Friday, December 26, 2014 by Aidan Joly
A huge night by Liam Stewart was not enough for Saratoga to beat Shenendehowa.
The Shenendehowa varsity basketball team defeated the Blue Streaks on Monday night at Saratoga Springs high school, by a score of 68-47, behind big nights from Shen’s Petar Bebic and Brandon Fischer.
Bebic had 21 points, and led the team. “I was hitting the open shots and they put the pressure on Kevin (Huerter) and Tom (Huerter) and that left me wide open for open shots,” Bebic said.
Kevin Huerter had 15 points, second on the team. Tom Huerter added eight on with his brother.
Brandon Fischer had 13 points, and was the third leading scorer on the team.
“I think just hustling, getting open for my teammates to give me the ball, trust me, and just made the open shots.” Fischer said.
“It’s a good win for us, anytime you go on the road, to a school like Saratoga, that always has a lot of support from the community, it’s always a great win,” said Shen head coach Tony Dzikas.
On Saratoga’s side, the main story was a huge game from senior Stewart, who had 29 points, a season high, playing in just his second game this season.
“Liam shot the ball well, that gave us a spark in the first half, and it was nice to see some of those shots go down… he gave us a jump start there in the first half,” Streaks head coach Matt Usher said of Stewart’s night. Stewart gave the fans a treat with a rare high school dunk in the third quarter.
Sean Grecco was second on the team in scoring with 10 points, followed by Alex Skaine, who had four. Chris Byno and Zak Clarke each added a basket.
Saratoga came up with an 18-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, but relinquished it during the second quarter, falling to a six-point (34-28) lead at halftime. Shen got up 13 at the end of three quarters to 53-40. Saratoga showed the beginning signs of a comeback early in the fourth quarter, but eventually ended up losing by 21 points.
“They hit some shots, they were struggling in the first quarter there, and once they got comfortable they started hitting some shots in the second quarter and they’re a good team, so they’re going to do that,” Usher said of Shen’s halftime lead.
The Streaks fall to 1-5 on the season with the loss, and will be playing in a tournament this weekend at the high school. Their first game will be Saturday at 8 p.m. and they will play at either 2:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Aidan Joly is a freshman covering sports for The Lightning Rod.