WEEK IN REVIEW: BOYS' BASKETBALL
Germantown Takes Section II Title
Greg Dedrick
ccSCOOP Sports
03-08-10 - 1:00 a.m. - Two teams entered this week with hope of sectional titles still alive. By the time the smoke cleared on Championship Sunday, we had just Germantown left playing and the Clippers came away with their first Section II title since 1979.
SATURDAY
Fort Edwards at New Lebanon
Somehow last week we missed out on the result of New Lebanon’s second-round contest against Fort Edwards. The Tigers, playing in front of their home fans against the fifth-seeded Flying Forts, fell behind by 2 after a quarter, but it was a dismal second quarter, in which they were outscored 11-0, that sealed their eventual 48-33 loss.
Mike Gavrity led the Tigers, scoring 19 points including all three of his team's three-pointers. Bryan Potter was held to just 8 points, his only single-digit outing of the entire season. Todd Ferguson, Kyle McHugh, and Chris Evans each chipped in with 2 points.
THURSDAY
Ichabod Crane vs. Lansingburgh at Glens Falls Civic Center
After pulling the slight upset over Scotia last week, the Riders looked to make an even bigger splash on Thursday facing top-seeded Lansingburgh at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Right from the start, you could see the battle-tested Knights were in no mood to have their season end on Thursday.
Ichabod Crane fell behind 17-1 after one quarter and had a hard time getting back into the game the rest of the way. The Riders got some offense going in the second period but were still down 10 at the half. The Knights had their offense going again in the second half, and they cruised to a 56-38 win and into the Class A Finals.
Josh Ingham led the Riders with 14 points, including three triples and three free throws. Derick Horn added three shots from deep and finished with 9 points. Chris Larm chipped in with 7, while Joe Fey added 2. Mitchell Niemeyer and Ricky Pallozzi each nailed a three-pointer and finished with 3 points each.
SUNDAY
Germantown vs. Argyle at Glens Falls Civic Center
The second-seeded Clippers made the long trek to Glens Falls on Sunday to face off with top-seeded Argyle, with the Section II Class D title on the line. The two teams played evenly throughout much of the contest before the Clippers began to get their legs and used a big 12-2 run in the fourth quarter to propel them to a 70-61 victory.
It took Germantown four and a half minutes to get on the board at the start of the game, when a Cody Broast backdoor layup from a D. J. Lyons pass cut the Clippers' deficit to 6-2 in the early goings. From there the Clipps would score the game’s next 4 points, and a 5-point spurt by Larry Niebling late in the quarter put Germantown up 11-10 after one. |
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Thomas Griffin got hot in the second quarter, scoring 5 points and dishing out three assists, as the Clippers continued to play well offensively. Freshman guard Joey Lufkin started to put the Scotties on his back, getting to the free-throw line often and keeping his team in the game. With their lead at 1 late in the second quarter, Mike Wyant scored a basket off an inbounds play to push the Clipper lead to 3 at the half.
After a quiet first half, Cody Broast got going for the Clippers and made things very difficult for the top-seeded Scotties. Griffin and Broast scored back-to-back hoops to start the half, before Argyle bounced back with two hoops of their own. That’s when Broast went on his run, nailing back to back three’s. Argyle responded with three straight buckets of their own to pull within 3, but Broast nailed another three, this one from deep beyond the high-school arch. The lead was back down to 3 when Larry Niebling scored on three straight layups late in the quarter to push the lead back up. Two late Argyle free throws pulled the game to 52-44 heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter was closely contested, but Argyle was never able to pull within striking distance. Griffin, Niebling, Broast, Lyons, and Wyant combined for a 16-to-4 fourth-quarter run to ice the game.
The Clippers finished the game with seven three-pointers while holding Argyle to two from deep. Germantown converted just 12 of 28 free throws, while Argyle shot well from the charity stripe, making 16 of 21 from there.
Class D Tournament Most Valuable Player Cody Broast led the way for Germantown with 22 points, while Class D All Tournament Team member Thomas Griffin chipped in with 15 points and five assists. Larry Niebling added a big 21 points for the Clipps, while Mike Wyant added 7. Daniel Thomas added 3 points in the win, while D. J. Lyons had 2 points and three assists. The Clippers now move into Regional play next week against the Section III Class D winner.
