Gerard O’Shea did everything in his power to help his Averill Park boys basketball team against Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, but he didn’t get much help from his teammates.
As a result, the BH-BL Spartans are going back to the Glens Falls Civic Center.
Dave Fischer scored 18 points, and Hayden Skalski chipped in nine points to lead BH-BL to a 52-39 Section II, Class A quarterfinal victory over Averill Park Saturday at Hudson Valley Community College.
O’Shea finished with 28 points, but the rest of the Warriors only accounted for 11 points as the Spartans moved on to face Bishop Gibbons in Friday’s semifinals in Glens Falls.
Our goal was to hold O’Shea to under 20 points, said BH-BL coach Bill Martin. `We didn’t quite do that, but we didn’t expect to hold the rest of the team to 11 points.`
Skalski got BH-BL going by scoring the Spartans’ first seven points as they jumped out to a 19-8 first quarter lead. Fischer gradually took over after that, as did Paul Layton and Jaret Falkowitz, each of whom scored seven points.
`When you’re better balanced (on offense), you’re a better team,` said Martin.
O’Shea kept Averill Park in the game with four three-pointers, including three in the fourth quarter. But BH-BL matched the Warriors point for point in the final eight minutes to maintain its double digit lead.
The Spartans will now look to advance into Tuesday’s class A final by getting by a Bishop Gibbons team that is coming off an 87-61 victory over defending Section II champion Glens Falls Saturday.
`They’re big, they’re quick and they run the floor well,` said Martin. `So, we’re in for a battle.`
The only other Saratoga County boys basketball team to reach the quarterfinals was Saratoga Central Catholic, but the Saints fell to Hoosic Valley 51-50 Saturday.
Hoosic Valley used a 23-15 third quarter to build a 44-41 lead. Saratoga Central Catholic limited the Panthers to seven points in the fourth quarter, but the Saints could not pull ahead.
Pat Lanoue netted 25 points for Hoosic Valley, which won the Wasaren League title. Pat O’Rourke had 23 points, and Kevin O’Rourke contributed 12 points for Saratoga Central Catholic.
Shenendehowa and Saratoga Springs each suffered opening round losses in the class AA playoffs Feb. 20. Troy upended Shen 60-57, while CBA knocked off Saratoga 76-48.
Shen had a 47-39 lead after the third quarter before Troy went on a 21-10 fourth quarter run to pull out the three-point victory. Raheem Pringle’s three-pointer gave the Flying Horses the lead for good.
Donovan Johnson scored 19 points, Robert Bridges chipped in 15 points and Pringle added 11 points for Troy. Kaelin Loose had 12 points, and Tom Kukuk contributed 10 points for Shen.
In Colonie, CBA built a 30-14 halftime lead and never looked back in handing Saratoga a 28-point loss.
DeAndre Kennedy-Ebron led for CBA players in double figures with 18 points.
Jordan Stevens had 23 points for Saratoga.“