Stillwater boys basketball survives road test at rival Mechanicville
HALFMOON, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Few teams have been able to go toe-to-toe with Stillwater boys basketball this season. The Warriors rolled out to a 10-0 record to start the year, winning games by an average of over 30 points, en route to earning the No. 2 ranking in the state for Class B.
Bruce Lilac's bunch met its match Tuesday night, though, when they traveled to cross-town rival Mechanicville - the 15th-ranked Class B team in the state. The Red Raiders gave Stillwater everything they had, but the Warriors were able to fend off a late run to stay unbeaten, emerging from enemy territory with a 65-64 win.
"It's great to be tested," said Lilac. "Alex (Lilac) does a wonderful job with his team, so we knew it was gonna be a battle. We got this one, so I'm very pleased. I thought the kids needed to see some adversity, and they did. We didn't handle it great all the time. But we handled it well enough to come out on top."
Stillwater bombarded the Red Raiders with an early offensive flurry. Senior guard Kaelan Leak drilled a three-pointer at the 5:30 mark of the first quarter, and the Warriors already had a double-digit lead at 14-3.
That led to an Alex Lilac timeout, which settled his squad down. Mechanicville cut the deficit to seven by the end of the quarter, and continued to battle back in the second.
The team received a massive boost off the bench from junior guard Mark Pingelski. In the span of about 90 seconds, he dished out a no-look pass to Colin Richardson that led to a lay-up, hit a three-pointer and then stuck a put-back to give the Red Raiders their first lead of the game at 27-26 with 4:12 remaining in the half.
But they had a hard time containing Jaxon Mueller, who responded out of a Bruce Lilac timeout by scoring three straight points to reclaim Stillwater the edge. Mueller scored eight of his 20 points on the night in the second stanza. Stillwater senior Lukas Lilac hit two free throws to close out the half, and the Warriors retired to the locker room up one at 35-34.
The third quarter saw a back-and-forth battle for the first five minutes of game action, but Stillwater closed the quarter on an 8-3 run, maintaining a seven-point margin going into the final quarter.
The Warriors continued to create separation, and with just over three minutes to play, Leak connected on his fifth trey ball of the night, seemingly putting the game out of reach at 63-50.
Mechanicville rattled off eight unanswered points to trim the margin to five, but with just over 60 seconds left, there wasn't enough time to complete the comeback. Leak iced the game with a free throw with seven seconds on the game clock, and a Richardson three-pointer just prior to time expiring was only able to make it a one-point game.
Leak, who's 22 points was a game-high, transferred to Stillwater from CBA prior to the season. His first taste of the Stillwater/Mechanicville rivalry was a good one.
"I was really excited going into it," said Leak. "There was a lot of hype built up. I never thought it was gonna get this packed, and it was a good environment; good win for the team. It's just another one on the road. We got it done, and it's just one step closer to our goal."
Mueller added 19 rebounds to go along with his 20 points. He and Leak were joined in double figures by Lilac, who posted 11 points.
Richardson and junior guard Cruz Goverski paced the Mechanicville offense with 17 points a piece. They were followed on the score sheet by Austin Rozowicz, who tallied 12.
Stillwater (11-0) returns home to take on Hoosic Valley Friday at 7:00 p.m. Mechanicville (8-2) hits the road Friday and will battle Waterford at 7.