Massena ousted in Class A
TROY— The Massena boys basketball team executed its defensive plan on Friday evening in the state Class A first round game against Section 2's Burnt Hills. But offensively, in the second half, things just didn't go the Raiders way in a 39-31 setback.
"We played well defensively for most of the game. We did exactly what we wanted to do," said Massena coach Tom Miller. "We held them to under 10 points in the first half. A kid banks in a three for their seventh point, so basically we held them to four points in the first half. We just struggled without Brady (Condlin). I'm not making excuses because we won games without him."
Condlin played just six minutes with a severe ankle sprain that limited his lateral movements, Miller said.
"We had some chippies early in the second half and if they fall it's a different story," he said. "We're extremely disappointed because we thought we matched up well with Burnt Hills. I felt that we were prepared and ready to take this next step and it's a huge disappointment to this group of seniors. They just won't get another chance."
The Raiders opened to a 9-3 lead on a jumper by Taylor Elsner with 1 minute, 36 seconds left in the first quarter and the lead grew to 16-3 on a Zack Rusaw layup. But Burnt Hills finished the quarter on a 4-0 run keyed by a Brandon Beatty 3-pointer off the glass.
Burnt Hills went 2-for-24 from the floor in the first half as Massena was 7-22.
The Spartans cut the deficit to 20-15 on another 3-pointer from Beatty with 3:48 to play in the third quarter. Burnt Hills eventually tied the game at 20-20 on a Phillip Neuman 3-pointer with 2:43 left, and took the lead on Keaton Flint's three from the top of the arc with 2:01 left. Massena later took the lead at 24-23 on two J.P. Dumas free throws, but Jake Batty's jumper gave the lead back to Burnt Hills with 36 to play in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Raiders later cut the deficit to 29-27 on two foul shots from Elsner, but Burnt Hills finished on a 10-4 run keyed by 4-for-5 free throw shooting from Brett Dennis.
"They made a ton of free throws down the stretch and we missed some front ends of 1-and-1 situations," Miller said. "When you're down a possession or two and you miss those, it gets magnified. It's just a tough loss."
Elsner finished with nine points, going 5-for-6 from the foul line, for Massena. He also grabbed five rebounds, and collected three assists. Troy Myers added eight rebounds.
"We accomplished a lot, defended our title, which was a huge goal, but this program really wants to get to the next level," Miller said. "We want to win a state game."
