SECTIONAL PREVIEW: GERMANTOWN BOYS’ & GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Greg Dedrick
ccSCOOP Sports Editor

Both the Germantown boys’ and girls’ basketball teams are heading into the Section II Class D sectionals starting this week. The boys have been seeded seventh, earning them a home match in the first round. In that first-round matchup on Tuesday they will host tenth-seeded St. Johnsville.

The girls were seeded number one overall and were given a bye in the first round, so they will not play in the opening round.
 
Boys 
Germantown is coming into sectionals after finishing the season 15-5 overall and 12-4 in the Central Hudson Valley League. That 12-4 mark was good for a share of second place for the Clippers in the CHVL. St. Johnsville won Class D two years ago and was very strong again last year, but this year has been a bit of a down year for the Saints. St. Johnsville went 6-13 overall and just 3-10 in the Western Athletic Conference.
 
The Clippers story has been the same all season. It’s a young team that relies heavily, at least offensively, on a trio of sophomores. This is a team that doesn’t have a single senior on their roster, while wing forwards Cody Broast and Thomas Griffin along with point guard Larry Niebling led the team in scoring. The trio combined to score more than 75 percent of Germantown’s points this year. All three players hit for double-digit three-pointers this season. Broast got to the free throw line 96 times this year and hit 18 threes to score in double figures in all but one game this season. Griffin got to the charity stripe 91 times while making 17 triples, also scoring in double figures in all but one game. Niebling, the smallest of the trio, did his best work from outside, hitting a team high 20 three-pointers and nearly 75 percent from the free-throw line. Niebling got into double digits in all but four games this season.

St. Johnsville also relies heavily on three players for the bulk of their scoring, but unlike the Clippers, the Saints have one "star" player. Junior forward Jaxson Smith has been starting for the Saints since he was a freshman, and this year he took control of this team, leading it in threes made and free throws. Smith was held to single digits only three times the entire season.

Germantown started the season hot but stumbled down the stretch as perhaps the long varsity season caught up to this young squad. St. Johnsville still has some players left from their title run a few years ago, but this is certainly not the same team it once was. Smith is going to get his points for the Saints, but do they have the defensive ability to slow down the trio of Clipper scorers? My gut feeling is they can keep it close early before Germantown runs away with it as the game goes on.
 
Prediction: Germantown 69—St. Johnsville 42