Sometimes, the best way to grow as a team is just to give it time. 

That’s been the case for the Harrison boys basketball team, which has been on fire as of late, shaking off a slow start to the season to rip off six straight wins over the last few weeks to put themselves firmly in the Class AA mix.

Their latest win came on Tuesday afternoon, as they traveled to Eastchester to take on a gritty Eastchester team. A strong start—and some key plays down the stretch—were enough for the Huskies to come out on top, earning a 57-42 victory over their hosts. 

Harrison jumped out to a sizable lead in the first half, but renewed Eagles pressure in the second helped Eastchester cut the lead to 10 in the second before Harrison was able to pull away for good. Matt McCoy led all scorers with 21 points, while Peter Telesco paced the Eagles with 12 of his own.

Harrison head coach Gary Chiarella said that he was pleased with his team’s effort in the win, but credited Eastchester with a great showing in the second half that was enough to halt the Huskies’ torrid scoring pace.

“Things were working in the first half, but I think we lost a little bit of our offensive continuity today in the second half,” said Chiarella.  “Eastchester did a great job of changing things up and getting us out of our rhythm.” 

That rhythm has been tough to disrupt lately, though, as the Huskies now sit at 7-4 on the year after winning just one game out of their first five contests. Chiarella chalked up the Huskies’ early-season struggles to a roster that came into the year without many reps on the varsity level. 

“We came into the year with five 10th graders on the team, and even our seniors, except for Matt McCoy, didn’t get a ton of experience last year,”said Chiarella “So we’re starting to gel a little better, we’re figuring out what we’re supposed to do offensively and defensively, and that’s helped a lot, and you can see that everyone has bought in, they’re keeping that intensity up, on the floor and on the bench.”

Eastchester will be back in action on Friday night against a good Rye team while the Huskies (7-4)  will take on a good Mahopac team at Mount Vernon High School on Saturday afternoon.