Stoners, Raiders advance

POTSDAM — They reached the 20-win plateau in the semifinals of the Section 10 overall boys basketball championships at SUNY Potsdam's Maxcy Hall Wednesday night. But despite a one-sided victory, the Potsdam Sandstoners know they need to do a better job in the championship game versus Massena in two days.

Potsdam (20-1) routed Class C champion Brushton-Moira by 79-31 in the overall semifinals. But according to Sandstoner coach Steve Kmack, whose team was coming off an emotional Class B sectional championship game victory over Ogdensburg Free Academy last Saturday, his club can do better.

"Our guys played so well against Ogdensburg, but they practiced flat after that and came in here flat tonight,'' said Kmack. "The score really isn't an indication. We didn't play very well. We have to be able to score inside. Not a good performance and they understand it.''

Earlier, Class A champion Massena beat Class D winner Harrisville 57-50.

Potsdam defeated Massena by scores of 64-53 and 48-30 during the regular season. Regardless of Friday's outcome, Potsdam and Massena will both be involved in state tournament play next weekend.

Potsdam quickly led 12-0 and was on top 19-9 after a first quarter where John Coleman scored 12 of his 14 points.

The Sandstoners led 33-15 at halftime before using a 14-1 run to start the third quarter to take a commanding 41-16 advantage.

Potsdam was led by Scott Bartenstein with 20 points and Zach Adams with 15 points. Chris Whispell added 14 points.

Brushton-Moira (12-9), also headed to state tournament play in Class C, was led by Josh Sevey with nine points.

MASSENA 57, CHATEAUGAY 50

In the first semifinal, Class A champion Massena (16-4) jumped out to a promising 21-10 lead by the end of the first quarter, but had to continually withstand one comeback after another by the Class D champion Bulldogs before earning a chance to defend their overall title.

"Give Chateaugay a lot of credit. They are a very, very well-coached team and they just kept coming after us,'' said Raider coach Tom Miller. "Our record is 16-4 and we've had a good year, but this game was another example of how terribly inconsistent we are from one quarter to another at both ends of the floor.

After falling behind by 11 points by the end of the first quarter, the Bulldogs began to find their stride in the second, outscoring the Raiders 11-4 over the first 3:10. Ian Henderson capped the early Chateaugay outburst with the first of his three three-pointers that cut the deficit to 25-21.

Sparked by five straight points by Trevor Bacon, the Raiders answered with a 10-5 run the rest of the quarter to go into halftime leading 35-26.

A low-scoring third quarter saw the Raiders push their lead to 10 points at 41-31 with 2:51 remaining after a close range conversion by Taylor Elsner and Massena went on to take a 44-37 lead into the fourth.

The final period opened with Henderson drilling a quick 3-pointer to pull the Bulldogs back to within four points. A 3-pointer six minutes later by Eli Franze left Massena leading just 51-49. And after a Massena turnover, Alex Stalter went to the foul line with a chance to tie the game. He missed the first but connected on the second to make it a one-point game with 2:09 remaining.

Elsner then converted on the next Massena possession. But it wasn't until J. P. Dumas and Bacon successfully drove the lane in the final 26 seconds before the Raiders were final able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Elsner finished with a game-high 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Raiders. Bacon tallied 13 points and had seven boards while Dumas generated 10 points, six rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

Alex Stalter and Henderson anchored the Chateaugay scoring with 11 points apiece.

"We'll work on things again in practice, but if we don't correct our problems tomorrow, we're going to be in big trouble on Friday against Potsdam,'' Miller said. "We talked all year about defending our title. We've put ourselves in position to do it. And I guarantee you, we're not going down without a battle no matter who we end up playing.''

"It's always good to have a game like this against a quality team like Massena,'' said Chateaugay coach Ron Boyea. "We didn't execute well and we were giving up easy buckets in the first quarter. The kids showed a lot of heart coming back the way they did after being down 21-10.

The Bulldogs (19-3) will now set their sights on a fifth straight trip to the New York State Class D tournament starting next Wednesday with a first-round game in Plattsburgh.