Saturday, January 23, 2016 by Aidan Joly
A fourth-quarter comeback fell just short in Saratoga’s bid to win another home game.
The Schenectady Patriots defeated the Saratoga Blue Streaks varsity boys’ basketball Friday night at Saratoga High School by a score of 63-62.
Down by ten points with seven minutes remaining in the game, Saratoga head coach Matt Usher made some changes during a timeout, and the Blue Streaks gained momentum after that, slowly chipping away at Schenectady’s lead. They tied the game at 52 with just over three and a half minutes to play after Connor Sullivan made a huge three-pointer less than a minute before to make it a two-point game.
After Saratoga tied it up, the Patriots went on a 7-2 run in less than two minutes, and eventually had a 61-56 lead with less than a minute to play. Adam Anderson then hit a three of his own with 13 seconds left to make it 62-60 Patriots. The Patriots lead slimmed to one point just two seconds later after a five-second violation by Schenectady. After a free throw missed by the Patriots, Saratoga had a final chance, but couldn’t connect, and an Alex Skaine potential game-winning layup at the buzzer was blocked, ending the game.
“I think it was because we wanted it. We wanted to get the win, it was a big game for us, and we answered their run,” Schenectady head coach Eric Loudis said of his team’s win.
Tobias Holmes led the way for Schenectady, scoring 17 points. Roddy Delagrandeanse scored 16, and Tyrone Jenkins scored 10.
“I trusted my teammates, and I led the team to the victory. We just had to get the job done,” Holmes said after the game.
Schenectady led for all of the first half, holding 19-17 leads and 33-27 after the end of the first and second quarters. They led 46-36 at the end of three quarters.
Alex Skaine was the leading scorer for Saratoga, with 15 points. Adam Anderson was second with 14, and Mike Tillman had 11 points.
“They kept fighting, they played hard, they didn’t give up, and they showed some guts fighting all the way to the wire,” Saratoga head coach Matt Usher said of his team’s fight in the late stages of the game.
The Saratoga JV boys got a win, dismantling Schenectady by a score of 66-48, holding thirty point leads throughout the second half.
Schenectady varsity improves to 11-5 on the season with the win.
Saratoga falls to 8-6 on the 2015-2016 campaign, and will be back in action on Saturday, in a road game in Queensbury. They will be back at home on Tuesday, January 26, taking on La Salle. That game will begin at 7pm.