Undefeated Pine Bush deals Kingston 1st loss
Pine Bush rallied to down Kingston High 81-69 in a battle of unbeaten boys basketball teams.
PINE BUSH, N.Y. » Brothers Brandon and Bryan Powell rallied Pine Bush in the second half Thursday night as the Bushmen downed Kingston High 81-69 in a battle of unbeaten boys basketball teams.
Brandon Powell scored 21 of his game-high 31 points in the second half and Bryan tallied 24 as Pine Bush battled back from an 11-point deficit to win.
Kingston was 6-0 coming in and Pine Bush 5-0.
Chris Wright, who led the Tigers with 24 points, connected for five 3-point field goals in the first half to help Kingston build a 4032 advantage at the break.
The Powells turned it around for Pine Bush, which had a 62-54 lead heading into the fourth quarter and never let the Tigers get any closer.
“(Brandon) Powell started hitting from three. He was making deep, deep threes,” Kingston coach Ron Kelder said. “We missed a couple of shots and they blitzed us. In the second half, we didn’t look as together like we did in the first half. We got a little frustrated. They definitely played
better than us in the second half.”
Brian Moore had 20 points and Damani Thomas added 13 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Tigers. Jimmy Moot grabbed 10 rebounds and Thomas Huleatt pulled down nine to help Kingston on the boards.
It did not help the Tigers that Thomas got into foul trouble in the second half or Wright had to come out late in the third quarter when he got banged up. He did return to play the fourth. Kingston got a chance to look at other players, but it didn’t help to dig out of a double-digit deficit.
“All in all, there were signs from other combinations that we can use,” Kelder said.
The Tigers had three tough games in six days. They beat Troy in overtime Saturday and knocked off Newburgh in OT on Thursday.
“We looked at this stretch and knew it would be rough. To find that we would win two of three is good, although I’d like one of them to be Pine Bush instead of Troy,” Kelder said. Newburgh and Pine Bush are Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I games.
“I like where we are,” said Kelder, whose team is 6-1 as it reaches the holiday break. The Tigers resume with a Jan. 5 game at Monroe-Woodbury. “We have to improve on defense,” he said, noting his team is allowing more than 70 points per game. “We have to drop that into the low 60’s or high 50’s.” KINGSTON (69)—Moore 8 3-3 20, Wright 7 4-5 24, Genther 1 0-0 2, Thomas 4 3-3 13, Warnecke 1 2-2 4, Moot 2 0-4 4, Huleatt 0 2-5 2. Totals 23 14-22 69. PINE BUSH (81)—Brdn Powell 8 9-10 31, Potts 1 0-0 2, Smith 0 3-4 3, Lemmount 3 0-0 8, Bryn Powell 10 3-6 24, Oglesby 1 0-0 2, Memmelaar 5 1-2 11. Totals 28 16-22 81. Kingston 14 26 14 15—69 Pine Bush 14 18 30 19—81 3-point field goals: Wright 5, Thomas 2, Moore; Brdn Powell 6, Lemmount 2, Bryn Powell. Team records: Kingston 1-1 OCIAA Division I, 6-1 overall; Pine Bush 3-0 OCIAA Division I, 6-0 overall.