VOORHEESVILLE — What a big night it was for the Voorheesville boys’ basketball team. The only problem was they almost threw it away.

The Blackbirds overcame sloppiness handling the basketball against a physical Mechanicville defense to beat the Red Raiders, 55-48, on Tuesday night.
"That was one we had to have," said Voorheesville Coach Don Catellier after the game. "We have lost three out of four. We came back on our home court against a Class C sectional team. We’ll see them again in the sectionals. They are a pretty good team and they play their zone well. They did a nice job."

Voorheesville didn’t pull away until late in the contest against Mechanicville’s 3-2 zone defense. With three guards up top, it made it difficult for the Voorheesville guards to handle the ball. Red Raider defenders forced numerous turnovers by jumping in the passing lanes.
"We practiced it all week," said Voorheesville senior Evan Christner of Mechanicville’s zone defense. "They have little tricks, but once you figure them out you have to put the guys in the right spots. I was moving around inside and I knew if I moved the zone, we could get openings. It opens up shots. You have to play as a team, especially against a zone."

"Clutch from the foul line"

The Blackbirds led for most of the game, but could not put the Red Raiders away until the final minutes. Voorheesville led, 28-22, at halftime and 40-36 at the end of the third quarter.

Mechanicville started the fourth quarter with a three-point basket by Chris Grayson to cut the lead to one-point, 40-39.

The score stayed that way until Mike Tesch made a short jump shot for Voorheesville with 5:54 left in the game.

Mechanicville answered with an inside basket by Paul MacMillan. The Red Raiders took the lead after Grayson stole the ball on a pass up top and had an easy fast-break lay-up to make the score 43-42 with 4:21 left in the game.

But Christner answered for the Birds. He scored an inside basket and was fouled. He converted the foul shot to put Voorheesville back up, 45-43.

Christner grabbed a rebound on the defensive end and added two more points after grabbing his own missed shot and putting it back.

On Mechanicville’s ensuing possession, Christner took a charge by Red Raider Josh Rougia.

The Red Raiders didn’t quit, though, as they got an inside basket by Pat Marra and two foul shots by Josh Gagtliastri that tied the game, 47-47.

Christner put the Blackbirds back up with an inside basket with 1:41 left in the game. The Birds then put on a foul-shooting clinic as they hit all six of their attempts in the final minute to pull away for the seven-point win.

Mechanicville got just a foul shot in the final minute of Tuesday’s contest.
"We were clutch from the foul line," Catellier said. "We’ve been consistent from the foul line this season."
"We’ve been doing pretty well this season with foul shooting," Christner said. "We practice it a lot. That is something we have to do to keep winning. We have to keep practicing foul shots because they will probably save us another night."

"A playoff game"

The Blackbirds made an outstanding 15 out of 17 free-throw attempts in the contest on Tuesday.

With the physical play they needed all of them.
"They were physical with us," Christner said. "But we had a couple of hard days of practice and that helps a lot. We play a lot of physical games. We just have to work through that. This is a good team to play against."

Christner had a double-double in Tuesday’s game. He scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Blackbirds. Ethan Mackey scored 12 points and Mike Snyder scored 11 to aid the Birds’ cause.

MacMillan was the lone Red Raider to reach double figures in scoring. He scored 11 points to pace Mechanicville. Rougia scored nine points and Grayson and Nick Lettrick each scored eight.
"It was a playoff game," Catellier said. "Both teams are trying to get there and move up. There were a lot of coaches here watching. But we lose our focus at times."

"Moving forward"

The Blackbirds bounced back from a tough 60-56 loss to Lansingburgh on Friday. The Birds are now 10-6 overall and 7-5 in the Colonial Council with four games left in the regular season.

Voorheesville travels to Ravena on Friday and Schalmont on Tuesday. The Blackbirds then host Cohoes on Feb. 8 and Watervliet on Feb. 12 to wrap up the league play.
"Hopefully, this will carry us for awhile," Catellier said. "We want to keep moving forward."

The Birds are starting to focus on their main goal of the season.
‘We want to win sectionals," Christner said. "Right now, we are taking it game by game. But it is coming to the end of the season and turning our focus to win sectionals. We focus on one game and working on playing hard, quarter by quarter. We’ll keep working hard in the gym to keep winning so we can reach our big goal."