STONE RIDGE >> After winning their first Mid-Hudson Athletic League championship last season, the Saugerties High boys basketball team just didn’t want to give up that feeling.
That’s why, at the end of a night game at Ulster County Community College against a resilient Spackenkill team, the Sawyers celebrated a 65-54 win by raising the MHAL trophy high above their heads.
The night didn’t start out looking so bright.
MHAL Divisions 3 and 4 MVP Justin Etts put Spackenkill out ahead, scoring five points in a 7-0 Spartans run to open the game. After calling a timeout with 5:55 left in the first quarter, the Sawyers responded with their own mini-run. The Sawyers’ own MHAL MVP, Darnell Edge, and Nick Teitter together fueled a 7-2 run that brought Saugerties back in the game. Dondre Francis bombed a three-point basket to give the Sawyers their first lead of the night with 12 points, before Etts made a basket to tie it 12.
“Spackenkill played great today,” Saugerties coach Mike Tiano said. “I don’t know if it was Spackenkill playing up to it, or if we had a let down after the high of beating Red Hook on Monday. Spackenkill played very hard to night. I take nothing away from them.”
Darius Edwards made his only basket of the game to open the scoring in the second quarter and give Saugerties their first lead. Etts responded with a three-pointer to put Spackenkill back up 15-14, but that would be the last time the Spartan would be ahead in the game.
After Edge had six in the first quarter, Paton Gibbs took his turn as the dominant scorer in the second quarter, scoring six of his own points. Gibbs, along with Curtis Jorgensen hitting a trademark three and a slightly out of character drive to the basket, powered the Sawyers to a 32-22 halftime lead.
“I would say that we’re a second half team,” Gibbs said. “Curtis has really been playing well and Shawn (Jansen) has been playing well, rebounding and defending.”
Jansen ended the game with six points, but four of those came in the fourth quarter.
The lead shrank as small as three points in the fourth quarter, but with time running out, the Spartans were forced to foul. Saugerties made 13 of 14 free throws, making Etts’ final three-point attempts to climb back into the game irrelevant.
“We practice free throws at the end of practice every day, and we have to make a certain amount or else we’re running,” Gibbs said. “So we had to practice to be focused at the line.”
According to Tiano, Edge was the factor that lead to Etts’ down day in scoring. Division 1 and 2 MVP Edge asked to defend Division 3 and 4 MVP Etts, and held the 1000-point Spartans scorer to 26 points, only a few days after he scored 34 points against Coleman in the MHAL semifinals.
“Darnell did an excelent job defending him until late, but with the lead the way it was we were expecting that,” Tiano said. “Both of them are great players and both of them deserve the accolades that they’ve been accredited already.”
Edge finished with 21 points, while Gibbs added 14.
“We knew Justin Etts was their best player and we knew he was going to come out looking to shoot and bring his team to the victory,” Edge said. “We started in a 2-3, making sure we got hands out on shooters and limiting penetration, after that we tried a little man (coverage), tried to get rebounds and secure the win.”
Tiano said that the experience of the players winning would be an experience they’d never forget.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Edge. “Last year we got it for the first time in school history and we just wanted to come back and defend our title.”
The team is pretty heavy with seniors, and Edge said they wanted to get this one as no one knows what next year will bring. Edge said that they’veplayed together since they were eight or nine years old in biddy basketball and that they have great chemistry.
“It was pretty much the same group of guys (as last year) and we really tried to play hard for team, coach, fans and town,” Gibbs said. “It was nice.”
After a day to rest and celebrate, it was back to practice on Saturday and Sunday, as the Sawyers prepared for the Section 9, Class A tournament. A number six seed, the Sawyers will head to No. 3 Port Jervis on Tuesday in the first round match.
“(Sectionals is) when we want to peak, that’s when we want to our best,” Edge said. “Every game could be our last. We’re taking every practice and every game it’s our last because it can be if we don’t play the way we know how to play.”
“We just have to remember that we can play with any team,” Gibbs said.
SAUGERTIES (65)-Teitter 1 3-4 5, Jansen 1 4-4 6, Gibbs 3 7-8 14, Jorgensen 2 0-0 5, Edge 8 7-10 21, Francis 1 0-2 3, Mazariego 2 0-0 6, Haun 0 0-2 0, Edwards 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 21-30 65.
SPACKENKILL (54)-Etts 8 7-9 26, Strom 1 0-0 2, Haddad 0 0-0, Garrant 0 0-4 0, Mills 3 2-2 8, Bennermon 4 4-8 12, Timm 0 0-0 0, Abalos 2 1-1 6, Peek 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 14-24 54.
Saugerties 12 20 11 22-65
Spackenkill 12 10 9 23-54
3-point field goals: Mazariego 2, Jorgensen, Edge, Francis; Etts 3, Abalos 1.