Lansingburgh uses stout defensive effort to defeat Averill Park 46-36

TROY — Facing six seed Averill Park in a Class A quarterfinal matchup on Sunday afternoon at the Hudson Valley Community College, the Lansingburgh Knights rose to the occasion and won by a score of 46-36. This means that they will need to win just two more games in order to capture their second consecutive section II Class A championship.

Lansingburgh began the game playing very intense and aggressive on the defensive end, as Averill Park was held scoreless for the first three minutes in the game until Warriors junior Zachary Price made a lay-up to put his team on the board. After the Knights came up with nothing on the offensive end, Price then pulled up from the elbow to knock it down and tie the game up at four points apiece.

Lansingburgh’s defense remained phenomenal for the rest of the first quarter, and they out-rebounded Averill Park significantly as well. The Warriors entered a scoring drought that they would not end until a minute into the second quarter.

“Defense, that’s what it comes down to. Our offense wasn’t really clicking tonight, but we were really able to play defense and stop them there” Knights junior Trevor Green said about his team’s defense.

Green had himself a very nice game on a big stage. He turned in a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds, leading his team in both categories. He also played stellar defense throughout the game and limited key performers for Averill Park from making much of an impact.

Meanwhile, Lansingburgh put some points on the board but by no means was their offensive production in the first quarter amazing. Vinny Tario made his first three of the night and followed up a couple minutes later by making one of two from the line, and Mason Little finished in the paint but that would be all for the Knights in the first as they led just 10-4 heading into the second quarter.

However, Averill Park wasn’t ready to bow out just yet. The Warriors came out of the huddle in the second quarter firing on all cylinders, playing very well defensively and capitalizing on their chances on offense; they came out with energy that had not previously been seen in this game. The Warriors held Lansingburgh to multiple empty possessions towards the beginning of the quarter and also rebounded much better than they had in the first. Zach Price hit a corner three to strike first in the quarter, and was followed by a successful drive from Jake Bornt to bring the score to 10-9 Lansingburgh a minute and a half into the quarter. After Price committed a foul that pushed the Knights into the bonus, Trevor Green made both free throws to bring the lead to three points. However, this lead would quickly vanish as Warriors’ senior Gavin Quinn made a beautiful euro-step while being fouled, and he would drain the game-tying free throw.

Lansingburgh looked disoriented throughout the second quarter, as they were turning the ball over repeatedly and were not playing nearly the same caliber of defense seen in the first. Shortly after tying the game, Averill Park hit two free throws to take their first and only lead of the game at 14-12. The two teams proceeded to trade points for the rest of the quarter as the Knights entered halftime holding a slim 19-18 lead.

The third quarter held some astounding similarities to the second, but the roles were reversed. This time Lansingburgh was the team that came out with intensity, going on an 11-3 run in the first four minutes of the half. Lansingburgh seemed to get back into the aggressive mentality they played with in the first quarter, and began to out-rebound the Warriors every time down the floor.

“A lot of these kids have never been through this type of atmosphere before so it was a little bit of an adjustment period for them” Lansingburgh head coach Eric Loudis had to say about the way his team played. “As the game went along they started to settle down a little bit”.

After going up 30-21 to take their largest lead of the game at that point, the Knights allowed Averill Park to start to claw back into it as the Warriors cut the deficit to just 32-27 heading into the fourth quarter. 

Averill Park did not start the fourth on the right foot, picking up an early foul and traveling on offense. After picking up another foul that sent Knights’ senior John Bassette to the line where he converted one of two, the Warriors responded with a nice finish inside by Anthony Germanerio. This bucket brought Lansingburh’s lead to just four with six minutes to go. The Knights’ defense showed up yet again as Averill Park failed to score for approximately three minutes, while Trevor Green scored four consecutive points to bring the lead to 37-29.

Averill Park needed to chip away on offense and stop Lansingburgh on defense if they were to come back in the final four minutes. While Zachary Price was able to get this started by driving and finishing, Isaiah Knight hit a dagger on the very next play. This brought the Knights’ lead to 40-31 with only three minutes left in the game. Averill Park was then ice cold on offense yet again, missing multiple open threes in the last few minutes as the Warriors failed to bring themselves within range of pulling it out. Price hit a three to give his team one last chance, but ultimately they could not as the Knights finished out the game victoriously.

“We did a very good job on the defensive end,” Eric Loudis said about what his team did well. “We need to execute more on offense next time, so hopefully if we get some shots to fall and don’t play as timid then it should be good for us”.

Lansingburgh will play in the Class A semifinals at the Cool Insuring Arena on Wednesday. If they play the stifling defense that they did today, then their opponent will certainly have a challenging night trying to grind it out against this team. It’s very tough to beat a team that has the defensive ability to only allow 29% shooting, as they did today against Averill Park.

STAT LEADERS:
LANSINGBURGH
Points: Trevor Green 12
Rebounds: Trevor Green 15
Assists: Mason Little 3

AVERILL PARK
Points: Zachary Price 14
Rebounds: Jake Bornt 9
Assists: Anthony Germanerio 3