Neuqua Boys Fend off Metea to Stay Unbeaten

AURORA – Tuesday marked the beginning of a new rivalry between Metea Valley and Neuqua Valley on the hard court.

And if the opening salvo between coach Todd Sutton's Neuqua squad and the Mustangs, led by his former longtime assistant Bob Vozza, is any indication, it figures to become a dandy.

Metea jumped out to a nine-point lead early on, but Neuqua stabilized and pulled away for a 70-64 Upstate Eight Valley win to remain unbeaten on the season at 6-0.

"They're all juniors, but they're a really talented team and they were at home," Neuqua senior Jim Stocki said. "First rivalry game, we knew they were going to come out with a lot of energy. It was a matter of taking that first punch and we were able to kind of settle ourselves, regain our composure and really battle the rest of the way."

Metea Valley (4-2, 1-1) set the tone early. After Neuqua (6-0, 2-0) opened a 14-9 lead, the Mustangs finished the quarter on a 16-2 run to take a 25-16 advantage. The key to the quarter was outside shooting. Metea drilled six three-pointers in the quarter, two each from LaShawn Cargo and Kenny Obendorf and one apiece from Milan Bojanic and Tresean Mackey.

"Our guys have met all of those challenges in the first quarter," Vozza said. "They've done very well with that. To see it against a good team like Neuqua was very rewarding for me."

Neuqua came back in the second behind some better defense than the first quarter and some hot shooting. The Wildcats opened the quarter with an 18-4 run and wound up taking a 36-32 lead into the half.

"We almost took them a little bit lightly because they're all juniors," said Stocki, who paced Neuqua with 20 points and 13 rebounds. "It was a mental thing of keeping our composure and really getting out on their shooters."

Cargo took over for Metea in the third quarter, as the Mustangs briefly took a 42-41 lead, but still found themselves down four going into the fourth quarter. Cargo scored 13 of his game-high 28 points in the quarter.

"That's an all-conference player," Sutton said. "He's got my vote."

Neuqua had a little too much firepower down the stretch and managed to maintain the lead the rest of the way. The closest Metea came in the fourth was 55-53 with 5:47 left after back-to-back three-point plays from Vin Patel and Obendorf.

"We're right there, it's just a matter of executing," Vozza said. "All Upstate Eight games will be like this. We have to learn to play in tight games. It's a big jump from where they were last year (playing at the sophomore level) to here, but at the same time, they've shown that they can do it. I want to keep them at that high level because I think they can meet that challenge."

Sutton said that once the ball was tipped to start the game, he didn't think about the fact that Vozza, who coached under Sutton for 10 years at Neuqua, was across the court from him. But Vozza couldn't help but reflect on it after the game.

"It's fun to play, but its different and difficult after being next to him and battling for 10 years," Vozza said. "It was rewarding, but at the same time, those games aren't too much fun."