by Steve Bradley
Friday evening, February 21, the #2 Panthers boys basketball team traveled to Shenendehowa High School to face the #10 Schalmont High School Sabres. Schalmont defeated #7 Taconic Hills, and Hoosick Falls defeated #18 Coxsackie for the right to play in this game. Panther fans came out in good numbers to lend the team their support. The gym was the perfect size for the game with room for plenty of fans and the game was not lost in the sheer size of the venue.
Both teams came out running, going up and down the court trading baskets. Levi Brewster, playing aggressively, scored six first quarter points and pulled down big rebounds. Brewster’s hustle, along with Will Bradley’s five points, helped the Panthers grab a 15 – 13, end of first quarter, lead.
During the second quarter, the Panther defense controlled the game. Schalmont could only put five points on the board for the quarter. Their entire quarter scoring consisted of one three-pointer and one two-pointer. On the Panthers’ side, Mark Hackett hit two threes, and the Panthers scored 13 points. Conner McCart, in his first sports action since injuring his knee late in the football season, came into the game, stepped between two defenders and scored the first time he touched the ball. Adding McCart to the line-up adds greatly to the Panthers, including depth and rebounding. Although the Panthers had a ten point lead at the half, 28 – 18, it didn’t feel like it was going to be enough.
The Panthers defense once again helped their cause in the third quarter, holding the Sabres to eight points. The Panthers only scored ten of their own points, but the lead was extended to 38 -26. It was a good thing it was.
In the fourth quarter, Schalmont began to hit from medium to long range, scoring almost as many points in the quarter, 22, as they did the rest of the game combined. Three-pointers, they hit five in the quarter, were falling for them and with 2:23 left in the game the Sabres had narrowed the score to seven, 48 – 41. With Schalmont getting some breaks and hitting shots over the next minute, the difference at the 1:18 mark was four points, 50 – 46.
The Panthers missed two front ends of a one and one, letting chances get away and putting away the Sabres out of reach. McCart, who scored eight big points in the last quarter, got out in front on a couple of fast breaks that tacked on much needed points. The Panthers held on to come away with the win, 56 – 48.
Will Bradley led the Panther scorers with 12 points. Mark Hackett and Levi Brewster each contributed 11 points, and Conner McCart added 10. Austin Pitt with seven and Andrew Hoag with 5 rounded out the scoring. Lucas Curtin led Schalmont with 15 points.
Tuesday Semifinals
Tuesday evening, the #2 Panthers made their way up to the Glens Falls Civic Center for their semifinal game against the #6 Broadalbin-Perth Patriots (15 – 5). B-P is located ten miles north of Amsterdam, NY.
The game started out well for the Panthers. B-P played a zone defense, and Austin Pitt was getting baskets in the paint. The defense, strong all year, held B-P to 6 points. The Panthers tallied eleven points in the first quarter, taking a 11 – 6 lead.
Then disaster struck. Points became difficult to come by. Almost impossible may be a better description. In the second quarter Pitt scored a two-point basket. That basket would be the only points the Panthers scored from the field for the second and third quarters. In the two quarters combined the Panthers scored 12 points, ten of those coming on foul shots. Amazingly, the Panthers missed 15 foul shots over those same two quarters. With the Panthers defense doing its job, the Panthers were only down 7, 30 – 23, at the end of three quarters.
HF attempted 25 foul shots in the second and third quarters, making ten. With all those foul shots, a couple B-P players were in foul trouble. B-P’s Andre Taylor, who had scored over 30 points in each of the two previous games, spent considerable time on the bench with two early fouls. He would end the game with four points. By the end of the game, four Patriot players had four fouls.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Patriots hit a of couple three-pointers and the Panthers went down eleven points. At that point, with the difficulty the Panthers were having finding the hoop from near and far, that lead looked insurmountable. Then the Panthers began to score, and, suddenly, the Panthers were in the game.
After everything they had done, or not done, with struggling to make shots from the field and missing free throws in one and one situations, the Panthers had a chance to win the game. With 1:48 showing on the clock, the Panthers had clawed their way to back to being down only two points, 39 – 41. Then, with less than a minute to play, Andrew Hoag dropped in a three-pointer, and the Panthers took the lead. They could win the game. Over the next thirty seconds, after a Patriots’ shot and a Mark Hackett rebound, the Patriots stole the ball being brought up the court. The Patriots immediately went to the hoop and scored a layup to take a one point lead. After the ball came back to the Panthers the Patriots again stole the ball and the Panthers had to foul. The Patriots added a foul shot to open a two point lead. Finally, with five seconds left, the Panthers had a final opportunity to steal the win, but a three-point shot bounced off the rim at the buzzer, and the game was over.
The Panthers made 16 of 35 foul shots in the game, some of the misses being on the front end of one and ones. It was the difference in the game.
Austin Pitt led with 16 points; Andrew Hoag added 10, Mark Hackett 7, Noah Chani 4, Levi Brewster 3 and Will Bradley with 2 points rounded out the Panther scoring. Ryan Dingman with 11 and Preston Taylor with 10 were the Patriots’ high scorers.
The HFCS Panther boys ended the season with an outstanding 20 – 2 record.