Tartans shift offense into high

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

Joe Cremo of Scotia-Glenville tries keep control of the ball in front of Brian Stanavich of Amsterdam with team mate Jemal Robinson at Scotia-Glenville High School Friday, January 30, 2015.

Share on Facebook

Save

If Jim Giammattei sees something he’s not pleased with, the veteran Scotia-Glenville coach will not hesitate to let his defending state champions know about it.

“If your zone isn’t active, people can go around it. You’ve got to be jumping. You’ve got to be moving,” Giammattei said of a third-quarter timeout he called in Friday night’s Foothills Council South Division game with Amsterdam. “We weren’t doing those things, and on offense, we were content.”

The Tartans got back to their ultra-aggressive style after the Running Rams crept back in the game, and used a 21-0 run full of highlight baskets to pull away in an 86-52 victory before a packed gymnasium.

Scotia-Glenville extended its winning streak to 41 games, by far the longest going in the state. It was also the Tartans’ 41st consecutive league triumph.

“In our game up at Amsterdam, in the third quarter, the same thing happened,” said Scotia-Glenville senior forward Joe Almond. “We lost focus. This time, he called us out on it.”

All five Scotia-Glenville starters scored points in the key spurt, and all five ended up in double digits led by Joe Cremo and Diamond Corker with 20 apiece. Corker also grabbed 10 rebounds to go with his point total, which was one shy of his season best.

“Diamond really went after the ball well,” said Tartans senior guard Scotty Stopera. “It’s nice when you’ve got a guy attacking and putting it in like that.”

Scotia-Glenville (10-0, 14-0) put itself in excellent position to capture another league title, building a two-game lead over Amsterdam (8-2, 11-4) in the South with three to go. Amsterdam came in with a seven-game winning streak.

“Biggest regular-season game,” said Almond, who fired in 14 points. “We knew it was a big game.”

“We knew it was a big game for the Foothills,” said Corker, a senior forward. “We told each other we had to play for each other.”

Scotia-Glenville wasn’t playing all that well at the start of the third, and Amsterdam took advantage with a 8-3 spurt to creep within 46-32. Hector Rodriguez capped that run on consecutive layups, his second coming with 5:39 left in the frame.

“Coach told us we had to keep passing the ball and moving it. Set screens, look for each other and rebound on offense and defense,” said Corker. “Sometimes, we were standing around.”

Corker delivered three layups in the 21-0 flurry, Almond and Stopera knocked down three-point baskets, and Mike Palleschi sank two foul shots and converted a three-point play. Andrew Druziak’s free throw with 20.6 seconds left in the quarter ended the run.

“Once coach called that timeout, we really stepped it up,” said Stopera. “We had a big lead and we stopped playing. We can’t do that.”

Stopera scored 15 points on five threes and collected eight assists, and on the defensive side, he had a pair of steals and drew a charge. His first three threes helped the Tartans open up a 22-16 first-quarter lead, and Cremo notched 11 points in the second frame as the hosts worked their advantage to 43-24.

“When Scotty starts hitting threes, it’s another thing the other team has to worry about,” said Giammattei. “It helps spread out their defense.”

Corker had six points in the opening frame including a layup that gave the Tartans the lead for good at 19-16, and he added eight points in the next period. Corker did not score in the Tartans’ 68-57 win at Amsterdam early last month.

“Diamond was a thorn in their side all night,” said Giammattei. “Every time you turned around, it was, ‘Guess who?’ ”

Cremo had eight rebounds and seven assists to go with his 20 points, and Palleschi had 10 points with a dunk and five rebounds.

Bryan Stanavich paced Amsterdam with 17 points, and Andrew Druziak had 12 points. The Running Rams, newcomers to the Foothills Council, also lost to Scotia-Glenville in last season’s Class A sectional semifinals.

Scotia-Glenville pushed its Section II winning streak to 60 games, and its regular-season win streak to 53 games.

AMSTERDAM

Aponte 1-0-2, Rodriguez 4-1-9, Druziak 4-2-12, Pritchard 1-0-2, Robinson 1-0-2, Bergh 2-2-8, B. Stanavich 6-4-17. Totals: 19-9-52.

SCOTIA-GLENVILLE

Almond 6-0-14, D. Corker 10-0-20, Cremo 6-7-20, Palleschi 3-4-10, Stopera 5-0-15, TenEyck 0-2-2, Corker 0-3-3, Martin 1-0-2. Totals: 31-16-86.

Amsterdam 16 8 9 19 — 52

S-G 22 21 24 19 — 86

Three-point goals: Druziak 2, Bergh 2, Stanavich, Almond 2, Cremo, Stopera 5.