by Gary Danforth
Mike Lilac Jr.’s Hoosick Falls Central School Panther boys basketball team raised its overall record to 17-3 last Saturday, February 27, with a crushing 61-35, Class C, Section II, quarterfinal win over Mayfield Central School in a game played at Guilderland Central School. The two time defending WASAREN League champion Panthers were led by a 19 point effort from 6’6” senior center/forward Kevin McMahon. But as he has had all season long, McMahon had a lot of help in this win.
Hoosick Falls broke out to an 18-6 lead after eight minutes and poured it on in period two, outscoring their foe 21-10 over the quarter to take a 39-16 spread at the halftime break. Then HFCS took the measure of Mayfield by a 15-7 margin in period three to lead 54-23 heading into the final eight minutes while drubbing Mayfield in their 61-35 quarterfinal match up.
Besides McMahon, who had scored his 1000th career point in an opening round sectional victory in his final game on the Panthers’ home floorboards, Tanner Williams with 12 points, Alex Lilac, 12, Quinn Rasmus, 7, John Hayden, 4, Sean Dingman, 3, Ryan Hand, 2, and Hutton Rasmus with 2 points scored for HFCS. Colt Duppen with 10) points led Mayfield with 10 points.
Rebounding from Afar: There were 19 Class C teams in the sectional bracket this year with Maple Hill being the number one seed. Lilac has now won 210 games over fourteen seasons at HFCS which averages out to fifteen wins per year. I get a kick out of people who say this guy can’t coach. He has forgotten more basketball than most coaches will ever know. Good luck HFCS in the semi-final against the Blackbirds, who have a 6’7” senior center in Ethan Mackey, who also recently scored his 1000th career point. Defense will decide who gets to the sectional championship game. I have a feeling HFCS is going to get there like they did in 2000 and 2002, when they also won league titles under Lilac.