by Ryan Mosher
While Hoosick Falls was talking about upsets following the 13th seeded girls basketball team’s back to back upsets in their sectional tournament, the boys team had to work especially hard to avoid becoming a victim of the upset as well. The Panthers played a pesky Rensselaer team, seeded 9th, at Hudson Valley Community College on Saturday afternoon.
The Rams played a physical game, out rebounding the Panthers in the first half, and leading 19-18 at halftime. The aggressive play seemed to put Hoosick Falls in a position they have not been familiar with this year, and they did not like being down. Things finally started going the Panthers’ way in the third quarter. With 3:45 to play, Ryan Hyde buried a three to tie the game at 23-23. On their next possession, Alex Lilac drove to the hoop, drew the defense to him and dropped a little pass to Matt Gormley under the hoop for an easy layup. On the next trip down the court, the senior point guard did the same thing, this time wrapping the ball around the defender’s back to Gormley who put his team up 27-23 with 2:32 to go in the quarter.
The Panther defense also stepped up, holding the Rams to one field goal and just four points in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter the defense held the Rams to four points again. Rensselaer’s Jarrid Wilkson went to the hoop time after time but could not finish and went 0-6 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.
Lilac took most of the wind out of the Rams’ sails with two three-pointers in the first minute and a half of the quarter, as the Panthers closed out the game for a 37-27 win. Lilac finished with 18 points, and Gormley had 12 points for Hoosick Falls.