Schodack, NY — Converting layups hasn’t exactly been Maple Hill’s specialty this season, but the Wildcats changed things up a bit Friday, in a 53-46 Class C Sectional play-in game win over Greenwich.
“We only took three three’s in the first half,” said head coach Scott Hanrahan, who’s team scored 20 of their 25 first half points from the lane, “We had to be more disciplined tonight, and we were. We haven’t done that in a while.”
Despite only scoring eight points in the first eight minutes of play, the Whiches were able to make it a four-point game at the half, outscoring the Wildcats 13 to seven in the second quarter.
“Every team you face in sectionals is gonna come to play hard. It’s win or go home so you gotta give it your all,” Maple Hill junior guard Conner Hall said. “They never went away and competed for 32 minutes tonight so props to them.”
Senior Ethan Samarija and sophomore Nate Mannion combined for 24 of the Wildcats 53 points, most of which came from the lane.”Usually, we’re more of an outside team – shooting 15-20 threes in a game – but tonight I don’t even know if we shot five,” said Mannion, who guessed he and Samarija put up 25, before seeing the stat sheet.
Maple Hill’s lone three of the game came from senior guard Austin Decker, who scored seven points in only 18 minutes, or so, of work.
Even as the Wildcats started to run away with the W, Greenwich’s Bailey Winch wasn’t going down without a fight. The senior forward scored half of his team 16 points in the closing 60 seconds to make the game look a lot closer than it really was.
As the Whiches close out their 2016-17 campaign at 5-16, the Wildcats live to fight another day. They’ll travel to face archrival Greenville on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.
“It’s huge,” Mannion, who ran cross-country in the fall went on to say. “I know I wasn’t on the soccer team, but they hate them. And I’d do anything for my teammates to beat them [one last time].”
Although the Spartans come into this one seeded ll slots higher than the Wildcats in the Class C bracket, if we learned anything last year it’s that seeding does not matter. Who could forget the Cinderella story that was Spa Catholic? After earning the No.10 seed, the Saints upset their way all the way to the regional finals, upsetting none other than Maple Hill in the first round. A seed, in the postseason, is just a number.
That said, Greenville has danced around at the bottom of the state rankings all season and did down the Wildcats in both of their regular-season matchups, all be it by a combined amount of just fifteen points.
The stage is set, the curtains are opened, and it all comes to ahead Tuesday night in Greenville.
Note: Sources have indicated that Greenville will be attempting a “whiteout” in the stands. Maple Hill fans are being urged to wear red to “bleed out” the Spartans.
-Dylan Rossiter(@ByDylanRossiter)
