BURNT HILLS — With its defense making things awfully difficult for Scotia-Glenville and all but one starter accounting for first-quarter points, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake couldn’t have set the tone any better in a breakthrough win Wednesday night.
The Spartans gave up three points in that first quarter and five in the second, and put together double-digit scoring runs in each frame as part of a 57-29 Section II boys’ basketball Class A first-round win over the Tartans.
“We were confident coming in,” Burnt Hills coach Kevin Himmelwright said. “We had a great week coming in. The coaches were locked in and had high energy, and the boys followed it.”
The Spartans were super intense in building a 27-8 halftime lead, and they went on to forge the program’s first Section II tournament victory since 2017. That first half included a 13-0 run to get it going, and a 10-0 run to finish it off.
“Defense was the main priority,” said Burnt Hills senior Noah DiCaprio, who had three of his team’s five steals in the first quarter when the Spartans raced to a 15-3 lead. “That was the emphasis all week in practice. Get stops and get into transition.”
Scotia transfer Ben Kline led Burnt Hills (No. 5 seed, 10-11) with 17 points and had two blocked shots. The junior nailed a 3-pointer to cap the game-starting 13-0 burst, and later scored the final six points in the 10-0 flurry that made it 27-8.
“We got off to that good start, and it started at the defensive end,” Kline said.
Scotia (No. 12, 2-19) turned the ball over eight times in the opening quarter and had a 35-second shot clock violation as the Burnt Hills players swarmed.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who can score and a lot of guys who can pass the ball,” Burnt Hills senior Luke Haluska said. “We know if we lock in on defense, we’re a hard team to beat.”
Burnt Hills will meet Lansingburgh (No. 4, 16-4) in a Class A quarterfinal game Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at Siena College. Lansingburgh received a first-round bye.
“We watched film of everybody in the section and saw a couple of Lansingburgh games,” said Himmelwright, who is in his fourth season with the Spartans. “We got through Scotia — which played hard — and it’s on to Lansingburgh and Siena.”
Burnt Hills will be looking for consecutive tournament wins for the first time since its 2010 edition secured the Section II Class A championship. That title, coincidently, came via an overtime win against Lansingburgh.
“We’ve had a lot of firsts this season,” Himmelwright said. “It’s been nice.”
With outstanding hustle at the defensive end and on the boards, DiCaprio played a key role in Himmelwright’s first playoff win while in charge of the Spartans. The 12th-grade forward grabbed 10 rebounds to go with six points and two assists. He scored the game’s first points on a layup, had a tip-in basket in the 10-0 second-quarter run, and scored on a putback when the Spartans used a 6-0 push to begin the third quarter.
“I love Noah. He’s my guy,” Haluska said. “He passes the ball and does the dirty stuff. We say he’s the Draymond Green of our team.”
“He does all of the little things, and he’s a great leader,” Himmelwright said.
Alex Doin scored 13 points for the Spartans, with five coming in the game-starting 13-0 run. Jackson Frame scored 10 points for Burnt Hills, with a 3 in the 13-0 run and a putback basket to kick-start the 10-0 run after Furman Fabian had scored five straight points for Scotia-Glenville.
“The boys bought into the game plan,” Himmelwright said. “We can be a little 3-point reliant, but they played team basketball really well.”
Eddie Bradt and Lincoln Baldwin scored seven points apiece for the Tartans, and Baldwin grabbed five rebounds.
“We’ve talked about the sectionals all year,” Himmelwright said. “We went through a tough stretch midseason, but we’re playing good basketball now.”
Scotia-Glenville 3 5 11 10 — 29
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake 15 12 18 12 — 57
Scotia-Glenville scoring: Bradt 3-1-7, Baldwin 3-0-7, Fabian 2-1-5, Geniti 0-4-4, McLaughlin 1-0-3, Ossenfort 1-1-3. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake scoring: Torres 2-0-4, Doin 5-1-13, Haluska 1-0-2, Frame 4-1-10, O’Donnell 1-0-3, Kline 7-1-17, Nuzzi 1-0-2, DiCaprio 3-0-6. Team totals: Scotia-Glenville 10-7-29, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake 24-3-57.
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Categories: -Sports, High School Sports, Scotia Glenville, Sports
