Boys Basketball: Saratoga varsity defeats Shaker 57-49

Saturday, December 6, 2014 by Aidan Joly

Saratoga senior Sean Grecco takes a shot above his teammate Alex Skaine and Shaker's Brian Hayes (#2) and Matt Woods.Sam Cherubin / Blue Streaks Basketball — Saratoga senior Sean Grecco takes a shot above his teammate Alex Skaine and Shaker’s Brian Hayes (#2) and Matt Woods.
Sam Cherubin / Blue Streaks Basketball

It was a night of breakout players for the Saratoga Blue Streaks varsity basketball team.

The team defeated the Shaker Bison on Friday night in their 2014-2015 home opener by a score of 57-49, after a fourth quarter comeback led by junior Alex Skaine and senior Zach Kircher.

“I thought that we started hitting some shots in the second half, and obviously Kircher and Skaine hit some big ones down the stretch for us, so that was huge,” said Blue Streaks head coach Matt Usher.

“We’re a team and we just keep fighting and never give up,” said Kircher, speaking about how the Blue Streaks were down by nine points early in the fourth quarter.

Saratoga senior Zach Kircher takes a shot during Friday's varsity game. Kircher was one of the game's high scorers with eight of the Blue Streak's 57 points.Sam Cherubin / Blue Streaks Basketball — Saratoga senior Zach Kircher takes a shot during Friday’s varsity game. Kircher was one of the game’s high scorers with eight of the Blue Streak’s 57 points.
Sam Cherubin / Blue Streaks Basketball

Kircher ended up scoring eight points in the game, only one of which was in the first half, on a free throw; and Skaine finished with 14 of his own. Senior Jack Herman also scored 14 points, including four from behind the three-point line. Star returning senior Sean Grecco finished with 11 points.

“I felt good on the boards and Chris [Byno] was also kind of co-leading to facilitate and relax us a little bit…. their guys were good, they were athletic, they were quick and Chris just kept looking for me and I kept putting it in the basket,” said Skaine.

“These kids are smart, they are unselfish and they’re fun to be around,” Usher said of his team.

Tied at 27 at halftime, the Blue Streaks outscored Shaker in the second half 30-22, after struggling in the second quarter. They were down 38-41 after three quarters and scored 16 points in the final eight minutes.

This was the varsity team’s home opener, and they improved to 1-1 after a loss to Niskayuna earlier in the week.

The junior varsity team also played Friday, erasing an 11 point deficit in the second half to send it into overtime tied at 55, but ended up losing by a score of 66-62. Saratoga freshman Brian Hart ended with 14 points in that game.

The freshman team lost to Shaker by a score of 70-46 earlier Friday.

Aidan Joly is a freshman covering sports for The Lightning Rod.

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