by Gary Danforth
The people at the press table at the Glens Falls Civic Center were talking aloud about the effort put forth by both teams in last Sunday’s, March 7, Class C, Section II championship basketball game. If you missed the game you missed a classic match up between two teams as evenly paired as leaves on a tree.
Anyone who thinks less of Mike Lilac Jr.’s Hoosick Falls Central School Panther team for having come out on the short end of that ball game doesn’t remotely understand the effort it took for that HFCS team to get to the Civic Center. Second, there is a reason why the Panthers’ opponent, Maple Hill High School, is 21-1 on the year and coming off a trip to the State Class C championship game last year. It will take a very good team to keep them from getting to the State final four this year. Third, Maple Hill beat a team in the Section II, Class C championship game that came close to making their own three-pointer, which bounced off the rim at the final horn and which may have gotten the Panthers to the state final four in 2010. It was a game which wasn’t over until 6’6” Panther senior center/forward Kevin McMahon’s catch and shoot, turnaround trey came up just short at the final horn, allowing the Wildcats to walk off the Civic Center court with a come from behind 46-45 win. HFCS looked on a couple of occasions to have this game won, but Maple Hill is a great team. Hoosick Falls did all they could to keep that from happening. Either team could have won this game.
Hoosick Falls came out early and just dominated play. HFCS just took it right at Maple Hill. They were firing on all five cylinders. It was beautiful to watch. After the Wildcats took a 2-0 advantage, HFCS ran off the next fourteen points. Sophomore John Hayden hit a right baseline jumper. Sophomore Tanner Williams drove the lane for a score. Hayden hit from the right baseline. McMahon hit a free throw. Sophomore Alex Lilac scored on a drive. Lilac hit a left side three-pointer. Junior Sean Dingman scored in close, good for the Panthers’ 14-2 spread. One sportswriter couldn’t believe Maple Hill was being taken apart like this by HFCS, but I had seen Lilac coached teams carve up many other opponents over the years. A McMahon drive gave Hoosick Falls a 16-3 lead after eight minutes.
Hoosick Falls still led 20-7 when Hayden scored in close. A three-pointer by the Wildcats Christopher Despart got Maple Hill to 20-10. Then Maple Hill scored again. Maple Hill was a team which was not going to give up. Like a vampire, you were going to have to put a stake through its heart. Dingman hit a pair from the line for HFCS. The Wildcats answered with a bucket. McMahon hit a Panther jumper. Maple Hill answered. McMahon scored in close off a Lilac feed, just before the first half horn, good for a 26-16 HFCS lead.
McMahon scored inside to begin period three and propelled Hoosick Falls to a 28-16 lead.
But Maple Hill is a very good team. They began to use 6’5” Sean Danaher in close. Danaher, a stout, post player, began to get position inside the Panther defense. McMahon, who had three blocks in the first quarter, which really got the attention of the reporters, was doing all he could to keep Danaher in check. But if Danaher didn’t score, he would kick it out for a jump shot or pass to a slashing teammate. Maple Hill scored twice more. A Hayden inside score put HFCS ahead, 30-20 with 4:20 left in period three. Maple Hill kept coming at HFCS. They hit a three-pointer and then scored again. A McMahon inside score left HFCS ahead, 33-25. But Maple Hill hit a field goal and free throw to get to 33-28 entering period four.
A Maple Hill press in the third quarter had begun to cause some Panther turnovers. And HFCS had missed some free throws. Maple Hill, like HFCS, doesn’t foul that often. Both teams turned the ball over twice to begin period four before Maple Hill finally scored with 2:55 left in the quarter to get to 33-30. HFCS had missed two free throws. Maple Hill hit a foul shot, but McMahon canned a pair from the line, good for a 35-31 Panther lead with 1:38 left. Maple Hill hit the front end of a one and one foul shot opportunity to get to 35-32.
Then Hoosick Falls lost a defensive rebound. Championship caliber teams cash in. Maple Hill scored off the Panther turnover to get within 1 at 35-34 with 1:00 to play. HFCS missed two more free throws with :40 left. Maple Hill scored on a drive with :24 left to tie the game at 36-36. HFCS called a timeout with :04 left. They couldn’t score against the Wildcat defense. The game was going to overtime. It was 36-36.
Williams hit a Panther free throw but missed a second such chance. Hayden gave HFCS a 39-36 lead when he scored on an offensive put back. Maple Hill answered. Then Maple Hill took their first lead of the game at 40-39 with 1:48 to play. A McMahon drive put HFCS ahead 41-40 with 1:18 left. Then Despart knocked down a trey for Maple Hill from the right corner with :57 left, good for a 43-41 lead.
HFCS took a 44-43 lead when junior Quinn Rasmus drove, scored and converted a conventional three-point play with :48 left. Maple Hill turned the ball over with :20 left. Rasmus made the first of a bonus free throw situation with :19 left to give HFCS a 45-43 lead. A second free throw was missed. Maple Hill inbounded the ball and called timeout with :14 left. After working the ball around against the Panther defense, Despart drilled another three-pointer from the right side with :04 left to take their 46-45 lead.
Hoosick Falls called time out. The ball was inbounded but heavy Wildcat defensive pressure allowed HFCS to get the ball to only about half court. With 1.6 seconds left a second Panther timeout was called. When play resumed the Panthers couldn’t inbound the ball so a third Panther timeout was called.
This time the ball was inbounded. McMahon, standing on the right side, just a step outside the three-point line, caught the ball, wheeled to his left and put up a three-pointer. The ball looked good, just the width of a basketball, short, off the right side of the rim. Maple Hill would advance to regional play at SUNY Potsdam with their hard earned 46-45 sectional title. Hoosick Falls’ season was over.
McMahon with 18 points, Hayden with 10, Rasmus, 5, Lilac, 5, Dingman, 4, and Williams with 3 scored for HFCS. Despart with 12 points, Danaher, 10, and Dominic Prinzo with 10 paced the Wildcats.
Rebounding from Afar: HFCS hit but nine of sixteen free throws in this Sunday afternoon championship game. McMahon and Lilac were named to the all Class C tourney team. McMahon most likely would have been named Class C MVP if HFCS had won. He’ll most likely have to settle for his second consecutive WASAREN League MVP, as he led HFCS to a 13-1 league mark and a second straight league title. He also scored over 1,000 points in his HFCS career. The team was 18-4, overall, and received a sectional runner-up plaque. Great work, Panthers in this 2009-10 hoop season which saw Lilac end with 211 coaching wins in 14 seasons. A young Panther team with some help from a good JV team should be strong next year. Others on the varsity roster were juniors David Ciuk, Mike Brewster, Ryan Hand and Will Luke along with seniors Hutton Rasmus and Andy DiDonato.