Basketball
ing where we weren’t. When we were boxing our hard we just didn’t get back to the ball.”
The Blue Devils were also buoyed by the return of its two big men.
“Noah’s been our leading rebounder, averaging 10 or 11 a game and when you miss that kind of rebound production it’s very tough,” Columbia coach Curtis Sankey said. “You count on him.
“When you bring somebody down who’s a wing player down to do it Noah already has that mentality and now I’m trying to make somebody who is like ‘O.K. I’ll go in there,’ and they don’t have it, but he has that mentality to go after the boards. He’s got a nose for the ball so it’s kind of nice to have him back.”
The Scotties salvaged a first-half blowout lead by Columbia with its threepoint shots with senior Keegan Zoeller draining three for 14 of his gamehigh 30 points and Kyle Blair putting up 10 of his 14-point night in the opening stanza.
The Scotties changed up its offensive sets, driving more to the hoop and saw Nick Brundige become a force, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the second half and four from the line.
“We got that a lot versus Shaker last game, we got some guys starting to step up and realizing that they can do more and getting to the basket,” Eldridge said. “We got back to that in the second half.”
That allowed Ballston to get close, but not close enough to force a time out or a change in strategy for Sankey and the Blue Devils.
“We were down to eight four times and then they hit a three and they’re back to 11,” Eldridge said. “That happened a few times, that was tough.
“They play well against us; I don’t know what it is. We kept fighting to get it to eight and couldn’t get it lower than that.”
Columbia was led by senior Frank Rainville’s 23- point night with senior Joey Alamprese dropping in 15 and junior Timothy Strevell adding 12 with eight players getting etched into the scorebook Monday night.
“We do share the ball and pass the ball well, when we do that you can see we score with the ball,” Sankey said.
If there was time for a recap before the Blue Devils face Burnt Hills Tuesday night and then are schedule to travel to Shenendehowa, a dose of patient passing would be the topic.
“Today we just really made some bad passes,” Sankey said. “We’re not averaging that many turnovers per game, maybe 10 to 9; some players tonight had eight by themselves. If you turn it over they get an opportunity to score.”
Ballston Spa also has a slight reprieve, hosting Troy High Tuesday night and then taking on Bethlehem Central at home Friday.
“I think we do a good job learning from everything whether it’s a loss or a win,” Eldridge said. “I’ve had some really good games after a loss.
“It’s always hard playing after not practicing for a day. Your normal routine is pre-game, practice and then plays a game, not practicing yesterday was tough, but not an excuse, couldn’t make it happen. We got down big and after that first quarter it was pretty even.”