By Aidan Joly
Ballston Spa --
After a tight first three quarters, CBA finally pulled away in the final eight minutes and grabbed a 48-35 win against Ballston Spa on Friday night at Ballston Spa High School.
Owning just a two-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Brothers scored the first five points of that stanza to give them a 35-28 lead, its largest lead since the first quarter. It was a personal run from Leonard Buddington III, who scored all five of those points.
After that, CBA used their two big men, Ayden Harrison and David Clement, in the paint to out-score the Scotties 18-7 in the fourth quarter. Harrison finished with a team-high 17 points, while Clement had 15.
“We made a couple stops and got a couple baskets and that put us in a pretty good position for them to have to rush some things, so that was good for us,” CBA head coach Dave Doemel said. “I thought Ayden Harrison had a couple excellent moves right when we needed them.”
CBA was in control of the lead most of the game right from the jump, scoring the first eight points of the game, but Ballston Spa clawed back slowly but surely, never trailing by more than seven throughout the second and third quarters. At one point, they owned a slim lead late in the third quarter before CBA scoring the final four points of that frame, a 9-0 run that bridged the end of the third and beginning of the fourth.
Ballston Spa did have to fight through some adversity, getting in some foul trouble and losing 6’7” forward Jaxen Potter in the first quarter due to injury. Despite all of this, they still kept it a game.
“A lot of things just went against us through the first 24 minutes of basketball but it’s what I like most this group of guys, it never slowed them down. It was still a basketball game the whole way, even with those chips falling against us,” Ballston Spa head coach Ben Eldridge said. “We just had to play a different game than we’re used to playing and eventually ran out the tank.”
Ballston Spa was paced by Nick Verdile’s 19 points, the only Scottie to finish in double figures. Blane Zoller had eight points. With the loss, they drop to 6-2.
CBA improves to 9-2 with the victory.
“I’m very proud of the guys because that’s about as hard a team as you can get,” Doemel said. “I was very pleased with our defensive effort and I was happy we did that because our offense was a little stagnant.”
-Gloversville 45 -Scotia 36
By ROB JONAS
SCOTIA – Scotia-Glenville High School's gym has been a house of horrors for the Gloversville boys basketball team over the last several years. Time and again, the Dragons entered the Tartans' lair, only to leave with a loss.
That all changed Friday night, Dec. 8. Gloversville used an 11-0 run in the third quarter to take control, on its way to a 45-36 Foothills Council victory over the Tartans.
“It's big. I don't remember when was the last time we beat Scotia at their place,” said Gloversville sophomore guard Dante Bouchard.
The game was a match-up of two young teams – one (Gloversville) which went through growing pains last year, and one (Scotia) that is experiencing them now.
“Last year, we played three freshmen,” said Gloversville head coach Aric Kucel. “Those three (Bouchard, Joey Rowback and Anderson Jones) are now sophomores and showing leadership on the floor. And we're getting good leadership from our three seniors (Esean Brown, Broderick Royal and Buck Galster).”
Scotia coach Mark Sausville has only one player – senior guard Christian Corker – with extensive varsity experience. The rest of the starting five includes two sophomores (David Fresoni and Robert Barrera) and two juniors (Brendan Caldwell and Andrew LaMorta), who have to deal with the weight of expectations that comes with wearing the Scotia uniform.
“It's hard. These (championship) banners are looking down on them every day,” said Sausville. “I just hope the fans are patient with them. They are very good kids.”
The key to Gloversville's victory was stopping Corker. Whenever Corker tried to take a shot, there were at least two Gloversville defenders in the near vicinity getting their bodies in his way or sticking their hands near his face. The end result was an 11-point night for Corker – far below the 24 points he averaged in the Tartans' first two games.
“We just denied him the ball,” said Bouchard, one of the Gloversville players who defended Corker on a regular basis. “We knew he was their heart, so we just tried to deny him every time.”
Corker's determination grew with every shot he missed, but that only led to more mistakes, said Sausville.
“Christian got a little frustrated tonight,” said Sausville. “He's our only returning starter, so obviously he's going to be the focus of other teams' defenses. We need our other players to start scoring.”
Gloversville's one-two punch of Bouchard and Rowback got hot at key times of the game. Bouchard scored eight of his game-high 17 points in the first quarter to help the Dragons (1-2) take an early 10-2 lead. Then with Gloversville trailing 21-18 early in the third quarter, Rowback fueled the Dragons' decisive 11-0 run by scoring seven points, including a wide-open three-pointer from the left corner.
“Those are definitely our two main guys, but we have other guys who can hit shots,” said Kucel. “Dante was huge getting us off to a great start, and then Joey made some big shots for us in the second half.”
Following Gloversville's 11-point spurt, Scotia (1-2) closed the gap to 29-26 on Brendan Caldwell's three-pointer and Andrew LaMorta's driving layup. However, consecutive threes from Bouchard and Rowback effectively put the game out of the Tartans' reach.
“They put the ball in the basket, and they moved the ball around well,” said Sausville. “We defended them pretty well to hold them to 45 points. On the flip side, we have to learn how to put the ball in the basket. You're not going to win too many varsity games scoring only 36 points.”
Rowback scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half to help Gloversville earn its first victory of the season. Caldwell and LaMorta each chipped in with eight points for Scotia.
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
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 – 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.
