Playing in their final Patroon Conference game of the year—a snowed-out make-up against Cairo-Durham—the Ichabod Crane Riders had a number of factors going against them. First, what was supposed to be a home game for the Riders turned into a "neutral" court battle at Columbia-Greene Community College, a school geographically closer to Cairo-Durham than to ICC. Second, the Riders were playing without injured big man Derick Horn, who is still recovering from a leg injury suffered against Chatham last week. Finally, the game was called about as tight as possible. Whether the contact was real or not, the number of fouls whistled would lead one to believe the game was a foul fest. Both teams struggled to get into an offensive groove with the amount of whistles on both ends. In the end, the Riders struggled at the start, and again at the end, falling to the Mustangs 39-32.
The Riders started the game in a box—and one meant to contain C-D’s star scorer Hunter Phillips—and for at least the first quarter, it was effective. Phillips ended the quarter with zero points. On the offensive side, the Riders went to Chris Larm early and often as he scored in the low post, in the high post, and from the free throw line en route to 5 early points. With only seconds on the clock, Mike McGrath converted down low and made a free throw to put Cairo up 11-9 after one.
Tough ICC defense forces a Cairo-Durham travelling turnover.
ICC drives to the hoop and draws a foul.
In the second quarter, Phillips got going for C-D to the tune of 7 points, while Brett Zimmerman added 4. The Riders offense continued to struggle as ICC hit just two shots: a Josh Ingham three and a Larm down low. Heading into the half, the Riders were down 22-14.
Coming out of the locker room, the Riders looked to have every intention of putting a stop to this potential upset. After just two free throws in the first half, ICC’s leading Sean Shattenkirk scored 5 points in the third, while Larm continued to be a force to be reckoned with, scoring twice down low and once on a fast break lay-up courtesy of an Ingham assist. With the Riders’ offense rolling, their defense was locking the Mustangs up. Limiting Cairo’s trips to the free throw line and forcing their opponents to shoot outside jumpers, the Riders’ defense held the Mustangs scoreless while jumping out to a 28-22 lead.
As good as their offensive and defensive efforts were in the third quarter, it was the exact opposite in the fourth for the Riders. Mitchell Niemeyer scored the quarter’s first points on a driving lay-up, while Shattenkirk and Dan Earley each added a free throw in the final stanza, but that was all the Riders could muster offensively. Defensively the Riders surrendered 17 points in the quarter, including 12 from the free-throw line.
With under a minute left to play and the Riders down 3, Ingham was called for a questionable offensive foul that all but sealed the game for the Mustangs. Ingham finished with 6 points and 3 assists, while Larm, who did not play at all in the fourth quarter finished with a team high 13. Shattenkirk notched 8, while Earley added 3 and Niemeyer had 2.
Cario-Durham commits a foul trying to prevent a ICC follow up.
The Riders finish the regular season 15-3 in the league, good for second place, and 15-5 overall. With the sectional seeding meeting coming up in just a few days, this loss could be the difference between an ICC fourth seed and an eighth in Section II Class A.
