Duanesburg, Maple Hill win
Eagles prevail despite missing their leading scorer
GLENS FALLS — Conventional wisdom would seem to dictate subtracting the area’s leading scorer from a small school boys’ basketball team hours prior to competing in the Section II Class C semifinals would be the end of Duanesburg’s chances at winning a second straight title. The Eagles may have been hindered, but you would be hard pressed to think so after the way they performed Monday evening at Cool Insuring Arena.
Duanesburg closed the contest against Western Athletic Conference rival Berne-knoxwesterlo on a 9-1 run to secure a satisfying 50-43 victory over the Bulldogs. The Eagles (20-3) prevailed even after losing the 30.2 points per game that Jeffrey Mulhern, a 6foot-4 junior standout, provides his team. He found out earlier in the day that his season was over with a knee injury.
“The team found out third period (Monday morning),” Duanesburg coach Brett Simpson said. “We can’t say it was part of the game plan, but we knew as soon as (BKW) found out he was out we would have a mental advantage. You lose someone who was league MVP last year, your mindset changes as an opponent. We knew if we weathered the early storm and didn’t waver, it would go our way.”
“We knew they felt they had an advantage because our leading scorer was out, but we still have a great team without him. We’re a better team with him,” said Duanesburg senior forward Ethan Thompson, who paced the Eagles with 24 points and 10 rebounds. “We are still very capable.”
Second-seeded Duanesburg gets another opportuni
ty to show what it’s made of Friday night in the Class C title game against top-seeded Maple Hill. The Wildcats overcame a 16-point deficit to defeat No. 4 seed Hoosic Valley 54-47 in the evening’s second semifinal.
Between the two teams, there was only one basket made over the final 2:39 and it came on a gorgeous diagonal pass in the lane from Thompson to Joey Harris. That field goal provided the Eagles a 4642 advantage. The Bulldogs made just one of six foul shots and missed five field goals down the stretch.
“I am so proud of our guys to come through, run our stuff and produce running our plays,” Thompson said.
“We lost three games this year and had the lead with five minutes left in all three,” Simpson said. “One of those games was without Jeffrey and we watched film of those crucial moments. We fixed some little things and, luckily, the preparation worked.”
The Bulldogs (17-6) were unable to take advantage of Mulhern’s absence after building a 14-6 lead through one quarter. They shot 34.5 percent (18for-52) overall, including making only 4 of 23 attempts from 3-point range, and committed 16 turnovers. With the game on the line, Duanesburg simply performed better at both ends of the court with Thompson leading the way.
“He is a phenomenal leader outside of points, rebounds and assists. He does so many little things,” Simpson said. “He could have got frustrated when we weren’t scoring, but he was the first out there pumping up the team.”
Hoosic Valley (15-8) appeared poised and ready to knock off the tournament’s top seed as the Hawks built a 22-6 lead early in the second quarter. Isaac Wiley drained a 3-pointer in the third quarter to provide Hoosic Valley a 37-24 advantage. From there, Maple Hill senior star Brady Cole took over and the Hawks went cold from the field — making only 4 of 15 shots and turning the ball over five times in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats ended the game on a 29-10 run.
Cole led all scorers with 18 points. Chris Jones delivered 15 points and 12 rebounds and Wiley added 14 points to pace the Hawks. Hoosic Valley was extremely sloppy with the ball in the middle two quarters (19 turnovers overall) and that helped the Wildcats shave their deficit to 39-37 through three quarters.