BROADALBIN – The Broadalbin-Perth Patriots found the perfect birthday gift for their coach Tucker Gifford: Snapping Glens Falls’ 11-game win streak with an impressive 82-62 victory Friday night at Broadalbin-Perth High School.
“I am not much of a birthday guy, but I just told these guys I would not have wanted to spend it any other way than out there on the court doing something like that. I was impressed,” Gifford said.
In a battle of two state-ranked Class B teams – Broadalbin-Perth No. 16 and Glens Falls No. 19 – the first half ended with the Indians holding onto a 32-31 lead.
The Patriots turned in one of their strongest all-round performances of the season in the third quarter.
Michael Mann came off the bench and lit the scoreboard up with four 3-pointers en route to scoring 15 of the Patriots 31 points in the quarter, while holding the Indians to 12 to carry an 18-point lead into the fourth quarter.
“Mike is starting to getting acclimated to Foothills basketball, which is a little different than where he came from,” Gifford said. “He is really starting to play within the team concept and in that team concept he will get shots like he did tonight.”
After missing several scoring opportunities on the front end of 1-and-1 situations at the foul line in the first half, the Patriots found success at the line in the fourth quarter, converting on 10-of-13 attempts in the final stanza to deal the Indians their second Foothills Council loss of the season.
While the Patriots got 23 points and 11 rebounds from Vincenzo DiCaterino and 21 points from Mann, Gifford said the unselfish play of Preston Taylor was a big part of the team’s success.
Taylor had the duty of guarding one of Section II’s premier players, Joseph Girard III, who came into the game averaging 32.8 points per game.
Taylor kept Girard under control most of the game as the sophomore guard finished with a relatively quiet 27 points on the night.
“I have to give Preston a lot of credit,” Gifford said. “To be able to run our show and play defense like that is a big-time performance. What he did running the offense and playing defense is above and beyond what he could have done scoring.”
Taylor finished the night with three steals and 12 assists to go with three points.
Colby Hartz finished the night with a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Connor Pingitore finished with 12 points.
“We have talked for a while now about playing a full four-quarters of basketball,” Gifford said. “We have had too many lapses the past couple of weeks. Tonight we had one two-minute span but other than that we there were no lapses.”
Girard finished with four 3-pointers in his 27-point effort, while Tony Green finished with 12 points.
Broadalbin-Perth (14-3 overall, 8-3 Foothills) will travel to play Schuylerville on Friday. Glens Falls still leads the North division with a 9-2 league record.
“Some people think we peaked too early, but we have a tough schedule to close out the season,” Gifford said. “They are a B school and this was a big win for us tonight.”
Broadalbin-Perth 82, Glens Falls 62
Glens Falls13 19 12 18 – 62
Broadalbin-Perth12 19 31 20 – 82
Glens Falls
Balcom 3-2-8, Girard 7-9-27, Green 5-1-12, Landon 1-0-3, Owens 3-1-7, Prunty 0-1-1, Sampson 2-0-4. Totals: 21-14-62.
Broadalbin-Perth
DiCaterino 8-7-23, DiMaio 2-2-7, Hartz 5-6-16, Mann 7-1-21, Pingitore 5-2-12, Taylor 0-3-3. Totals: 27-21-82.
3-point goals: Glens Falls 6 (Girard III 4, Green, Landon); Broadalbin-Perth 7 (Mann 6, DiMaio).
