-2 at the line, allowing the Garnets to regroup during a timeout and bringing the score to 33-32 on a shot by Max Twyman.
Horace Greeley led the rest of the quarter and entering the fourth with a lead of 50-36.
After being down by as much as 18 at the 3:18 mark in the fourth, the Garnets fought back to pull within nine, 59-50, with almost two minutes to play.
"They never quit," DiCintio said. "They never gave up."
The Garnets sliced the lead by seven with under two minutes left.
The Quakers would prevail after three Rye fouls for the 66-54 final score.
"This was a big win for us," said Horace Greeley Head Coach Dave Fernandes. Greeley's Adam Honig and Matt Townsend had good performances, Fernandes said.
The Garnets are currently 4-2 coming out of the winter break and next play away at Somers High School on Friday at 7 p.m.
The Quakers are home to Harrison at the same time.
