KNIGHTS CONQUER CADETS
Lansingburgh defense excels, Knight’s beat La Salle Institute 44-34
TROY>> Both Lansingburgh and La Salle have built their Boy’s Basketball teams on running up-tempo and fast working offenses, but when they both met Friday night, La Salle looked to slow down the game, hoping to get Lansingburgh out of their comfort zone.
“Our game plan coming in was to slow it down a little bit,” said La Salle Head Coach Jon Desso. “We didn’t want to go too far from what we typically do, but we knew they were going to press us and knew it was going to be something we needed to focus on.”
“A lot of teams try to slow us down, we are trying to speed them up,” said Lansingburgh Head Coach Eric Loudis. “We’re trying to make as much havoc as possible. I thought defensively I was very pleased, but there is always room for improvement.”
Lansingburgh kept the game moving and the La Salle Cadets on their toes en route to a 44-34 win Friday night on their home court at Lansingburgh High.
“Our defense was spectacular tonight,” said Loudis. “I
was very happy with how are defense played.”
Lansingburgh’s defense was something to behold Friday night when they forced the Cadets to 30 turnovers and made 21 steals in the low scoring game. Speed and size were key for the Knights in the win and players like Vinny Tario and Trevor Green showed their importance on the court Friday.
“They’ve already been through it and they already know everything,” said Loudis. “They are adjusting to the game speed and we have some new guys here this year — they know the whole tempo of the game so nothing is unfamiliar to them.”
For Lansingburgh offensively, Green and Isaiah Knight lead the way. Knight finished with 14 points including two three point field goals and Green was right behind him with 12 points.
Knight shot 31 and 28 percent from beyond the arc. Green was an even 40 percent and was 50 percent from three with two three pointers.
Knight added three assists to his stat line and Green added two. Tario’s line on the night included four points with two assists, a block, two rebounds, and two steals. Knight led Lansingburgh in steals with six.
As a whole, Lansingburgh made just six free throw shots on 16 attempts for a 37 percent shooting percentage from the line.
“We have to hit some of our foul shots and our outside shots,” said Loudis. “They didn’t really fall in that third quarter.”
La Salle offensively, was spread out as usual with Liam Mooney leading the way with 14 points. Connor Cepiel added nine.
In the first quarter, Lansingburgh was able to limit La Salle to just six points, carrying a 16- 6 lead out of the opening frame.
After the second quarter, the Cadets began to fight back and generate some offense, despite trailing 28-17 going into halftime.
“The defensive side of the ball is where we are going to win games and we told them defense travels,” said Desso. “We told them at halftime ‘ they are on pace to score 60, if we can keep them in the upper 40’s we have a shot,’ and defensively we executed, we held them to 44, so I am proud of that effort and what we did to curve their scoring, we just couldn’t get those extra buckets.”
Desso noted that every time the Cadets were able to draw within single digits, a turnover hurt them and gave the Knights a chance to run the ball back and get a basket.
Desso admitted to turnovers being an ongoing issue this season for La Salle and one that will be a focus moving forward.
“We’re not valuing the ball each possession, and we’re giving teams extra shot attempts and extra possessions,” said Desso. “It’s something we are working on and something we know we have to change.”
The Cadets did keep that single digit differential for a portion of the second half as the third quarter ended with a 36-28 Lansingburgh lead, but the Knights were rolling.
“We were getting back to the game plan and staying patient,” said Loudis on the message to the team coming out of halftime. “We’re being basketball savvy. Having good basketball IQ is what I am trying and having these guys to understand about the game instead of just going out there and playing.”
La Salle leaves ‘ Burgh now 1-3 with room to improve. The Cadets will see Cohoes Tuesday, December 18.
Lansingburgh, now 3-3, sees Mohonasen next on Monday, December 17. They leave the gym floor Friday night happy with the win, but full steam ahead.
“They know Mohonasen from last year. A lot of them have a sour taste in their mouth losing to them in overtime so I don’t think I have to do too much to get them hyped up for the game,” said Loudis. “We have some things we need to work on. Get in and get some shooting up.”
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