You can’t play a basketball game without a team.
That’s the situation Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake finds itself in after a long and successful football season ended one win shy of a state title Saturday at the Carrier Dome.
“We don’t have a squad selected,” said George Dudas, who was scheduled to make his Suburban Council coaching debut with the Burnt Hills varsity boys’ basketball team tonight at home against Niskayuna. “We should probably have it all taken care of after practice Wednesday. We’ve got quite a few of the kids coming off the football team.”
The Burnt Hills’ junior varsity and freshman boys’ basketball teams will also have final cuts sometime this week.
“We wanted to give everyone a fair shot at making a team,” said Burnt Hills athletic director Bob McGuire. “They [football players] had to go to every practice to meet state requirements, and they went through walk-throughs and things like that, but not much else. Nothing too strenuous.”
All three of tonight’s Burnt Hills-Niskayuna boys’ basketball games have been postponed, and will be made up at a date to be determined. The three Burnt Hills’ teams also had their Saturday non-league season openers at South Glens Falls called off and rescheduled for Monday, Jan. 5.
The Spartans will open up a week from tonight at Suburban Council rival Shenendehowa.
“That will give us about four days to get everything in,” Dudas said. “Then we jump right in with Shenendehowa, and we have Colonie after that. They’re supposed to be two of the better teams in our league.”
Dudas said roughly a dozen
students who competed in varsity and junior varsity football will be trying out for his basketball team. They were at the school gym Monday, and while some practiced, others did not.
“We have some football guys that are pretty beat up,” Dudas said. “Some of them did participate, and the intensity certainly picked up. There were some big bodies out there.”
The Burnt Hills varsity football team lost to Sweet Home in Saturday’s state Class A championship game in Syracuse, 35-28, after trailing in the second quarter, 28-7. The Spartans, who had never advanced beyond regional play before this year, finished at 12-1 behind star quarterback/kicker Paul Layton.
Layton was the second-leading scorer last season when the varsity basketball team — then under Bill Martin’s direction — reached the sectional semifinals.
“I wanted it to turn out this way. I wanted to see the kids do the best they could,” said Dudas. “My thought was that if we get a late start, it meant they’re at the Carrier Dome.”
Dudas directed the BH-BL varsity girls for six seasons before taking the boys’ position when Martin stepped down. Dudas’ 2004-05 team reached the state championship game, and he was tabbed the Class A coach of the year by the New York State Sportswriters
Association.
Five Suburban Council games will be played tonight, with Guilderland and Colonie, a pair of Section II Class AA semifinalists last season, traveling to Averill Park and hosting Bethlehem, respectively. Shenendehowa, coming off two wins at its weeked tournament, entertains Ballston Spa.
Girls
falcons win opener
Freshman Monica Compton scored a career-high 17 points, and Schenectady Christian opened its season Monday night with a 49-47 non-league win at Corinth.
Ashlyn Slater scored 14 points and Bethany Goodrich netted 12 to help make Gina Feliciano’s varsity coaching debut with the Falcons a success. Ariell Triano sparked Corinth (0-2) with 19 points, and Jordan Madison delivered 16.
Compton scored a 15 points — her only double-digit performance as an eight-grader — in Schenectady Christian’s 30-29 win over Fonda-Fultonville in the Western Athletic Conference championship game.
The Schenectady Christian varsity girls will play the first game at the school’s new gymnasium Friday against Loudonville Christian at 4:30. The Schenectady Christian junior varsity and varsity boys will play afterward against teams from Cambridge.
Former Schenectady Christian girls’ coach Paul Brosious will lead Mohonasen tonight at home against Columbia in one of six Suburban Council games.
Dani DeGregory scored 15 points, and Emily Eddy had 12 points and nine rebounds to lift Greenwich over Warrensburg, 51-20, in another non-leaguer Monday.
Teagan Rafferty led the Burgers with eight points.
Sarah Agan scored 13 points, Hannah Wilson had 12 and Holy Names opened its Colonial Council slate with a 62-37 win at Schalmont. Kelly Piotrowski led the Sabres with 12 points.
NON-LEAGUE
SCHENECTADY CHRISTIAN 49, CORINTH 47
SCHENECTADY CHRISTIAN
Slater 5-3-14, Goodrich 3-6-12, Carter 2-0-4, Compton 5-5-17, Brush 1-0-2. Totals: 16-14-49.
CORINTH
Bovee 1-0-3, Clothier 2-0-5, Feulner 1-0-2, Madison 7-2-16, Shippee 1-0-2, Traino 8-0-19. Totals: 20-2-47.
Schenectady Christ. 15 4 11 19 — 49
Corinth 12 7 12 16 — 47
Three-point goals: Slater, Compton 2, Bovee, Clothier, Traino 3.
GREENWICH 51, WARRENSBURG 20
WARRENSBURG
Durkin 1-3-5, Taddeo 1-2-4, White 1-0-2, Malthe 0-1-1, Rafferty 3-2-8. Totals: 6-8-20.
GREENWICH
DeGregory 7-1-15, Eddy 6-0-12, White 2-0-4, Skellie 3-2-8, Fitzgerald 2-2-6, Foote 3-0-6. Totals: 23-5-51.
Warrensburg 4 4 3 9 — 20
Greenwich 10 17 18 6 — 51
Three-point goals: None.
COLONIAL COUNCIL
HOLY NAMES 62, SCHALMONT 37
HOLY NAMES
Wood 1-0-2, Murphy 1-3-6, Wilson 4-2-12, Agan 5-2-13, Witte 3-0-7, Spicer 2-3-7, Moore 3-1-7, Arduini 2-4-8. Totals: 21-15-62.
SCHALMONT
Longo 1-2-4, Piotrowski 4-2-12, Volans 3-1-7, Potter 1-0-2, Lawson 1-0-2, Calkins 1-1-3, Hilton 0-1-1, Wotherspoon 3-0-6. Totals: 14-7-37.
Holy Names 12 17 15 18 — 62
Schalmont 9 8 9 11 — 37
Three-point goals: Murphy, Wilson 2, Agan, Witte, Pietrowski 2.
Categories: High School Sports
