Plainsmen advance to AA Finals with 66-49 win over Niskayuna
GLENS FALLS, NY » Shenendehowa started their sectional semifinal against Niskayuna by going on an eight point run to open the game. Although they were up against a tough Silver Warriors team, the Plainsmen never looked back, maintaining a solid lead the rest of the way. Shen will now advance to play in the Section 2, Class AA Finals against the very tall, fast and strong Green Tech Eagles.
“They definitely played the three point line very hard, but we also had our game plan defensively. We were able to get guys to drive in and wear them down, we were able to get some easier shots and when they got in a little foul trouble we got the matchups that we wanted,” said Shenendehowa’s Coach Tony Dzikas.
The Plainsmen picked up the 66-49 victory with an all-around, team effort. “It’s always been a team effort with us, nobody plays great the entire game, but overall there’s always guys that come through for us,” said Dzikas, who’s team had 7 different players with 6 or more points. Shenendehowa was led by senior Jake Reinisch, who had 16 points. Lucas Seyoum and Andrew Martin had 9 points each.
Dzikas has stressed to his team that just because a game had one result earlier in the season doesn’t mean it will happen again. “Last time we played [Niskayuna] I think we had 21 threes and this time we weren’t able to do that. It was a different game, but we still came away with the big win,” said Seyoum.
That stat is accurate. On January 31, 2020 Shen defeated Niskayuna in their Suburban Council meeting by a score of 70-45, and did, in fact, hit 21 three-point field goals in that game. The Plainsmen hit eight threes on Tuesday night in their sectional contest, meaning that they had to come up with a different way to score points.
If you remember one statistic from this game, it will be from the defensive side. The Plainsmen gave up only 2 points in the first quarter of the game, which were from free throws. They did not allow Niskayuna to score a field goal until Nisky’s Gabe Eldaye hit a three-pointer about 40 seconds into the second quarter.
“I saw a couple opportunities to drive and I tried to exploit that. We’re locked in, we know where everyone is going to be, we’re all confident in each other and that makes us pretty tough,” said Reinisch, who is extremely confident in his teammates. “No matter who’s shooting, we all think it’s going in.”
The road to the Class AA championship began in the quarterfinals for the Plainsmen against Christian Brothers Academy, who they beat by 20 points, 6949. In the semifinals, Niskayuna presented a different challenge. “We had to throw out the last game completely. We knew it was going to be a much closer game. Nisky’s a good team and they have two of the best players in the area. We had to come prepared and we couldn’t take anything for granted,” said Reinisch.
With the victory, Shen improves to 18-2 overall on the season. They will face the Green Tech Eagles in the championship game, a charter school in downtown Albany. The Eagles are 15-5 overall this season. The game will take place on Saturday March 7, 2020 at the Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls at 2:30 pm.
“The message going in is that we’re going to have to do a lot of things well. We can play as hard as we’ve played all year long and we can still come up short if we’re not hitting some shots or if we turn the ball over a little too much and if we don’t keep them off the boards,” said Dzikas.
SHENENDEHOWA 66, NISKAYUNA 49
Cool Insuring Arena Glens Falls, NY
Shenendehowa 8-16-1626|66 Niskayuna 2-14-15-18 | 49 SHENENDEHOWA (18-2 Overall)
Points-Rebounds-Assists (Foul Shots)
Mason Courtney 6-41, Devin Dzikas 6-5-3 (34), Luke Lavery 6-4-3 (44), Andrew Martin 9-4-3 (01), Josh McLea 3-1-1, Chase Morgan 2-0-0, Jake Reinisch 16-4-0 (4-6), Lucas Seyoum 9-4-0 (2-3), Will Shea 3-0-0, Landon Spiak 6-1-1 (3-4)
NISKAYUNA (15-8 Overall)
Points-Rebounds-Assists (Foul Shots)
Jack Allen 3-0-0, Kenyon Coleman 2-3-3 (03), Gabe Eldaye 11-3-1 (45), Jaden Giammattei 2-0-1 (2-3), Darian Parker 8-4-0 (0-2), Ethan St. Lucia 15-6-1 (2-3), Sean St. Lucia 8-8-1 (5-7)