The Homenetmen of New York men's basketball team played its 1997 summer league games every Tuesday night at Chelsea Piers Field House. The team lost in the divison Championship game 58-54 on August 18, 1997.
The Homenetmen of New York men's basketball team played its 1997 summer league games every Tuesday night at Chelsea Piers Field House. The team lost in the divison Championship game 58-54 on August 18, 1997.
Team losses finals 54-58
August 18, 1997
New York playing in the Championship game lost 58-54 to Preme Team. Preme team came in with an 8-2 record and finished second place in the regular season. New York last week defeated the first place team to earn the right to play in the championship game.
Both teams started slow, the score was 4-4 six minutes into the game. However, New York was able to take small leads of 3 or 5 points in the half. The score was 25-23 in favor of New York at half time.
New York was never able to set it's fastbreak offense in action. Playing against a bigger team, they were forced to take outside shots. Allan Babaian contected on four 3-pointers, while Scott Zakian and Eddie Shamlian added 2 3-pointers each.
Both teams took small leads in the second half, it was not till there was 2 minutes and 14 seconds remaining whenPreme team took a 51-50 lead and was able to hang on to it.
New York had a chance to tie the game with 17 seconds remaining and down 3 points. However, Allan Babaian's 3-point attempt did not fall in. Preme team sealed the victory with a free throw to win 58-54.
New York wins in semis 70-55
August 14, 1997
New York with a 6-4 record playing the first place team in the division team FOOT FOOT with a 9-1 record, made it to the Championship game by winning 70-55.
New York led from the beginning. Led by Allan Babaian's four 3-pointers in the first half, and great rebounding by the team, New York took a 35-26 half-time lead.
New York had lost to team FOOT FOOT 75-65 in the second week of the season. Rebounding was the key from the start. Led by Manouel Rakoubian's game high 16 rebounds, New York did not give the opposing team any second shots.
New York started the second half much stronger than the first, by taking a 16 point lead 5 minutes into the second half. Team FOOT FOOT never got any closer than 11 points. At one time New York's lead grew to 22 points. New York will play in the Championship game on Monday night against yet an undetermined opponent.
Allan Babaina finished with a game high 22 points, while scoring 6 3-pointers. Scott Zakian had a season low 14 points, Arek Papelian scored 12, Manouel Rakoubian and Eddie Shamlian finished with 8 points each.
June 10, 1997 Homenetmen 54 - Runners up 44
Homenetmen of New York's men's basketball team started its 1997 summer season with a come from behind win.
New York won 54-44 after trailling 24-14 at half time. Led by Scott Zakian's 5 3-pointers in the second half, New York erased a lead than had grown to as much as 12 points.
The team started slow by missing a lot of its outside shots, and comitting early turnovers. The second half started with Scott hitting 2 3-pointers in a row and then seconds later adding a 3 point play. Once New York took the lead at 32-30 it never looked back.
New York once again started the game slow and played sloppy basketball. Afetr taking a 7-4 early lead the team committed lots of turnovers and trailled at half time 40 to 17.
New York shot 7 for 34 for a very bad 20% in the first half; with Scott Zakian going 1 for 12. Scott scored his first basket and then missed 11 straight.
The second half was the reverse of the first half. This time the team shot an amazing 58% going 18 for 31. However the lead which was at one time 24 points was too much to erase.
New York did cut the lead down to 4 points with 45 seconds remaining on long range bombs provided by Allan Babaian; 3 in the last 2 minutes and a total 4 for the game. However team FOOT FOOT did not miss any free throws down the stretch and New York got only one basket in the last 4 seconds and lost the game 75 - 65.
Scott Zakian lead the team with 27 points; 25 points in the second half. Allan Babaian had 16, Eddie Shamlian followed with 11. Arek and Ari Papelians missed their second straight games with injuries.
New York lost its second game in a row 50-63 this time to the Subway Saviors team.
The game was once again close until the last minute. New York trailed 30 to 23 at half time. The much bigger Subway Savior team dominated the boards and build leads of 10 and 14 in each half. Yet New York was able to bring down the lead to six points in each of the halves.
Once again it was the 3 point shooting that kept New York in the game. Scott Zakian had 5, Allan Babaian had 2, Simon Bardizbanian and Arek Papelian each had one. The offensive and defensive rebounding domination by the opposing team was the key factor in the game.
New York cut the lead down to six points with only 84 seconds remaining and the score 46-52. However it turned the ball over in its next two possessions as the other team converted them into easy layups.
Homenetmen of New York evened its record at 2 wins and 2 losses with a well played 63-48 win.
New York trailed early 8-2 and 12-4. After making some adjusments to the offense and cutting down on turnovers, the team went on an 10-0 run to take a 14-12 lead. After the two teams traded leads, New York took the lead for good at 21-20.
New York took a 33-22 half time lead based on fast breaks and domination of the boards. Manouel Rakoubian played his best game of the season, finishing with 22 rebounds and 10 points.
New York built the lead to 24 points with over 12 minutes remaining in the game. Nverdale All Stars did manage to cut New York's lead to 11 with a 9-0 run. However New York palyed solid defense and convereted on fastbreaks to build the lead back to 22 points with 2 minutes remaining.
Scott Zakian lead all scores again with 18 points, Arek Papelian had 11, Manouel Rakoubian 10 points, Eddie Shamlian finished with 10.
New York was missing four of its starters due to personal and professional reasons. Missing were Arek and Ari Papelians, Eddie Shamlian and Scott Zakian.
The game however was a close one in the first half; New York trailed 28-29.
The second half saw team Equitable build a 10 point lead, however the lead was quickly cut to 4 points.
The outcome of the game was descided with about 3 minutes remaining when Equitable pulled ahead by seven points. New York tried to cut the lead once again but missed its outside shots.
The final score was 53-45 as New York went scoreless in the last minute. The team knew that if only two of its starters were present from the four missing that the outcome of the game would have been different.
New York again started slow and was trailing 18-8 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. That is when coach Vicken Shekookian called a time out and switched from zone defense to man-to-man defense. New York took a 22-21 half time lead with the new aggressive defensive play.
Second half was all New York as the team led 37-22 6 minutes into the second half. New York did not give up a basket for the first 8 minutes of the second half.
Fordham did manage to cut the lead down to 8 with some outside shooting, but New York turned on the offense and defense once again to win easily at the end 53-37.
The team however struggled from the free throw line as they shot a team total of 53% going 16 for 30 from the line.
The team started the game strong and finished strong. New York led 28-13 at half time and continued to play strong in the second half, until Scott Zakian got hurt.
With a 14 point lead Scott was driving to the basket when he was taken out by two of the Storm players. Scott hurt his left thigh, and left the game with 17 minutes remaining.
The team held on to the lead, which was now down to nine points with five minutes remaining. Scott did manage to get back in the game, however even with him in the lead got down to six.
New York once again picked up its game and built a ten point lead with two minutes remaining. With the other team desperatly fouling in the end the lead was built back up to double digits.
Scott Zakian lead all scorers with 17 points, Allan Babaian had 11, Manouel Rakoubian 9 points, Hatch Seoylemezian finished with 6. Missing were Arek and Ari Papelian, Denis Reziah, and Eddie Shamlian.
New York lead early in the game on two baskets each from Hatchig Seoylemezian and Simon Bardizbanian, 12-4 six minutes in. That's when Right Mix started playing better defense and stopped New York's game inside.
New York which had several players arriving late to the game played competitive and traded baskets. With four minutes remaining New York lead 23-20. However Right Mix took the lead and built it to a 39-30 advantage at half time.
Right Mix took a 15 point lead one minute into the second half. Coach Vicken Shekookian called a time out and urged aggressive defensive play. That's when Eddie Shamlian reponded with a quick six points. Two baskets coming off steals in the backcourt which he converted to easy baskets.
The rest of the team responded to Eddie's aggressive play and went on a 17-4 run to trail by two points; 49-47.
New York applied full court pressure and fastbreaking offense to take the game away from team Right Mix.The final score was 71-59 and New York had defeated the first place team and now had a record of 5-3. With two games remaining in the season, this was a key win in trying to secure a playoff spot.
Scott Zakian once again lead NY with 22 points, Eddie Shamlian celebrated his 24th birthday by scoring 14 points, Arek Papelian finished with 11 points.
New York had lost Arek Papelian and Dennis Reziah to the Regional All-star team playing in the Homenetmen World Games. The other players each had different excuses in missing the game. New York was trailing most of the way in the first half, however the half time score was 30-30.
In the second half both teams had small leads of four or five points. Both teams were playing a very well matched up game. With four minutes remaining New York was leading 47-42, however the lead was erased and the teams were once again tied.
It all came down to the last two minutes when New York committed turnovers to give the lead and eventualy the game to Preme team 59-54. New York took the early lead and never looked back. Ten minutes into the game New York was leading 17-8, the half time score was 35-21. However the team was making more turnovers than usual and was not able to finish off the easy layups it had. In the second half the team went back to playing a zone defense. This limited team Runners Up to pass the ball to their 6'-7" center, and forced them to take outside shots. New York took advantage of the speed they have in going on fastbreaks after fastbreaks. New York at one point had a 30 point lead. The playoff game is set for Thursday 8/14/97 at 9:00 pm versus the first place team in the division; Foot Foot. Scott Zakian scored a game high of 25 points, Allan Babaian had 17, while Eddie Shamlian finished with 13 points.
Game 10 vs Team runners up
"Win you are in the playoff, lose your out!" with that kind of a must win situation, new York played one of its better games of the season and made the playoffs with a 73-55 win.