Lansingburgh ends Schalmont’s 11-game win streak, wins 80-67

TROY — Coming into Friday night’s matchup with the Lansingburgh Knights, the Schalmont Sabres were one of the hottest teams in Section II winning their last 11 games in a row.

However, Lansingburgh was also feeling good about themselves after winning their last four games, including a tough 54-46 victory over Ls Salle. They used that momentum to pull off the upset at home and beat the Sabres by a final score of 80-67. Lansingburgh got some revenge as well after Schalmont beat them 61-44 in the first meeting between these two powerhouses back on January 6.

During the first quarter, it was a back and forth affair with neither team having the clear advantage. Mike Tommasone of Schalmont and Isaiah Knight of Lansingburgh were each showing their prowess from beyond the arc. Lansingburgh held a slim 20-19 lead after the first quarter with both teams trying to feel each other out.

At the start of the second quarter, Schalmont went on a quick 5-0 spurt to take a 24-20 lead. Lansingburgh did a good job of sustaining any run that Schalmont made during the second quarter. Lansingburgh captain Trevor Green gave the Knights a boost after getting a steal and finishing at the other end with a lay up as time expired for the first half. Lansingburgh went into the break with just a two-point lead, 38-36.

Lansingburgh was able to pull away a bit at the end of the third quarter leading 59-54 and they never looked back. How fitting is it that the Knights were able to run away with this game because of a player whose last name is “Knight”. Isaiah Knight, who is the youngest player on the team at only a sophomore, made big shot after big shot including several threes in the fourth quarter. He was also able to use his superb quickness to get inside for some easy buckets in the post. Knight said he was able to get open looks because of his teammates driving into the lane and passing it back out to him,

“We always talk about the kick out in practice, we practice the kick out, we prepare for the kick out. He [Coach Eric Loudis] told us to attack the gaps and kick the ball out when needed and that’s what we did,” said Knight.

Knight also said his team did a better job of getting out onto the shooters of Schalmont.

We had a plan. We were closing out hard, we were all switching. We we were switching to never leave your teammate alone on a closeout because that’s what we were doing bad at the beginning of the season and we worked on that,” said Knight.

Captain Trevor Green wanted to keep his team at a good pace throughout the game and not get too anxious,

“I was just trying to tell everyone to slow it down because we got a lot of sophomores on the team antsy trying to score right off rip. At the end of the game we were up by like three points so I was just telling em to slow it down because they got fouls,” said Green.

Coach Eric Loudis explained what was different this time around that got his team to beat a very talented Schalmont team.

“I think this time we had a lot more energy, we played with a lot more excitement. Our guys definitely stepped up and wanted it tonight,” said Loudis.