VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville boys’ basketball team had a fun night on Tuesday, beating arch rival Watervliet and in convincing fashion.

The Blackbirds used a strong defensive effort in the second quarter to break open a 14-11 lead and cruise to a 59-39 victory.
"Last night was fun," said Voorheesville Coach Don Catellier on Wednesday. "There’s a rivalry there and they are the benchmark for the Colonial Council. If you want to win the league, you have to go into Watervliet and win a game. We’ve done that twice in two years."

The Blackbirds were ahead, 14-11, at the end of the first quarter but then held the Cannoneers scoreless for the first six minutes of the eight minute second quarter to build a big lead.

Voorheesville outscored Watervliet, 18-8, in the stanza.
"We played real well," Catellier said. "We did everything right. We shot five for nine in the paint and that was our game plan. We wanted to do that. We wanted to stay with that and get the ball inside to our big kids and our offense was able to do that."

Forward Nick Duncan scored 11 points and center Mike Hopper scored 10. Forward Evan Christner added nine points.

But it was guard Greg Klopfer who led the Blackbirds with 13 points. Andy Catellier chipped in 11 points for Voorheesville.
"We were balanced," Coach Catellier said. "It was nice. We definitely played real well."

Hopper and Christner also did a good job of stopping Watervliet’s big man, Ismael Maxwell.

Maxwell finished the contest with 21 points but only scored two points down low.
"We forced him to the outside," Catellier said. "Most of his points were on three-pointers or foul shots. Evan Christner and Mike Hopper did a good job. They frustrated him."

Coming of age

During the Christmas break, the Blackbirds beat another Colonial Council rival.

Voorheesville defeated Mechanicville, 40-34, on Dec. 27.
"It was okay," Catellier said. "We did not play that well. Klopfer had still been out with bronchitis. So I played Mackey Lloyd who is a sophomore. He played most of the first quarter. He settled in."

Klopfer played after the first quarter but was still feeling the effects of being ill.
"He didn’t shoot the ball real well," Catellier added. "Physically, he was able to go. We missed a lot of shots. But Evan came of age in that game. He scored 19 points and did a good job."

The Blackbirds were still down after suffering their first league loss of the season against Cohoes and did not shoot the ball well.
"But it was nice to get a win," Catellier said. "And Mechanicville is always a tough game."
"Skipped a few beats"

The Birds were in a bit of disarray before the Cohoes game on Dec. 21.
"We found out at four o’clock that Greg couldn’t play," Catellier said. "We moved Andy over to the point guard position and he did a good job for the most part. But they started pressuring us and we didn’t handle it well. We usually have two guys in the backcourt I know I can count on. But with one missing, we skipped a few beats. But we had a 13-point lead with three minutes to go."

The Blackbirds committed 30 turnovers and missed 10 or 11 free throws, Catellier said.
"We were not in sync," the coach said. "But it might be a case that a loss is good. It shows the kids that we are not invincible. It got us focused and hopefully we can build on that."

Next up for the Blackbirds is a home game against Colonial Council newcomer Broadalbin-Perth on Friday and another home game against Cobleskill on Tuesday.