Good Morning! With the Border Country Sports Blog, I'm Keith Harrington.
Spa Catholic Takes Down Golden Horde in CC Opener
Hot 3-point shooting. An aggressive defense that causes numerous turnovers. Sizzling drives and easy buckets in transition. All things that are typically seen at a Granville boys basketball game. What was different on Tuesday night is that it was #9 Saratoga Catholic and not the Golden Horde who utilzed those strategies as they took down #8 Granville 50-35 in the opening round of the Section II Class CC playoffs at Granville Central School.
The Golden Horde sruggled to score the basketball and just seemed flat in general. Meanwhile, the Saints showed that the difficulty of playing teams like Stillwater, Mechanicville, Tamarac and Hoosick Falls every night in the Wasaren League had them battle tested.
"They hit 10 threes and we hit one. That's pretty much the game. If you told me they were only going to score 50 points I would have been okay with that," Granville coach Justin Nassivera said after the game. "Our guards struggled. They were up in our face and made it tough for us to get anything going on offense."
Granville took a 4-0 lead on baskets from Alex Warrington and Caleb Nelson. Consecutive three poiners from Mark Hmura gave the Saints and 8-4 lead and they never trailed again. Saratoga Catholic ended the first perod on a 14-1 spurt and contolled the game from there.
Granville seemed to have a little life heading to the locker room at the half. Trailing 23-11 the Golden Horde got a trey from Caleb Nelson and putback at the buzzer from Connor Farrell to cut the margin to seven at the break.
Saratoga Catholic came out and put the game away in the third. Seven straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers by Robbie Bolen increased the Saint's ;ead to 33-19. They outscored the Golden Horde 19-8 in the stanza to lead 42-24 heading to the fourth.
Bolen was a menace for the Golden Horde all night. He created steals with his quick hands, and drove to the basket, often uncontested. Bolen finished the contest with 24 points, seven steals and seven boards.
Hmura added 15 points for the Saints.
Caleb Nelson led Granville with 13 points.
Granville ends the season 11-8.
Spa Catholic advances to meet #1 Stillwater on Saturday at Saratoga.
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Fair Haven Girls Advance in Division II
The Fair Haven girls basketball team opened up their quest for a Vermont State title in impresive fashion as they defeated # Lamoille 49-25 in Division II playdown.
Fair Haven led 21-10 at halftime ns puilled away over the final 16 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals.
Brittney Love had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Slaters. Kate Hadwen added 10 points for Fair Haven. Lily Briggs had nine points, eight boards and six assists.
Natalie Royer had six points for the Lancers.
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#1 Tanagers Roll in Class D
The Hartford girls basketball team took care of business at home Tuesday night as they rolled into the semifinals of Class D with a 65-25 win over Germantown.
The #1 ranked Tanagers didn't waste anytime putting away the Clippers. Hartford led 15-4 at the end of the first and 32-12 at the half.
Hartford outscored Germantown 33-13 in the second half to put the game away.
Alawnah Dunda led Hartford with 19 points. Gabrielle McFarren added 17 and Karlee Nims 10.
Katie Bathrick had nine points for Germantown.
17-4 Hartford will meet Northville in the semifinals Monday night at 7:30 p.m. at Ballston Spa.
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Whitehall Boys Advance to Quarterfinals
The Whitehall boys basketball team pulled away in the second quarter to defeat Cambridge 63-53 in the Class C opening round.
Whitehall led 14-12 after the first quarter, but a 19-10 second quarter ended up being decisive.
Cash Burgey paced the Railroaders with 24 points. Latrell Evans added 17 and Brandon Bakerian 12.
Cambridge got 13 points from Jackson Thomas and 12 from Logan Richetter.
13-7 Whitehall advances to meet #3 Berne Knox on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Shenendehowa.
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With the Border Country Sports Blog, I'm Keith Harrington.
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