The drive to the Glens Falls Civic Center for the majority of the local boys basketball teams hits full steam this week.
Five of the eight teams will host opening-round games one Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
The second-seeded Broadalbin-Perth Patriots will host No. 19 Hoosic Valley at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a Class B game at Broadalbin-Perth High School.
No. 8 Canajoharie will host No. 9 Mayfield in a Class C opening-round game at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Canajoharie High School.
Wednesday, No. 8 Gloversville will host No. 9 Queensbury in its Class A opening-round game, while No. 4 Amsterdam will welcome No. 13 Bishop Maginn to Amsterdam High School for a Class A match-up at 7 p.m..
The Class D tournament gets underway on Wednesday with No. 8 Fort Plain hosting No. 9 Hartford in a 7 p.m. game at the Harry Hoag Elementary School.
The Oppenheim-Ephrath/St. Johnsville boys received the second-seed in the Class D tournament and received a first-round bye. The will open the tournament in the quartrfinals at Stillwater High School in a 4:30 p.m. game against the winner of No. 7 Berlin and No. 10 Northville.
Johnstown and Fonda-Fultonville played play-in games Friday night and lost to Granville and Catskills respectively.
Wells will find out opening-round opponent for the Section VII Class D tournament today.
Class A
No. 13 Bishop Maginn at No. 4 Amsterdam
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
The Rams trounced Bishop Maginn 92-67 in the regular season finale to snap a 3-game losing streak after defeating Scotia-Glenville for the second time this season.
Kory Bergh, who topped the 1,000-point plateau this season, leads the Rams (14-6) with a 22.4 points per game average and 64 3-pointers. Tysean Hanna and Ben Rhodes have stepped up when teams pay attention to Bergh and the late-season additions of Dave and Bryan Stanavich, who missed part of the season recovering from injuries, has taken the Rams defense to the next level.
Tyshane Vastion, Taylor Blue Clarke and Joey Ward have led the Griffins (5-14) scoring this season
No. 9 Queensbury at No. 8 Gloversville
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
In a rematch of the Feb. 2 Foothills Council crossover game that Queensbury won 50-43, the Dragons are expected to be at full-strength on their home court against the Spartans.
Leading scorer Jacquez Nails (15 ppg.) sat out the previous meeting with an injury and is expected to return to the line-up for Wednesday’s first-round game.
Sam Poulin has emerged as a force on the scoreboard in his absence, putting up 19 points in the Dragons (8-12) crossover game against South Glens Falls and 18 against Queensbury in their last meeting.
Alex Reppenhagen has had a big season for Gloversville with eight double-digit scoring games including hitting a season-high 20 points three times. He also leads the Dragons in 3-pointers with 38 on the season. Poulin has hit for 20 threes this year, while Cam Stewart has conencted for 18 and Broderick Royal has 17.
Queensbury (4-15) is coming off a non-league loss to Ballston Spa. The Spartans are led by Brett Rodriguez, who hit for 21 points against the Dragons, and Patrick Conway who has hit for 22 3-pointers this season.
The winner of Friday’s game will advance to face top-seeded Troy in the Class A quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Feb. 21 at Hudson Valley Community College.
Class B
No. 19 Hoosic Valley at No. 3 Broadalbin-Perth
Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Hoosic Valley earned its trip to face the third-seeded Patriots with a 60-57 victory over No. 14 Cairo-Durham on Friday.
The Patriots (16-4) have pulled off big wins this season over Class A contender Amsterdam and the Class B second-seed Glens Falls.
Vincenzo DiCaterino has been a force on the inside for B-P and leads the team scoring. Teams cannot concentrate on DiCaterino in the low post as Preston Taylor, Michael Mann, Evan DiMaio and Joe LaDipo have shown they can hit from the outside. In the season-opener Mann hit 10 3-pointers in his 30-point performance and had seven in a 24 point performance against Amsterdam.
Taylor, who has 37 treys this season, has unselfishly turned his attention defense and held Glens Falls’ Joe Girard III to a quiet 27 points, most coming in the fourth quarter, and Amsterdam’s Kory Bergh to 13.
Dan Joslin comes into Tuesday’s game off a 27 point performance for Hoosic Falls (9-12) against Cairo-Durham that included five 3-pointers.
The winner of Tuesday’s game will move on to the quarterfinals on Feb. 19 at Shenendehowa High School.
Class C
No. 9 Mayfield at No. 8 Canajoharie
Tuesday, 7 p.m.
The Cougars and Panthers will square off for the third time this season, this time with a chance to advance in the Class C tournament on the line.
Canajoharie swept the Western Athletic Conference series with scores of 56-36 and 58-54.
Brandon Gifford and Tommy Gates have led the Panthers (10-10) in scoring this season for first-year coach Harley Fuller.
Mayfield has won five of its last seven games that included a 55-54 victory over previously unbeaten Oppenheim-Ephratah/St. Johnsville and two losses to top-seeded Berne-Knox-Westerlo.
The host Cougars (10-10) closed out the regular season on a two-game win streak and are led by a powerful big-man line of Mike Hartlieb, Lucas Sossei and Trevor Folts that have accounted for more than half of the Cougars points on the season.
The winner advances to the Class C quarterfinals on Feb. 19 at Hudson Valley Community College where they could face top-seeded Berne-Knox-Westerlo. BKW must first get past the winner of the play-in game between No. 16 Cambridge and No. 17 Corinth on Tuesday.
Class D
No. 9 Hartford at No. 8 Fort Plain
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Adirondack League contender Hartford (8-11) comes into the Wednesday’s game off a 50-38 win over Warrensburg/Bolton. The Tanagers were paced in that victory by 6-foot-4 senior Ethan Tyler’s 19 points and Nate Leise’s 15 points.
With an 11-9 record the Hilltoppers were awarded an opening-round home game.
Coach Casey Russom will be looking to the power games of Ryan DeLaurie and Jon Calbet to spark the Hilltoppers, while McKay Nare provides a threat from the outside with 27 3-pointers this season.
No. 10 Northville at No. 7 Berlin
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
The upset-minded Falcons (8-12) have been led by 1,000-point career scorer Danny Reidell who has 423 so far this season.
Berlin comes in with a 12-8 overall record and a third-place finish in the Central Hudson Valley League standings behind defending Class D champion Germantown and Loudonville Christian.
The winner advances for a quarterfinal round game against second-seeded Oppenheim-Ephratah/St. Johnsville on Saturday at Stillwater High School.
No. 2 Oppenheimer-Ephratah/St. Johnsville’ vs. No. 10 Northville/No. 7 Berlin winner
at Stillwater High School
Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
The Western Athletic Conference North champions will being watching the game between No. 7 Berlin and No. 10 Northville to find out who they will be playing in their opening game of the Class D tournament.
After being bumped up to Class C last season, the Wolves return to Class D this year and have rolled to an 18-2 overall record with losses to Class C contender Mayfield and to the top seed in the Class B tournament, Mekeel Christian in WAC Cup championship game.
“We have flown under the radar for a long time,” OESJ coach Jason Brundage said after the Wolves loss to Mekeel Christian. “This is a good team and that hasn’t happened overnight. I know there are good teams up north and Germantown is the defending champion, but we will give them what we’ve got.”
The Wolfpack will not get a home game this year but will open at Stillwater High School in the quarterfinals with the winner advancing to the Class D final four at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
