Basketball a brief distraction for Cohoes after fire
COHOES, N.Y. » After a day at school in which the main topic of conversation was a fire that hit more than 20 buildings in downtown Cohoes, a boys high school basketball game was a brief distraction for the City School District Friday night.
“That was quite tragic yesterday, a lot of people have to start over,” Cohoes coach Bill LeBeau, a retired police officer, said Friday night. “Downtown has become revitalized in the last year or two and now it took out about three blocks.
“We don’t have any of our (basketball) kids down there, at least no one has said anything yet, but we do know of some families who are relocated. I’m just glad nobody got hurt and hope first responders are alright.”
In the contest, a young, under- manned Cohoes squad dropped a 61-28 Colonial Council contest to Lansingburgh, the defending Section II Class A champs.
Vinny Tario led the Knights with 14 points while teammate Isaiah Knight had 10 points and Mike Zanda added nine points.
Because of roster issues, several Cohoes JV players had to step onto the varsity stage and play big minutes.
Sophomore Leon Poulin ended up leading the Tigers in scoring with 11 points while senior Jaquel Daniel had 10 points, including two 3- pointers, and freshman Troy Snyder had five points.
Several organizations in the Cohoes area are accepting donations to help those who were displaced in the fire including the Cohoes Community Center where a reported 16 adults, a 10-year- old boy and a 2-year- old girl were being helped according to the Cohoes City School District.