In the first quarter, both teams came out aggressive, physical, and sloppy. The referees let the teams play, and they battled it out. The Riders’ defense held Maple Hill’s leading scorer, Trent Tibbits, to a mere 2 points in the first quarter, while the Riders’ got offensive contributions from a number of players. The teams battled back and forth before Chris Larm converted down low off a good Sean Shattenkirk feed at the buzzer to put ICC up 14-12 at the end of one.
Josh Ingham opened up the second quarter with a three-pointer and added another shortly after. Maple Hill continued to fight despite Tibbits’ struggles on the offensive end, and as the teams went to the half, the game was knotted up at 22-22. The Wildcats were shuffling through their bench, subbing at what seemed like every dead ball, while the Riders used a rotation of just six players.
Looking fatigued, the Riders came out of the gate slow in the third quarter as Maple Hill ripped off an 8-0 run. Ingham scored on a drive to break up the Wildcat run and followed that up with a fast-break layup. Back on the defensive end, Shattenkirk got a steal and forced a foul where he converted two free throws. With the ball back in their hands, the Riders missed a shot, but Ben Gevlin snatched up the offensive rebound and scored to tie the game with a 1:30 left in the quarter. Wildcats’ Sean Danaher started to employ his strength to wear down the Riders big men down low as he scored six points over the final minute and a half. Only another triple by Ingham kept the Riders close as they fell behind by four heading into the final quarter.
The teams traded possessions early. A minute and a half into the quarter, Ingham cut backdoor and received a pass from Shattenkirk, but the ball rimmed in and out and kept the Riders behind by 4. From there on out, Maple Hill made the most of their opportunities, making 10 free throws over the final 6:30 minutes of the game. The Riders got hoops here and there, but for every score by ICC, Maple Hill had an answer.
Ichabod was led by Ingham who had 16 points, including 4 three-pointers, while Shattenkirk finished with 13. The Riders have six games left on their conference schedule, with the next being Saturday on the campus of St. Rose for the “Coaches verses Cancer” event where they will square off with Cairo-Durham, another top-tier Patroon Conference team. After another long stretch of days off, the Riders then will travel to current third-place team, Rensselaer.
