Sports Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, January 19, 2006
Voorheesville girls' basketball
By Tim Matteson
VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville girls’ basketball team came within seconds of pulling off its biggest win of the year on Friday.
It would have been just the Lady Blackbirds’ second win of the year, but they were denied the victory after Holy Names’ Bethany Deer made two foul shots with five seconds left in the game to give her team a 47-46 win.
The Blackbirds still had one shot, but Jenna Massaroni’s attempt went off the side of the rim.
The game was nip-and-tuck throughout as neither team had a big advantage.
Holy Names led 14-13 at the end of the first quarter and Voorheesville led 26-24 at halftime.
Neither team got momentum as each traded baskets throughout the second half. Voorheesville did hold its largest lead at the end of the third quarter, 40-36.
But then Holy Names cut the lead to one point on a three-point basket by Becky Staples.
Voorheesville did not score in the first four minutes of the eight minute fourth quarter.
In the meantime, Holy Names took the lead on a jump shot by Jamie Overton.
Voorheesville finally scored at the four-minute mark. Brigit Feeney made an inside basket.
The tally gave the Blackbirds the lead, 42-41.
Both teams struggled to make a basket in the next couple of minutes. But Voorheesville added to the lead on a jump shot from the foul line by Kara Zimmerman with 2:28 left in the contest.
Kierra Moore kept Holy Names in the game with an inside basket with 1:12 left in the game.
Then Holy Names took the lead with 39 seconds left on a pair of foul shots by Erin Furlong.
Holy Names looked to have the game in hand but a foul was called by Kelly Macken and Voorheesville’s Amanda Markert went to the free-throw line to shoot a one-and-one.
Markert made the first shot to tie the game and showed great poise in swishing the second free throw to give the Birds the lead, 46-45.
But then, on the inbounds pass, Deer got to the ball and a foul was called on Feeney, raising the ire of the Voorheesville players, coaches, and fans.
Deer, too, showed great poise as she calmly sank both free throws to give her team the lead.
The Blackbirds then got the ball quickly down the court and Massaroni had a shot from the left side but it fell just short.
Feeney had a good game for the Blackbirds, scoring 16 points to lead the team. Markert scored 12 points, and Brittany Vogel added five.
Deer scored 18 points for Holy Names. Brittany LaClair added eight points and Staples chipped in with five.
The Blackbirds lost to Lansingburgh, 54-26, on Tuesday night.
The loss drops the Blackbirds to 1-11.
They play at Mechanicville on Friday and host Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk the following Friday.
Guilderland boys' basketball
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland boys’ basketball team fought until the end, they just didn’t have the big horse that the Shaker High School team had.
The Blue Bison used a 22-point fourth quarter — led mostly by 6 foot, 11 inch center Brad Sheehan — to blow past the Dutchmen, 63-54, on Tuesday night.
"We didn’t quit until the end," said Guilderland Coach Ron Osinski. "We played more flawlessly over there. This time, we made mistakes on the execution of things. We’re the kind of team that can’t make mistakes on offense and defense. That hurts us. But these are high-school kids and they do."
Shaker held a 43-42 lead at the end of the third quarter, but outscored Guilderland 22-12 in the final stanza to pull away with the win.
The Dutch ran out of gas in the last quarter and Shaker took advantage.
The teams traded baskets in the early going, but then Sheehan went on a 8-0 run to give his team a big lead.
Sheehan, who is headed to Georgia Tech University on a scholarship, made a jump shot with 5:29 left in the frame. Then he threw down back-to-back dunks — a one-handed slam from the right side and then a two-handed dunk on a fast break. Sheehan added an inside basket and Shaker had a nine-point lead, 53-44, with 2:44 left in the contest.
"It’s hard to stop that," Osinski said. Referring to Shaker’s Griffen McLoughlin, he went on, "and 31 was built like an aircraft carrier."
Two foul shots by Guilderland’s Jimmy Googas ended the run but the damage had been done.
The Dutchmen kept the difference in single digits until they were forced to foul and Shaker capitalized on the free throws.
"We had to play a full-court game," Osinski said. "And not everyone can do that so getting the guys rest was difficult. But that was the only way we could’ve played them. We couldn’t play in the halfcourt, and, when they did, they killed us. That was our game plan and, if it didn’t work, we would’ve gotten out of there."
Sheehan led all scorers with 26 points. John Hans scored 14 including four three-point baskets. McLoughlin added seven for the Blue Bison.
Googas led the Dutchmen with 19 points and Matt Doherty scored 11. Brett Marfurt chipped in with 10 points for the Dutchmen.
"Athletic"
"We played as good as we can," Osinski said. "We were athletic. Doherty had 11 points but Jimmy Googas had 19 points. It’s tough all five starters need to score."
Guilderland’s other two starters — Mark Domaracki and Luke Pagano — scored eight and six points each.
The game was close throughout the first three quarters. Shaker led 14-12 at the end of the first quarter, but Guilderland used a 17-15 second quarter to keep the margin to just two points.
Googas tipped in a missed shot at the buzzer to keep the margin at two.
Pagano did the same thing at the end of the first quarter.
Guilderland also outscored Shaker in the third quarter, 15-14, and trailed by just one point heading into the final stanza when the Dutch tired.
"It’s the 13th game of the season," Osinski said. "I’m sure our legs are tired. We’ve done it all year," he said of the team’s pressure defense.
The loss drops the Dutchmen to 2-7 in the Suburban Council and 5-8 overall. They have lost three in a row and currently sit in the basement of the Blue Division.
But Osinski has found joy in coaching this group of players.
"This team is fun," the coach said. "They make mistakes that’ll drive you crazy. We’ll keep playing and maybe we can upset someone at sectional time."
But before the Dutchmen reach sectionals, they have five more regular-season games. They play Ballston Spa at home on Friday and then finish with three road games — at Columbia on Jan. 27; Saratoga on Jan 31; and Shenendehowa on Feb. 3. The Dutchmen wrap up the regular season with a home make-up game against Saratoga.
BKW wrestling
By Tim Matteson
BERNE — In its first season as a varsity team, the Berne-Knox-Westerlo wrestling squad won its first dual meet of the year, beating Galway, 45-42.
"Everything just fell into place," said BKW Coach Jeff Vogel said. "We gave one away the week before. We should’ve beaten Schoharie but we had some kids that weren’t able to wrestle. And the following week, the powers that be gave us one that we probably weren’t scheduled to win. We got one and it is very exciting for the kids."
The Bulldogs got big wins from a few grapplers.
Tom Bushnell pinned Tim Snyder in 3:30 in the 125-pound weight class to pick up six points for BKW. Josh Glick won by decision, 7-1, at 140 pounds to also earn points for the Bulldogs. In the 215-pound weight class, Dom Penk pinned Mason Schmidt for another six points for BKW.
Tom DellaRocco, Dave Tiernan, Greg Hannay, Kevin Sherman, and Keith Domermuth all won by forfeit.
There were seven matches wrestled and Galway won four of them.
"Galway had a lot of forfeits," Vogel said. "But we beat them by a couple of pins. They were excited to be in a key match. We had three guys win their match. We did respond."
The Bulldogs gave up a couple of forfeits, but had more classes filled than Galway.
"We haven’t had a 119- or 96-pounder all year," Vogel said. "And, due to injury, we don’t have any at 171. Other than that, we’ve got someone everywhere else. There are a lot of small-school teams that don’t have full rosters.
"We have some wrestlers on modified," Vogel added. "But I don’t believe in bringing up kids when they are not ready."
The fact that Galway won four of the seven contested matches but still lost shows the fickle nature of the sport of wrestling.
"The week before, we wrestled Schoharie and we won all the matches on the mat," Vogel said. "But we had an extreme number of forfeits so we lost the bout."
"The next step"
Vogel has seen a lot of growth in his team on the mat during the season.
"On Saturday, I took some of the kids to a varsity tournament and we had a tough time," the coach said. "We saw a lot of technical aspects that we’ve never seen before. At our next tournament at Fonda, we’ll be much better.
"But definitely, our level of wrestling has improved and our confidence is better," Vogel added.
The improvements have progressed during the season as the Bulldogs have competed at a lot of tournaments and dual meets during the season.
"We are starting to get moves down," Vogel said. "And this week, it’s not just moves, the kids are starting to learn strategy. Where they are on the mat, what move to make, and how much time is on the clock. They are taking the next step."
The wrestlers will have plenty of time to learn as the team has just one senior and one junior. The other 10 varsity competitors are in eighth, ninth, and 10th grades.
"That is very encouraging as well," Vogel said.
The victory against Galway came at home on a special night.
"There were a lot of people there and it was great to get our first win in our last home match of the year," Vogel said. "It was Senior Night and we just don’t honor the seniors but also their parents and everybody who has lended a hand in the program.
"A lot of people came who had never been to a match before and couldn’t believe it. The excitement grew as we were getting closer to winning. You could feel the intensity as it came down to one or two matches. The tension grew and the excitement grew."