Hoosier Holiday Basketball Tourney – Hoosick Falls Boys Win Tourney

by Gary Danforth
HFCS Panther varsity boys basketball Coach Mike Lilac Jr. got an MVP performance from 6’6” senior center/forward Kevin McMahon last Tuesday evening, December 29, in the championship of the Hoosier Holiday Basketball Tournament to record his 198th career coaching triumph at HFCS. McMahon scored twenty points in the two game tourney and dominated the paint with numerous blocks, including an all important block in the closing minute, as the host Panthers beat a very good Class B Watervliet High School five 40-38 in the title contest.
In a battle of once beaten high ranking Class C and Class B teams in Section II, McMahon got plenty of help from his teammates to keep Hoosick Falls’ record intact for never having lost the tourney title game since the tournament began in the mid 1990s. Sophomore Alex Lilac scored 12 points and nailed a crucial three-pointer with 1:55 to play which put the Panthers ahead, 38-35. Then junior Sean Dingman added a Panther free throw with :43 left to give HFCS a 39-37 bulge. Junior Mike Brewster hit an important foul shot with 3.5 seconds to play which gave Hoosick Falls the title. The Panthers had to sweat out Watervliet inbounding the ball and dribbling the length of the court for a last second trey attempt which would have won the game for the Cannoneers.
HFCS broke out to a 16-9 lead when Dingman scored inside with about three minutes left in the opening half. ’Vliet battled back to 16-15 before Lilac hit a three-pointer and sophomore John Hayden scored inside for the Panthers to give HFCS their 21-15 halftime spread.
’Vliet got to 21-18 and 23-19 before McMahon’s two-handed tip-in gave Hoosick Falls a 25-19 edge with 4:00 left in period three. After ’Vliet got to 27-23, McMahon buried a trey to end period three, giving Hoosick Falls a 30-23 spread heading into the final eight minutes.
Lilac made three consecutive free throws, after being fouled on a three-point attempt, to give the Panthers a 35-28 lead with 5:34 to play. But ’Vliet went on a 7-0 run to tie the score at 35-35 with 2:51 left to play. The Panther team banded together and pulled out the tough tournament title win.
McMahon with 9 points, Lilac, 12, Hayden, 8, Tanner Williams, 5, Dingman, 3, Hutton Rasmus, 2, and Brewster with 1 point scored for HFCS. Devonte Gleason of Watervliet led all scorers with 15 points while Tyler McLeod chipped in eleven points for ’Vliet.
Rebounding from Afar: The all-tourney team consisted of Lilac, Gleason and McLeod along with Berlin’s Cody Blaine and Waterford’s Matt Vaeslen. Rasmus won the Dee Cipperly Memorial Sportsmanship award. McMahon’s big rebounds and blocks when they were needed got him the MVP award.
If Lilac hasn’t collected career win number 200 in an away contest at Greenwich on Friday, January 8, he’ll get another opportunity when HFCS entertains Lilac’s alma mater, Stillwater Central School, on Tuesday, January 12. Something tells me he won’t need three games to get two wins. Not with this club, but in the dog eat dog WASAREN League anything is possible.