by Ben Gaines
The eleventh-seeded, Hoosick Falls Panthers Boys Basketball team traveled to Mechanicville to face the sixth-seeded Raiders, coached by Ryan Richardson, in a rematch of the 2012 Section II finals game. The last meeting saw the Raiders capitalize on Panther mistakes in the last seconds of the game to win Section II. Tuesday night the Raiders were expected to win, but this Panther squad had other plans. Levi Brewster angled the tip to Andrew Hoag for the Panthers to win the tip; but the demons that had haunted them all season were still lurking. Turnovers and missed shots were weighing on the minds of the Panthers.
First blood was drawn for the Raiders by Nico Dumas from beyond the 3-point arch. The first quarter ended with the Panthers trailing the raiders 7-10, mostly due to the Raiders’ full court press. The Panthers needed a spark to get the momentum changed. With 7:20 left Coach Mike Lilac Jr. put in Cody Gaines to replace Austin Pitt who had just received his second foul. Half way through the quarter the Panthers felt the fire burning on the offensive end of the court. With 4:07 left sophomore Andrew Hoag stepped up and drained a three-pointer to start advancing the scoring in the second quarter. With 3:48 left Levi Brewster joined in followed by Randy Tutunjian, Evan Phillips and Taylor Baker to outscore the Raiders and end the half at 19-12.
In the second half both teams took the floor realizing this could be the last game of their season and they were not going to just lay down. At 6:34 Tutunjian sank a 3 for the Panthers. The clock ran down to 4:26 before the Raiders would make a hoop.
The 70% capacity crowd was often perplexed by the refs, and the coaches of both teams were often enraged by the calls, and the lack of calls. This was leading to a basketball game that was starting to look like a soccer game. The third quarter ended 33-22.
The final 8 minutes of play would take nearly 20 minutes as the Raiders played with a heightened sense of urgency; forcing Coach Lilac to call time out four times to retain possession when Evan Phillips and Taylor Baker were being trapped with the ball. At 2:15 the Raiders had pulled to within 5 of the Panthers but the 12 fouls assessed to both teams helped the Panthers, who converted 65% of theirs for 9 points. The last 23 seconds saw the Raiders throw in the towel and allow Andrew Hoag to dribble near half court until the buzzer blew for a 46-36 Panther victory.
Next Up – Greenwich
The Panthers will travel to Hudson Valley for a 5 pm game on Friday with Greenwich.
