Boys Hoops
with Will Springstead

A tie for Foothills lead

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Don’t know what to get the Foothills Council boys in your life? How about a TIE? Although, depending on your perspective, some may like it more than others.

While Scotia was taking care of business in its win over Glens Falls (Terrel Winney five 3-pointers and 28 points), Broadalbin-Perth was pulling a 54-51 upset of league-leading South Glens Falls, which leaves both squads with 10-2 records with two games left next week. South High is at Glens Falls Tuesday before traveling to Scotia for the showdown game on Friday.

The Patriots brought their ‘A’ game early, jumping out to a 34-17 halftime lead. South High rallied furiously, with Jordan Greene scoring 23 of his 28 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.

And, with Johnstown upsetting Queensbury (a 24-9 first quarter for the Sir Bills and held Chris Coughlan to just six points), the Spartans only have a one-game lead on improving Gloversville for third place in the Foothills.

In other Friday action:

* Tony DeLoatch scored a season-high 26 points to help Saratoga top Shaker 61-54, though it took a 22-7 fourth quarter to seal the deal. … In MVAC news, Bolton ruined Willsboro’s chances of clinching Division 1 with a 41-39 win. Also, Kris Bain scored a whopping 28 points as Indian Lake-Long Lake downed Keene 43-30.

* In Adirondack League action, the Will Springstead column jinx wasn’t exactly in effect, but the moment I write my Saturday column about all the freshmen contributing to teams, Fort Ann eighth-grader Derek Durkee hits a couple of foul shots with 3 seconds left to give the Cardinals a 53-51 win over Salem. … Of course, that has nothing on Corinth, which got a layup from Jordon Charbonneau with 2.1 seconds left. Then, Warrensburg missed a layup with 1.9 seconds left and the Tomahawks hung on for a 35-33 victory. … Hartford got the win over Whitehall, but the Railroaders’ Richard Tisi lit the scoreboard up for 27 points. … Fort Edward’s been playing some strong defense lately, but Argyle had the answer, putting up 55 on the Forts.

* And in the Wasaren League, Cambridge moved to .500 in the league by downing Granville 60-46. … Greenwich was only down three points to Hoosick Falls with 2:11 left, but the Panthers pulled a way for a 45-36 victory.

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About the author: Will Springstead - springstead@poststar.com

T minus 2 weeks

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

It’s less than 2 weeks to the Section II seeding meeting…do you know which defense your children are playing?

But we start out with congratulations to Section VII’s Indian Lake-Long Lake Orange, who wrapped up their second MVAC Division 3 title in the last 3 years with a 35-19 win over Johnsburg. Another strong game by both Zack Mitchell (15 points) and Kris Bain (12 points, 16 rebounds). The Orange really clamped down on defense in the second half, limiting the Jaguars to just eight points.

In other games, a good all-around performance by Corinth on an emotional night, where the Tomahawks faithful honored 2008 graduate Leland Shippee and head coach Tom Rentz’s father, Jack.  … Glad to see Lake George’s Alex Hladik struck for 18 only because he had a lot of bad luck on shots the other night against Fort Edward. … Fort Ann wins again, this time over Hartford. Could the Cardinals be hitting their stride? … Wells had to finish its game against Lake Placid with four players due to foul trouble on an already depleted roster.

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About the author: Will Springstead - springstead@poststar.com

Rivals have a say

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

On the face of it, you might not have thought the Queensbury/Glens Falls or Greenwich/Schuylerville games would have been as close as they were. But that’s the beauty of rivals: They don’t let you have anything without putting in the necessary sweat equity.

Glens Falls led 37-35 after three quarters before the Spartans rallied for a 45-42 win. And in Schuylerville, the Black Horses had a 42-32 lead going into the fourth, but Greenwich rallied late before succumbing 53-48.

There were some big games, too, as Ryan Davis had 22 points for Queensbury. Freshman Shane Lyon had a breakout game for Schuylerville with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

In other Tuesday action…it’s always nice when a big man can hit his free throws, and no one was better than Hoosick Falls’ Kevin McMahon. He went 10 for 10 en route to scoring 31 points in the Panthers’ win over Tamarac. … Good middle-quarter action by South Glens Falls, outscoring Hudson Falls 44-16, in its win.

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About the author: Will Springstead - springstead@poststar.com

Video now up

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

We finally have the video posted from Friday’s Lake George/Fort Edward game. CLICK HERE for the direct link. Sorry about the delay.

We used a different format for this video. There’s no voiceover. Instead, it gives you more raw footage.

Let us know what you think.

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About the author: Greg Brownell - brownell@poststar.com

Video … we hope

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

We promised you a video from Friday’s Lake George/Fort Edward game, but I’m having trouble uploading it. I don’t know if it’s a system problem or what, but as of 4 a.m. I was unable to get our site to take it.

I’m hopeful that someone from out tech staff will be able to figure this out sometime on Saturday. We’ll get the video up … it’s just a matter of when.

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About the author: Greg Brownell - brownell@poststar.com

Welcome to the 1940s

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

If you happened to wander into Friday night’s Fort Edward/Lake George game at halftime and saw Fort Edward leading 20-15 and thought, “Hoo-boy, there’s got to be more scoring in the second half,” you would have been wrong.

Lake George picked away at the Flying Forts’ lead, went ahead, held on for a tie and gradually pulled away in a 40-36 OT win (click here for story).

Some leftover quotes, notes and thoughts:

Fort Edward coach George Conley (on his team’s height disadvantage): “It was a big mismatch, but we knew that going in. It’s going to be a mismatch no matter who we play. (Slowing it down) took some momentum away from them. We were just filling in holes.”

* Conley went on to say he loves his kids and loves how hard they compete, but that their mental disappearing act for 6-8 minutes every game continues to haunt them. He took full responsibility, too, for his team’s lack of discipline on offense, which is refreshing to see a coach do.

Having said that, Conley and his troops are to be commended for playing a game that would have made former Princeton coach Pete Carril get a tear in his eye. For the most part, the Forts were disciplined enough to slow it down, but when they did rush a shot, it bit them.

* The other statistic that hurt the Forts was turnovers. And most of them, it seemed, from either close or far away, were intercepted passes and not respecting just how many quick hands and feet Lake George has.

* And one of the Lake George leaders with those quick hands and feet was 6-foot-6 Matt McGowan. I don’t keep track of steals, but he must have had or caused about five of them Friday. You’re not out of the woods just by dragging him away from the basket. McGowan is quick enough to intercept the ill-advised long pass. And speaking of…

Lake George center Matt McGowan: “In the first half, they really came in hammering us. It was a really physical game, but with our inexperience, we shied away from it. At halftime, coach told us to man up and be more physical.”

“This was the kind of game where it comes down to who makes less mistakes. There are elbows flying and they’re not going to give you calls, and you just have to do your best.”

“It’s a team game. I might not have had my best night, but there are four other guys helping me out.”

In other Adirondack games, Whitehall got its first league win with a nod over North Warren. … Corinth had four players in double figures in its win over Hartford. … Salem put three in double digits in its win over Hadley-Luzerne. … Here’s a stat that’ll make any coach proud: Fort Ann assisted 15 of its 22 field goals.

In Wasaren games, well, Hoosick Falls and Schuylerville have three overtimes to show for their two regular-season games this year, with Hoosick Falls sweeping. Interesting to me was that Hoosick Falls’ Kevin McMahon struck for 23 points and 15 rebounds this time. He was quiet the first game. Wonder what combination of things changed this time. … If Greenwich was going to beat Cambridge, it had to control the inside, and that’s what Neil Fryer and Ryan McFee did, combining for 32 points and 13 rebounds. … Kyle Pall0zzi hit for 27 in Hoosic Valley’s win over Stillwater.

In Foothills and other games, Gloversville found out how hard it is to shut down all three of South Glens Falls’ “big three” of Jordan Greene, Nate Uline and Kevin Donahue. Uline only had seven points, but both Greene and Donahue had double-doubles in points and rebounds. … Scotia topped Queensbury in the battle for second place. Terrel Winney continues to be a man on a mission for the Tartans, scoring 35 in the victory. Chris Coughlan had a fine night, himself, striking for 21. … While it was another loss for Hudson Falls, the good news is that the Tigers hung around B-P for a lot longer in this one. The Patriots led 35-22 after three quarters. … Another great game from Indian Lake-Long Lake’s Kris Bain, who dropped 21 points and nine rebounds on Chazy in a non-league Orange win.

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About the author: Will Springstead - springstead@poststar.com

Games on radio

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

I just wanted to pass along that WWSC 1450 AM will broadcast a few boys games between now and regular season’s end:

Friday, Jan. 29:  Scotia at Queensbury, 7 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 5:  Argyle at Fort Edward, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 10:  North Warren at Warrensburg (it’s listed as 7:30 p.m. but NW has been playing games earlier because of no JV team this year…I’ll check into it.)

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About the author: Will Springstead - springstead@poststar.com

State rankings out

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Well, Schuylerville and Argyle made their way into this week’s rankings. That makes this Friday’s Schuylerville at Hoosick Falls tilt a matchup of state-ranked teams.

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About the author: Will Springstead - springstead@poststar.com

Couple of things

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

During a quiet week (until Friday), let’s address a couple of items.

1. I am aware that the Foothills Council standings and its players are off. Basically, in both cases there are two too many games. This came as the result of trying to add information from Gloversville and Johnstown after we’d been writing them in as not one of our “local” teams, but our system thinks they’ve played twice instead of once. If you’re looking at a specific player, disregard his ppg average as you see it. Recalculate it using two fewer games. I may go back and just delete what I added, but it seemed like the right thing to do to get them added to the standings.

2. If my math is correct (and it may well not be; it’s late), Argyle could clinch the Adirondack League East Division as early as this Friday, by virtue of a Fort Edward loss to Lake George. I’ll be at that game and am looking forward to seeing both teams for the first time this rapidly closing season.

3. Thought of this when I heard Bracketology being discussed today: Which conferences do you think will fare the best in the Section II playoffs this year?

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About the author: Will Springstead - springstead@poststar.com

Jimmer’s in the news

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Click here for a link to an Associated Press story prominently featuring Glens Falls graduate Jimmer Fredette. Also, be sure to check out the related story about Fredette’s mention on espn.com.

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About the author: Will Springstead - springstead@poststar.com

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