Potsdam Takes Title Downing OFA
@$ID/NormalParagraphStyle:POTSDAM - The road to winning a third straight NAC Central Division championship was marked by - what else? - stifling defense by the Potsdam Central boys basketball team.
After holding Massena to just 33 points on Wednesday, the Sandstoners held OFA to only one more in a 51-34 victory on Friday night to claim the outright division title with a 7-1 record, avenging their only division loss, to OFA on January 16th.
Potsdam (16-2, 7-1 Central) led just 24-20 at halftime last night, but held OFA to just four points in the third quarter and to only four in the fourth before a late buzzer-beating three-pointer by Tyler Knowlton.
“Over my many years of coaching, hopefully, my teams are known for defense and tonight we defended really well, we grinded it out,” said Potsdam coach Steve Kmack.
A balanced Potsdam offense featured 10 points (2 three-pointers) and eight assists by point guard Lee Buchanon, one of four Sandstoner seniors - including Josh Adams, Mike Chambers and Camron Waters - who were honored before the game on Senior Night.
“It’s a great feeling to win this. Our defense really led the way and then we got out and ran off that,” said Buchanon. “We hit the boards hard in the second half, knocked down a few shots from the outside and that allowed us to penetrate more.”
OFA (13-5, 5-3) kept in the game in the first half with two three-pointers by Breton LaRose (8 points, 5 rebounds) and seven of his team-high nine points by Pat Cosmo. But the OFA pair combined for just four points after intermission. “Their defensive pressure really bothered us tonight. We have to do a better job,” said OFA coach Mark Henry whose team will host Canton next Friday in the Class B sectionals, looking for another shot at the Sandstoners in the section finals.
Another big key for Potsdam last night was the play of forward Owen Mitchell who kept his team in the game with all 10 of his points and seven rebounds in the first half. Adams finished with seven points and 13 rebounds, Mike Chambers (7 rebounds) and Konnor Bigwarfe each hit two three-pointers in matching 10-point efforts while Tom Hobbs came off the bench to tally four points and defend like a Kmack disciple.
“Owen gave us a big lift offensively early on. We got into transition and Lee and Konnor knocked a few down,” said Kmack. “It’a a good win. I’m happy for the kids.”
Also for OFA, Colin Ross scored six points, Kinnon LaRose (5 rebounds) scored five points while Jimmy Tulip grabbed six rebounds.
The 17-1 OFA JVs secured a share of the Central Division title at 7-1 with a 50-32 victory. A victory which gave Coach Mike Sargent 11 league championships, a title in four different decades and a final record of 398-122.
Jack Manke’s nine points led a balanced winning offense which also included six from Jon Rogers, Seth Pinkerton and Nick Sweeney and five points from Tristan Moore and DaKota Brady. Conor Hannan and Al Fisher each scored four points followed by Justin Ross with three and Peyton Laline with two. Rounding out Coach Sargent’s final team are: Dominic Yerdon, Nick Green, and Ryan Adams. Seth Carr and Troy Gates led Potsdam with nine and eight points.
@$ID/NormalParagraphStyle:Massena 64, Gouverneur 36: The Raiders (14-4, 6-2) clinched second place in the division with a 64-36 decision, led by Zach Rusaw with 16 points, Joe Labelle (3 three-pointers) with 13 points and Xavier Viskovich with 11.
For the Wildcats (3-15, 0-9), who trailed 38-17 at the half, Mark Horne (3 three-pointers) scored 13 points while Nate Guesford added eight.
