Things are looking good so far for the Saratoga Springs boys basketball team in the post-Jordan Stevens era.
The Blue Streaks (1-0 league, 2-1 overall) put 10 players in the scoring column on their way to a 57-38 victory over Ballston Spa in Tuesday’s Suburban Council North Division game.
We’ve been getting better, and we’ve been playing well as a team, said Saratoga coach Mitch Snyder. `We have a lot of kids who can play.`
Freshman Jack Morrow had his best game of his young varsity career, as he led Saratoga with 14 points. Mike MacElroy contri-buted 10 points in the victory.
`This is definitely a group that will be tough [for opponents] to prepare for,` said Snyder. `In our three games, we’ve had three different leading scorers.`
The one constant that Saratoga has shown this season is team quickness. The Blue Streaks are using their speed to overcome a lack of height since the 6-foot, 6-inch Stevens graduated in June.
`Overall, we do have more team speed than last year because our post players have speed and can keep up with our guards,` said Snyder.
Still, Stevens’ graduation is bound to be felt by Saratoga at times, especially when it goes up against teams with tall centers. That was in evidence last Saturday during a 42-37 loss to Vestal in the finals of the Saratoga Tournament. Josh Bailey, Vestal’s 6-8 center, scored 10 points to lead his team to the victory.
`We’re always going to see some big kids in the league [Suburban Council], so it will come down to playing defense as a team,` said Snyder. `The other thing is that the kids [on Saratoga] who are 6-2, 6-3 are very tough nosed, and they don’t give up points easily.`
Saratoga is hoping its win over Ballston Spa will be the first of many within the league this season as it focuses on getting a high seed for the Section II Class AA playoffs.
`I think everybody has a feeling that Shenendehowa is going to be above everyone in the league, and I tend to agree with that. Coach [Tony] Dzikas always has those kids playing very well,` said Snyder. `But this is still high school basketball, and anything can happen on a game-by-game basis.`
Jon Hammond’s 17 points paced Ballston Spa (0-1, 0-1), which trailed Saratoga 33-13 at halftime.
Saratoga returns to action Friday when it visits Latham to face Shaker, while Ballston Spa hosts Shen.
Friday’s game at Ballston Spa will be the first for Shen (1-0, 2-0) in a week, since its Tuesday game with Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake was pushed back to Feb. 16 to allow BH-BL to get all of its players the requisite amount of practice time they need to qualify for action. Several BH-BL players are coming off a long football season that ended in the state finals Nov. 28.
The Plainsmen looked good in their most recent game — a 74-65 non-league win over Albany Academy last Friday. Shen outscored Academy 50-39 in the second half to pull out the win over last year’s Sectional runners-up.
Matt Miner had 26 points, and Dan Lee contributed 11 points for the Plainsmen. David Benoks’ 18 points paced Albany Academy (2-1).
In other boys basketball action, Saratoga Central Catholic began its season Monday with a 72-57 loss to Foothills Council power Gloversville. Dan Keehn led the Saints with 15 points, while Malcolm Mathias’ 25 points paced the Huskies.
Saratoga Catholic’s first Western Athletic Conference game was postponed Wednesday due to the weather. The Saints host Fonda-Fultonville Friday.
In girls basketball action Tuesday, Shen fended off Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake 38-30, while Sara-toga handled Ballston Spa by a score of 46-31.
Allie Setter had 11 points, and Emily Weber added nine points for Shen (2-0). Maria Allocco led BH-BL (0-1) with six points and 14 rebounds.
Kayla Crawford’s 17 points paced Saratoga (2-0) in its victory over Ballston Spa. Marissa Traver had 14 points for the Scotties.“