Lansingburgh rallies past Mohon
Knights book return trip to Section II Class A final
GLENS FALLS >> It had been 10 minutes into the game and Lansingburgh had yet to make a shot. Down by 13 points an incensed head coach Marc Fruscio called timeout and his yells could be heard audibly through the sparsely packed Civic Center.
“We weren’t playing hard enough,” Fruscio said. “That’s been the problem with these guys all year. Then turn it on and they turn it off. Even in practice, it’s sometimes frustrating. They need to play extremely hard.”
The message resonated with the Knights big time, as they came all the way back to snatch a 55-50 win from the jaws of defeat. With their season on the brink of ending far too prematurely, the top seed Lansingburgh found a way — and kept hope alive for the school’s first Section II title since 1967.
As the team headed into the locker room, team captain and leading scorer Davonte Jones was screaming “unfinished business” as the team celebrated in the locker room. Lansingburgh lost in the section final to Troy a year ago, and they have a chance to make up for that with a Saturday afternoon final against Averill Park back in Glens Falls.
Justin VanNess posted a career game with 15 points, which matched Jahidi Wallace’s total. Duncan Tallman had 23 points for Mohonasen to lead the way.
“We work so hard to get back to where we were last year,” Jones said. “We lost in the championship last year. We’ve been working since the beginning of the season to get back to this place. Now we can’t wait to get back in there and get there again.”
After getting down 15-2, the Knights scored on three straight possessions, punctuated by a
3-pointer from VanNess. Fruscio said he’s one of the strongest kids he’s ever met, and would be a great player if he understood his potential. He seemed to find that potential on Wednesday night. He was strong under the basket in the second half, and wouldn’t be denied. And that was after being forced to come out of the game and change jerseys.
Mohonasen wouldn’t go away ever.
Even after Lansingburgh came back to make it a 3-point game, Mohon went into the break up by seven, eventually extending it to nine. Even after the Knights took the lead, Mohon took it back, leading by as many as three points in the third quarter. But Lansingburgh wouldn’t be denied.
The emotion of what it all meant seemed to be way
too much.
“I was feeling (that it all might be over) the whole game,” Jones said. “No matter what. Until the clock hit zero and I saw that we won. Our coach kept preaching, this could be our last sixteen minutes at half, it just made us grind harder.”
But it wasn’t their last 16 minutes.
There will be at least one more game. And it will be against the third Suburban Council team. To make the New York State playoffs, the Knights will have to beat every Suburban Council team in Class A.
Averill Park might be the toughest, and will certainly be the most meaningful challenge yet.
“Calling that first timeout and looking at those eight seniors faces, they were saying, ‘Wow, this could be it,’” Fruscio said. “All the credit in the world to those guys. The executed what I asked them to do. They came out and they played hard after that.” Scotia finished the first half on an 18-2 run to go into the intermission with a one point lead.
But a 13-0 fourth quarter burst was what did the trick. And with each basket, the Warriors bench exploded. Averill Park hasn’t won a section title since 2006, and is on the brink of that very accomplishment. And to a man, the players on the team will tell you it’s like they’re playing with six
men on the court. Bielawa was a star at Averill Park. He graduated in 2015, and was killed by a drunk driver in South Carolina, where he attended college.
“We all got him on the back of our head, every time we play,” Germinerio said. “We go out and play hard for him. We all remember him. He helps us out on the court. We put up some shots, and they’re prayers honestly.”
It was Greg Allard that helped extend the initial lead. He turned a 13-4 lead into 19-4. And in the fourth quarter,
it was a combination of five players that created separation. After a Ryan Long 3-pointer made it a 13-point lead, the bench exploded and Pugliese pumped his fist.
On Feb. 3, Averill Park fell down 33-0 to Class AA No. 1 seed Colonie. They only lost by 21 points in the end, and Pugliese likes to think that his team hasn’t lost since halftime of that game.
He waited outside the locker room for his assistants to arrive. Then opened the door, slammed his fist against it as his players celebrated around him. He told them that Ryan was with them. Then they all yelled in joy when he told them there would be practice tomorrow.
The joy then turned to tears for Pugliese. Ryan might not be an every day conversation with Averill Park anymore, but he’s been there the whole time. And he was there on Wednesday when they needed him most.
“He hung out at our house every day,” point guard Noah Yearsley said. “He was like a brother to me. It was hard when we lost him. Everything we do out there is for him.”