By: Aidan Joly
In a late-season game, Saratoga was able to pull out a close 56-50 win over Niskayuna on Wednesday night at Saratoga Springs High School in a big match in terms of seeding.
Saratoga was up by 11 points at the end of the third quarter, but Niskayuna showed that they were not out of it. They would come back slowly but surely to make it a single-digit game and eventually tied it up with less than three minutes to play. It was then that Saratoga would step up their offense and pull away to pick up the win.
This came after Saratoga struggled in the first quarter of the contest, finding themselves down by nine at the end of the first eight minutes of play. However, the Blue Streaks would outscore Niskayuna 20-6 in the second quarter to put them up by five at the half.
“We got to the rim, we converted some shots that we should’ve made in the first quarter. We played better defense and got out on the break and scored some buckets in transition,” Saratoga head coach Matt Usher said.
Saratoga would grab a four-point lead with just over a minute to go after Brian Hart made a layup with a foul, setting the stage for Saratoga to grab their fourth consecutive victory.
Niskayuna would make it a three-point contest in the final minute and after a Saratoga turnover had a chance to tie the game. However, they weren’t able to pull it off, missing a shot to potentially bring it to a one-point contest, but the shot was off the mark, giving Saratoga the win.
This close game continues a season trend for Saratoga, having games come down to the wire.
“We’re trying to get out of that, beat the teams we should beat,” Adam Anderson said.
Anderson would lead Saratoga on the offensive side of the ball, scoring 22 points. Mike Tillman had 12 and Brian Hart scored 11 for the Blue Streaks.
Niskayuna was led by Collin Detrick who scored 15, Paul Otto with 10 and Ben Punyak, who tacked on eight.
Wednesday was the 2017 Senior Night for Saratoga, and seniors Jack Beck, Mike Tillman, Adam Anderson, Enyer Tineo-Gonzalez and Connor Sullivan were honored pregame, along with Saratoga superfan and creator of “Toga Hot Seat” Peter Frolish, who has Duchenne uscular dystrophy.
In addition, Wednesday’s game was originally supposed to be played Tuesday, but was postponed due to weather.
Niskayuna falls to 3-13 in league play and 3-15 overall. They will play again on Friday on the road against Shenendehowa. That one will start at 7 PM.
With the victory, Saratoga improves to 11-5 in league play and 13-5 overall. They will also be back in action on Friday at home against Shaker, with another 7 PM start.