Britton, Lewis carry Saratoga to quarterfinal victory over Bethlehem
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY » The Saratoga boy’s basketball team found themselves in a good position after the first half on Monday night against Bethlehem, but the Eagles weren’t ready to call it quits just yet as they would give the Blue Streaks a run for their money down the stretch.
“I thought we really worked hard for 32 minutes on the defensive side of the ball. We got some key contributions from both Kaleb Lewis and Luke Britton. They played great defense on their top two guys and that’s what won the game for us,” said Saratoga Head Coach Matt Usher.
Saratoga was able to come out with the 49-44 victory over the Eagles in their Suburban Council quarterfinal game, who had cut their deficit down to two, with less than thirty seconds to play.
While the Blue Streaks won the first, second and fourth quarters on the scoreboard, it was a poor third quarter offensively that allowed the Eagles to stay in the game.
“They were tough inside and really tried to clog it up in the paint. We had some guys that were getting swarmed whenever they touched the ball,” Usher said. “Credit to them. They played tough the whole way until the end. I’m happy with the way that our guys were able to execute and hit free throws at the end.”
The biggest key offensively for Saratoga was no surprise, it was Luke Britton. The senior scored 27 points in the game, coming in the form of five threes and eight free throws. Many of Saratoga’s other
big scorers struggled in the second half, making Britton’s big night that much more significant.
“We need him looking to get to the line. That’s been a big part of his game this year. In the past, he’d pretty much been perimeter based. Now he’s mixing it up going inside and out. He did a great job for us all
over the floor,” Usher said of Britton. “When he’s hitting those shots, he’s tough. Obviously we struggled to score the ball tonight, but he plucked up the slack for us and hit some big shots down the stretch when we needed them.”
Kaleb Lewis tacked on ten points for Saratoga, hitting two threes in the first quarter. Chris Dufort added seven to the effort.
In an interesting statline, the Eagles put up a so-called, picket fence, scoring
11 in every quarter, or all ones. Marko Gibbons led Bethlehem with 12 points and Matt Fuscus added 10.
“It felt like a playoff level intensity game. We knew what was on the line. Obviously it would have been nice to have the stands full or down at Hudson Valley or at the Civic Center. The fact that we’re playing games, out here competing and playing together is great for these kids.”
Saratoga will now host Troy on Wednesday in the
Suburban Council semifinals, in a rematch of a game from February 27 were Saratoga came away with a nail-biter, 61-60 victory. FINAL: SARATOGA 49, BETHLEHEM 44 Saratoga Springs High School
Saratoga Springs, NY
SARATOGA 14-17-4-14 — 49
BETHLEHEM 11-11-11-11 — 44
Saratoga (11-1)
Dillon Waite 0-1-3, Tom Goodemote 0-0-2 (2-2 FT), Luke Britton 2-5-27 (8-10 FT), Kaleb Lewis 1-2-10 (2-2 FT), Chris Dufort 2-1-7 (0-2 FT)
Bethlehem (4-6)
Neatherly 0-0-2 (2-2 FT), Marko Gibbons 4-1-12 (1-2 FT), Franklin Haight 1-02, Marcus Gentile 2-2-10, Bodie Rocklein 0-1-3, Caden Bernardo 2-0-4 (0-1
FT), Nicholas Furlong 0-0-1 (1-2 FT), Matthew Fuscus 5-0-10 (0-1)