by Gary Danforth
On Tuesday evening, January 5, the Hoosick Falls Central School varsity boys basketball team went on a 16-0 run to start the third quarter and ended up with a hard earned 66-45 win over Brittonkill-Tamarac Central School for Coach Mike Lilac Jr.’s 199th career win at HFCS. Lilac, in his fourteenth season as cage boss, saw his team run their WASAREN League mark to 4-0 with the win over a tough Bengal five. HFCS is 6-1 on the year, having lost only to Class A size Mt. Anthony. But B-T gave Hoosick Falls all they wanted. In the end, a tightened up Panther defense and inside scoring, coupled with B-T turnovers, did the Bengals in.
A see-saw first quarter saw Hoosick Falls take a 5-4 advantage before the Panthers 6’6” senior center/forward, Kevin McMahon, tied matters at 6-6 with a foul shot. Tamarac, hitting from the outside, cashed in two treys to take their largest lead of the game at 12-8 with 1:02 left in period one. McMahon hit a three-pointer from the right corner to get HFCS to 12-11. Quinn Rasmus, who made the winning field goal kick in the sectional title game in November, came up golden again for HFCS, this time stealing a pass and hitting a turnaround jumper from the right baseline as the first quarter horn sounded. The Panthers led, 13-12.
There was no quit in B-T. The Bengals led 14-13 and 16-14 before a Rasmus free throw and a Mike Brewster inside score tied the game for HFCS at 16-16. B-T took a 19-16 edge on yet another trey before buckets by Will Luke and Tanner Williams gave HFCS a 20-19 lead. Tamarac took leads of 21-20 and 23-22 before inside scores by Rasmus and John Hayden gave the
Panthers a 24-23 lead. Tamarac retook the lead before Hayden scored inside again on a tip in. B-T hit back to back treys, with Hutton Rasmus sandwiching a three-pointer for HFCS in between, as Tamarac led 31-29. Then Hutton Rasmus’ drive with :02 left in the opening half tied the game at 31-31.
Hoosick Falls came out in period three and blew the game open with their 16-0 run. Shots which fell for B-T in the opening half clanged off the rim in period three. McMahon started the Panther run with an offensive put back. Brewster scored inside off a McMahon feed. McMahon completed a conventional three-point play as HFCS led, 38-31. Then Williams scored off the Panther fast break, and Hutton Rasmus muscled in an offensive board. Williams nailed a three-pointer for HFCS. Brewster’s inside score gave Hoosick Falls a 47-31 spread. B-T went on a 6-0 run to get to 47-37. But Williams scored inside for the Panthers and McMahon scored on a drive to give HFCS a 51-37 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Two Alex Lilac free throws and a Quinn Rasmus bucket gave HFCS a 55-37 spread. Then Lilac nailed a three-pointer from the right side with 4:57 left in period four. Hoosick Falls led 58-39. Two McMahon foul shots put HFCS ahead 60-39 with 4:27 to play. It was over.
McMahon, a demon in the paint, blocked a B-T shot, scored inside and blocked another Bengal shot. Ryan Hand’s trey from the right side with :54 left gave the Panthers a 65-43 lead. David Ciuk’s free throw with :11 left gave HFCS their biggest lead of the night at 66-43. The final saw Hoosick Falls win, 66-45.
McMahon with 17 points, Quinn Rasmus, 5, Hutton Rasmus, 7, Lilac, 8, Luke, 2, Hand, 3, Brewster, 6, Ciuk, 1, Williams, 9, Sean Dingman, 2, and Hayden with 6 points scored for HFCS. For B-T, Bryan Gorman with 15 points and Ralph Erickson with 11 led the way.
Rebounding from Afar: Once Hoosick Falls got out on the perimeter to shut down the Bengal shooters, buttoned up on defense, hit the boards and scored inside, a close game became a blowout. Turnovers killed B-T the whole game. Lilac goes for win number 200 in Greenwich this Friday night, January 8, in the Panthers’ eighth game of the year. It will take a very good effort from the Witches to keep the Panther boss from ringing up his 200th win. But anything is possible in the WASAREN League. GCS will be ready.