Sunday, January 17, 2016 by Aidan Joly
In crunch time, Saratoga had to be resilient to pull off a momentum-building win.
Saratoga boys’ varsity basketball defeated the Bethlehem Eagles on Friday night at Saratoga Springs High School by a score of 67-63.
Saratoga led 39-29 lead at the break, but Bethlehem went on a 10-0 run to open the second half to tie the game, and they got to within two points in the final minutes. Nick Kondo had an answer to extend the 64-62 Saratoga lead, and hit a huge three pointer with 25 seconds left to seal the game and the win. That was Kondo’s only scoring of the game, and one of seven three-pointers tallied by Saratoga in the game.
Alex Skaine led the charge for the Streaks with a huge game, totaling 16 points and recording an incredible 24 rebounds.
“My team tried to get me the ball, and I played with a drive tonight,” Skaine said of his outburst.
He also hit a big layup to give Saratoga a lead in the closing minutes.
“I thought he did a great job inside, hit some big shots for us,” Saratoga head coach Matt Usher said. “And against a team that’s tough and gritty like that, that’s the difference.”
Adam Anderson also had 16 points, tying for the team lead with Skaine. AJ Lawton added nine points.
Lawton led Saratoga as they came out firing, hitting five three-pointers in the first quarter, three of them by Lawton. One of these was a buzzer beater to end the first quarter that gave Saratoga a 27-15 lead.
“We wanted to get out and run, and I think that the guys did a nice job of finding open shooters, and when we get the space, we have some guys that can knock them down,” Usher said of the first quarter attack.
Bethlehem was led by Hayden Thompson, who had 12 points. Michael Ortale had 11 points and Matthew Riker scored 10, the third-highest scorer.
The Saratoga boys’ JV team also picked up a win Friday, beating Bethlehem by a score of 66-57. The girls’ varsity team also beat Bethlehem by that score in a road upset.
Varsity boys’ basketball improves to 8-4 on the 2015-2016 season, and will continue their season on Tuesday, January 19th, taking on Guilderland on the road. They will return home on Friday, January 22nd, taking on Schenectady. That game is set to begin at 7 p.m.