By ROB JONAS
NISKAYUNA – The best way to describe Shenendehowa's effort against Niskayuna Thursday night was efficient.
The Plainsmen (6-1) jumped out to a 13-2 lead and cruised to a 64-39 victory over the Silver Warriors (0-6) in a Suburban Council boys basketball game.
“The guys played a solid 32 minutes of basketball,” said Shen coach Tony Dzikas.
There wasn't any particular aspect of Shen's performance that stood out from the rest. Christopher Hulbert (17 points) and Abbas Merchant (15 points) provided the one-two scoring punch Shen has been accustomed to this season, and the Plainsmen used their height – every player on the roster is at least 6 feet tall – and length to grab the vast majority of rebounds over a smaller Niskayuna squad.
Niskayuna did everything it could defensively to stay within striking distance of Shen, but the Silver Warriors were undercut by a lack of a strong interior presence on offense. More often than not, Niskayuna settled for three-point shots and didn't grab the offensive rebounds when they missed the mark, leading to a number of one-and-dones.
“It was our defense that kept us in the game,” said Niskayuna coach Ben Smith. “We got a little gimmicky out there. We went to a triangle-and-two. They have two really good players – No. 5 (Hulbert) and No. 3 (Merchant), and we did a pretty good job of stopping them.”
After falling behind by double digits in the first five minutes, Niskayuna hung tough throughout the remainder of the first half and trimmed the deficit to eight points early in the third quarter on a three-pointer by Jack Murray and a free throw by Sean St. Lucia.
Shen quickly quashed any hopes Niskayuna had for pulling off an upset, though. Hulbert drained a fadeaway jump shot, and Merchant finished a fast break with a pull-up three-pointer to give the Plainsmen a 40-26 advantage. Another short spurt at the end of the third quarter – capped by a Greg Monroe three-pointer at the buzzer – extended Shen's lead to 51-34. Niskayuna never recovered after that.
TJ Sangare contributed 12 points for Shen, which entered the Christmas break on a three-game winning streak.
“I'm very proud of the group with the start we've had,” said Dzikas. “To get to the break with only one loss with the schedule we've had – with playing (defending Section 2 Class AA champion) Bethlehem twice and playing Troy (all wins) – I'm pleasantly surprised.”
Jack Evans netted nine points, and Murray added eight points for Niskayuna, which has scored 40 or fewer points in five of its first six games.
“We've gotten exponentially better each and every game with everything we've asked of them to do,” said Smith. “The only thing is the offense isn't clicking.”
By ROB JONAS
ROTTERDAM – Duncan Tallman was so focused on helping the Mohonasen boys basketball team win the Kirvin Cup title that he had no idea he was having the best night of his varsity career.
Tallman drained seven three-pointers on his way to a 43-point performance to lift the Mighty Warriors past Catskill 89-58 in Thursday night's Kirvin Cup championship game at Mohonasen.
When told how many points he finished with, Tallman was caught off guard.
“I had no idea. I didn't think I had that many points,” said the junior guard, who was named the tournament's most valuable player.
“That's a good sign,” said Mohonasen coach Josh Peck. “When they're counting (points), that's a bad sign.”
Tallman could count the number of points he scored the previous night against crosstown rival Schalmont. He had only six points in Mohonasen's 62-55 victory over the Sabres.
“I told Duncan before the game that sometimes the best thing that can happen is to have a game like that,” said Peck. “He was 1-for-10 from the floor.”
It took Tallman all of four minutes to erase that performance from his mind. He sank four three-pointers, including three in a row, to help Mohonasen (6-3) build a 23-15 lead after the first quarter.
“He had one of those nights that high school players dream of,” said Catskill coach Douglas Lampman.
Tallman went cold for the first part of the second quarter, but other Mohonasen players stepped up in his stead. Junior forward Jalani Abdul-Aziz and senior guard Gregory Van Epps drained key shots to extend the Mighty Warriors' lead to 34-25.
When Tallman got going again, though, there was nothing Catskill (6-2) could do. Tallman finished a fast break with a layup to give Mohonasen a double-digit advantage. A baseline jump shot and two three-pointers later, Tallman put the Mighty Warriors ahead 45-27.
(Duncan Tallman Kirvin Cup MVP)
“That's what I love about this team,” said Peck. “Last night, Greg (Van Epps) got hot, Tonight, I think Catskill was looking for Greg, and Duncan got hot.”
Mohonasen – and specifically Tallman – kept rolling in the second half. The Mighty Warriors opened the third quarter on a 10-3 run to increase their lead to 25 points, with Tallman scoring six points during the spurt. Catskill used a three-point play from sophomore forward Devon Haye and a pair of technical free throws by junior guard Justice Brantley to briefly take some of the wind out of Mohonasen's sails, but the Cats were too far behind to make a serious run.
“We kept making them shoot,” said Tallman. “We knew they weren't a good shooting team, so we made them shoot.”
As the misses piled up for Catskill, so did the rebound opportunities for Mohonasen. Despite having a distinct height disadvantage near the basket – one exacerbated when junior forward Chase Monroe got into foul trouble – the Mighty Warriors came away with defensive board after defensive board, with senior forward Avery Deas (10 rebounds) leading the way.
“It's more about heart than height,” said Tallman. “We just got good body position and boxed out.”
“We knew we were out-sized, so I told them before the game that it was going to be about playing defense and getting rebounds,” said Peck.
Tallman sealed Mohonasen's first Kirvin Cup title since 2011 with one more scoring burst to start the fourth quarter. He began with a three-pointer from the top of the key and finished his personal 9-0 run with a reverse layup. He added one more layup later in the period before leaving the game with 4:18 left.
Abdul-Aziz contributed 15 points, and Deas added nine points to his 10 rebounds for Mohonasen. Deas was named to the Kirvin Cup all-tournament team.
Senior guard Willie Bartholomew scored Catskill's first seven points and finished with a team-high 15 points. Haye and Brantley each contributed 11 points for the Cats.
By ROB JONAS
SCOTIA – Two Class B heavyweights went toe-to-toe Wednesday night at Mekeel Christian Academy.
Carter Stewart hit the go-ahead free throw with 29 seconds left, and then he came up with a big defensive play at the other end of the court to help the Lions (10-1) defeat Watervliet 65-63 in a non-league game.
“It was a great high school game,” said Mekeel coach Chad Bowman. “Both teams were playing really good defense tonight.”
“It was a hard-fought game” said Watervliet coach Orlando DiBacco. “They are a very good basketball team. I don't think classification matters.”
After being honored for scoring his 1,000th career point in a pregame ceremony, it was Stewart's heads-up play with 10.8 seconds left that gave Mekeel an opportunity to pull out the win. The senior dove on a loose ball and called time out before a Watervliet player could tie him up and create a jump ball situation.
“We were screaming for a timeout, but there was no way he could have heard us over the noise,” said Bowman. “There was no way he could hear anyone but the player next to him.”
Senior guard Jordan Jackson made one of two free throws with 5.7 seconds left to put Mekeel ahead by two points. Watervliet had one last chance to tie or win the game, but JJ Chestnut's driving layup attempt rolled off the rim into Daniel McCarty's hands.
“It was just our defense and our grit tonight,” said Jackson, who led Mekeel with 20 points.
Neither team had much breathing room. The largest lead on either side was eight points, when Mekeel jumped out to a 22-14 lead late in the first quarter. Stewart scored Mekeel's first five points, but it was Jackson and Deonte Holder hitting back-to-back three-pointers that helped the lead swell to where it did.
Watervliet (8-3) got its high-powered offense in gear in the second quarter. Senior forward Joey Atkins jump-started the attack by scoring the Cannoneers' first nine points of the period. Then, junior Khari Croley drained a three-pointer to cap a 12-0 run that put Watervliet in front 32-28. Croley added a long jump shot and banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cannoneers a 42-37 halftime lead.
“I think our defense fuels our offense,” said DiBacco. “Our defense played very well in the second quarter, and that got our transition game going.”
Jackson and Holder kept Mekeel in the game in the second quarter, while Stewart concentrated on distributing the ball. Jackson bookended Watervliet's 12-0 spurt with three-pointers, and Holder made a couple of tough shots down the stretch to keep the Lions within striking distance.
“For us seniors, the whole team looks to us when things are going tough for us,” said Jackson.
Stewart was having trouble getting open looks for shots in the first half, but his ability to get the ball into the hands of his teammates in the first half was as critical as what he did in the second half.
“One of the most important things we nail every day in practice is distributing the ball,” said Stewart. “We spend a lot of time working on our passing.”
Mekeel came out strong in the third quarter by scoring the first five points to tie the score at 42-42. Watervliet battled back and built a 52-46 lead, but the momentum turned when Stewart hit a three-pointer as he was fouled with 1:48 left in the period. Stewart missed the free throw, but it sparked an 8-1 run for Mekeel that put the Lions in front 54-53. Stewart scored seven of the eight points during the spurt.
“Mekeel came out and set the tone in the third quarter,” said DiBacco. “I think we responded well, We played back and forth with the lead.”
The lead changed hands six times in the fourth quarter, with Holder sinking a pivotal three-pointer for Mekeel that put the Lions ahead 61-59. Watervliet tied the score twice down the stretch, but the Cannoneers could not regain the advantage.
The trio of Jackson, Stewart and Holder combined to score 55 of Mekeel's 65 points. Besides Jackson's 20-point performance, Stewart had 19 points and Holder added 16 points.
Atkins led Watervliet with 20 points, and Croley chipped in with 11 points off the bench.
By ROB JONAS
ROTTERDAM – Shane O'Dell is listed as a sophomore on the Schalmont boys basketball team roster, but he plays with the maturity of a senior.
O'Dell scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the first half to lead the Sabres (8-3) to a 61-44 Colonial Council victory over Lansingburgh Saturday, Jan. 6.
“He's got two older brothers and two parents who put a basketball in his hands. He got beat up a lot, but they made him a better player,” Schalmont coach Greg Loiacono said of O'Dell. “He plays older than he is.”
When O'Dell struggled to hit shots early in the third quarter, he gave the ball up to his Schalmont teammates. Older brother Jesse O'Dell netted six of his eight points in the third quarter, and junior guard Nick Boyd scored eight of his 11 points during a 10-minute stretch of the second half to help the Sabres stay comfortably ahead of Lansingburgh (5-4).
“The shots weren't really falling for me, so I had to get the ball to my teammates,” said Shane O'Dell, who has been averaging approximately 20 points per game.
On the other side of the court, Lansingburgh's shooters were nearly as cold as the sub-zero temperatures outside of Schalmont's gymnasium. The Knights made one out of 15 three-point attempts and sank 5 of their 14 foul shots.
“We tried to push the tempo, but we couldn't hit our shots,” said Lansingburgh coach Eric Loudis.
Credit Schalmont's defense with frustrating Lansingburgh's shooters, though. The Sabres consistently challenged every shot attempt and added some turnovers by getting a hand in front of several passes by the Knights.
“We knew they had a couple of shooters. We knew we had to get out on them,” said O'Dell.
Schalmont jumped out to an 18-6 lead in the first quarter, thanks in large part to O'Dell. The sophomore opened the game with a three-pointer and capped the run with a three-point play and making one of two technical foul shots.
Justin Van Ness provided Lansingburgh with a boost in the second quarter. The senior forward scored seven points off the bench, including a layup off a steal near midcourt that pulled the Knights within four points of the Sabres.
Schalmont took back the momentum at the end of the second quarter, though. Junior guard Gannon Strube canned a corner three-pointer, and O'Dell scored the final three points on a foul shot and a driving layup to put the Sabres ahead 31-21 at halftime.
Lansingburgh trimmed the deficit in half to begin the third quarter. Senior center John Bessette put back his own missed shot, and sophomore guard Isaiah Knight drained a three-pointer – the only three that went in for the Knights – to make the score 31-26.
That was as close as Lansingburgh got. A pair of buckets down low by Jesse O'Dell sparked a 6-0 burst that put Schalmont up by double digits, and the Sabres finished the third quarter ahead 44-33. A 10-2 run at the end of the fourth quarter sealed Schalmont's victory.
Knight and junior guard Trevor Green each had 11 points for Lansingburgh.
By ROB JONAS
SCOTIA – Harmony Philo referred to it as a “little run,” but there was nothing little about it.
Gloversville (8-5) scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter to overcome an early deficit on its way to a 48-39 victory over Scotia-Glenville (11-2) Thursday, Jan. 18 in a Foothills Council girls basketball game.
“We really needed that momentum,” said Philo, who led all scorers with 21 points. “That little run, everybody was working hard and making plays.”
Scotia-Glenville threatened to run away and hide from Gloversville. The Lady Tartans scored nine of the first 12 points of the game and built a 22-13 lead early in the second quarter.
Gloversville took control from there, thanks to its 3-2 zone defense. The Dragons denied entry passes to Mary Kate Palleschi and Rhaymi Porter at the top of the lane, forcing the Lady Tartans into several turnovers that led to points at the other end.
“That was our goal because they're very tall, so we wanted to force them into taking outside shots,” said Philo.
“We didn't adjust,” said Scotia-Glenville coach Megan Bowman. “We talked about not telegraphing our passes and bouncing the ball, and we didn't make the adjustments.”
Ironically, Philo wasn't the primary scorer during Gloversville's decisive 17-0 run, which gave the visitors a 30-23 halftime lead. Instead, she got the ball into Kendra Lavery's hands, and the junior forward responded by scoring 10 of her 15 points in that stretch. Kerri Hauser tacked on a turnaround jumper and a three-point play to cap the Dragons' spurt. Porter made one of two free throws with 1.7 seconds left to end Scotia-Glenville's scoreless streak.
“Over the last couple of weeks, they've really been laser-focused at finding each other,” Gloversville coach Molly D'Arcy said of Philo and Lavery.
Scotia-Glenville hung around for a while in the second half. Palleschi opened the scoring in the third quarter with a three-pointer to trim Gloversville's lead to 30-26, and the Lady Tartans forced the Dragons into several bad shots to slow down the scoring pace. Still, Gloversville's zone defense continued to discombobulate Scotia-Glenville's offense with turnover after turnover, and Philo and Lavery each made baskets to extend the Dragons' lead to 36-26.
Scotia-Glenville made another push in the fourth quarter. Mikyla Mitchell drained an open three-pointer, and Porter put back a missed shot to pull the Lady Tartans within five points. However, Mitchell fouled out with 4:08 left in the game, and Gloversville steadily pulled away for the nine-point victory.
“You can't hide the fact that Mikyla is our engine,” Bowman said of Mitchell, who committed her fourth personal foul in the third quarter and was limited to 10 points. “We could have sat her out at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but we took a chance and put her in.”
Palleschi netted a team-high 16 points for Scotia-Glenville, which edged Gloversville 41-39 in their first meeting Dec. 7 in Gloversville.
“Our girls are very excited, especially after losing to them earlier in the season,” said D'Arcy.
