Suburban Council opponents can’t stop the Saratoga boys basketball team. They can only hope to slow the Blue Streaks down.
Guilderland tried doing that Friday, but Saratoga used a pair of surges to pull away for a 56-46 victory.
I thought to come out on the road against a good Guilderland team and gut out a win says a lot about this team, said Saratoga coach Mitch Snyder.
The Blue Streaks (6-0 league, 8-2 overall) held Guilderland to eight points in the second quarter, which helped them take a 25-19 lead into halftime.
Saratoga increased its lead to 12 points in the fourth quarter before Guilderland (3-3, 6-4) made a run to cut the deficit in half. But the Blue Streaaks pulled away again in the final three minutes with a pair of fast break layups and several free throws.
Jordan Stevens led Saratoga with 22 points, while Garrett Bishop contributed 15 points and Dan Harkins added 10 points.
`He was huge the whole game, but epecially in the first half,` Snyder said of Harkins.
Mark Domaracki had 16 points, and Brett Marfurt added 13 points for Guilderland, but no other Dutchman reached double figures in scoring.
`I thought we did a nice job on their scorers (Domaracki and Marfurt),` said Snyder. `They’re going to get their points, but we did a good job of limiting them.`
Saratoga returned to action Tuesday night against Niskayuna. The Blue Streaks visit Shaker Friday before hosting Bethlehem next Tuesday.
In other Suburban Council games Friday, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake nipped Niskayuna 59-58, Columbia edged Shenendehowa 57-52 and Shaker defeated Ballston Spa 53-33.
BH-BL (3-3, 5-5) led 27-20 at halftime, but Niskayuna chipped away until it took a 58-57 lead late in the fourth quarter. Jaret Falkowitz then drove for a layup in the final five seconds to give the Spartans the victory.
Falkowitz and Dan DiSorbo each scored 12 points, while Michael Bynon and Paul Layton chipped in 10 points apiece for BH-BL. Alex Olbrych’s 29 points paced Niskayuna (3-4, 3-7).
In East Greenbush, Shen (3-3. 6-4) scored 18 points in the third quarter to pull within three points of Columbia, but the Blue Devils (4-2, 6-4) held on to win behind an 18-point effort from Travis Jones.
Michael Schauffert scored 14 points, and Mike Hammond contributed 13 points for the Plainsmen. Bob Tudor added 12 points.
In Ballston Spa, Shaker went on a 19-2 run in the third quarter to erase the Scotties’ 20-17 halftime lead.
Brian Hooks led the Blue Bison (3-3, 4-6) with 20 points, and Steve Schaller added 10 points. Mike Gibson’s 12 points paced Ballston Spa (0-6, 1-9).
Shen played BH-BL Tuesday, while Ballston Spa visited Columbia.“
