Hoosick Falls cruises past Greenville in Class C quarterfinals
TROY — It was a bit of a slow start out of the gates for the Hoosick Falls Panthers but they kept the pedal to the metal and eventually were able to defeat Greenville 70-51 at Hudson Valley Community College.
Hoosick Falls got up early on Greenville 8-2 in the first quarter but were only able to score seven more points for the remainder of the quarter. The Panthers did play great defense however and held the Spartans to just eight total points in the first quarter. Four of those points alone came off of a rare four-point play by Cole Ackerman.
In the second quarter, Hoosick Falls started to play their style of basketball and then the scoring started to come with ease. The Panthers had an offensive explosion scoring a whopping 27 points while holding Greenville to just 16 points. Hoosick Falls finished the first half with a shooting percentage of 53.2% while Greenvile shot just 41%. The Panthers were up 42-24 at the break.
During the third quarter, a scary moment for Hoosick Falls as Senior Evan McCart landed awkwardly on his right ankle and had to limp back to the bench. McCart was unable to return to the game after the injury. Luckily for the Panthers, their lead was big enough where losing McCart was not detrimental to them moving on. Hoosick Falls had three players score in double figures. CJ Baker and Jonathan Kempf both finished with 18 points and Guy Milliman finished with 15 points. Baker and Kempf combined an astounding 14-34 from beyond the arc. And despite having to come out early in the third quarter, Evan McCart still had a big game with eight points and nine rebounds.
Evan McCart was in good spirits after the game and was looking forward Thursday.
“It means a lot. We’ve been working so hard all year, all summer and together. Come Thursday hopefully I’ll be better. I think we should be fine with Maple Hill,” said McCart.
The plan coming into this game for Hoosick Falls head coach Mike Lilac was to shut down the shooters of Greenville, especially Cole Ackerman.
“We were really concerned with the Ackerman kid who’s a really good player and had 42 the other night so we kind of focused on him and went from there,” said Lilac.
CJ Baker had his best game of the season with those 18 points considering he’s a fourth or fifth scorer for Hoosick Falls.
Lilac was happy to see production from his bench.
“Our balance has been great all year with different guys stepping up. Like I said our fourth and fifth scorers were Baker and Kempf and they both stepped up and had great games tonight,” said Lilac.
If Evan McCart is unable to go Thursday, Coach Lilac says other guys will have to take over.
“If he can go he’ll go, if not guys on the bench gotta step up and be ready,” said Coach Lilac.
The Panthers will play Maple Hill at the Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls on Thursday at 5:30 pm.
