Lofty goals await
GLENS FALLS — The bigger the stakes, the better the Potsdam boys basketball team has played through the course of the 2009-10 season.
But if the Sandstoners hope to earn a breakthrough trip to the state Class B final this weekend at the Glens Falls Civic Center, they will have to play their best game yet.
"We know that this is going to be the best team we've faced all year long," said coach Steve Kmack as the Sandstoners get set to take on Section 9 champion Burke Catholic in the Class B semifinals at 6:45 p.m. Friday. "They go nine deep and they all can play. They like to get up and down the court and they press as well as any team I've seen.
"Can we beat them? Yes. But we have to play a perfect game. We have to play the way we did in our two wins against Ogdensburg and the way we did in the second half against Plattsburgh last weekend."
The Sandstoners stand at 21-2 after downing the Section 7 champion Hornets 62-38 last Saturday in a quarterfinal round game at Hudson Valley Community College where they only led 25-21 at halftime. They are making their first trip to Glens Falls since losing in the semifinals to end the 2002-03 season.
The Sandstoners have shown outstanding balance at both ends of the court with a starting lineup that features one senior, three juniors and a sophomore. Junior forward Zach Adams, who is also the team's leading rebounder averaging 4.2 boards a game, has emerged as the scoring leader as well, netting 15.5 points per outing. Classmates John Coleman, who leads the team in steals with 54, and Scott Bartenstein average 13.9 and 12.9 points a night, respectively, followed by senior Chris Whispell (9.2 ppg) and sophomore Josh Adams (8.5 ppg).
"The core group of this team has been together for a long time. They react to each other very well," Kmack said. "This is a special team. I'm a very demanding coach and these kids would go through the wall for me."
Kmack said the players on the team was one of the reasons he returned to coaching.
"Tom Caruso was the athletic director here at the time and I told him we'd be taking this team to the final four in five years and the other day he sent me an e-mail that said, 'See, your wish has come true,'" Kmack said. "This is something we've been gearing toward for a long time."
Burke Catholic, located in Goshen, just north of the Pennsylvania board in the southeast corner of the state, improved to 19-3 with a dominating 74-46 win over Malverne of Section 8 at Pace University. Junior forward Dante Cowart is the team's leading scorer, averaging more than 14 points a game.
The other Eagles' starters average between nine and 11 points but junior Brendan Miller, a 6-foot-7 center, has stepped up to be a postseason leader, averaging double-digit scoring and rebounds over his last two games.
"We have a lot of similarities," Kmack said. "They're a little bit bigger inside. The Miller kid is a nice post player and they look to get the ball to him a lot. The other big difference is we're not as deep as they are. We have two sophomores (Lee Buchanan and Mike Chambers) who have given us a lot of quality minutes off the bench. If we get into foul trouble, we're going to need them to do the job when called upon.
"We are very respectful of this team," he added. "We've risen to the occasion in our other big games this year but this is a whole different scenario."
