Kevin McMahon (21) shot the lights out in the first half of Saturday's Wasaren League game at Tamarac High and he hit the boards hard in the second half. The 6-foot-5 junior forward finished with 17 points and a game-high nine rebounds. (Photos by Tom Killips - The Record).

Tamarac's Brent Matazinksy (1) fights for a rebound over the shoulder of Hoosick Falls' Anthony Goldstein (22). Goldstein epitomized Hoosick Falls' effort on Saturday as he didn't score any field goals - he added two points at the foul line - but outmuscled the Tamarac defenders for seven rebounds.

It was a rough week for Tamarac, the No. 6 Class B team in New York. They played four games in five days, including an overtime victory at Hoosic Valley on Friday night.
A few players were banged up in rough-and-tumble games against Greenwich and Granville and some were battling the flu.
Still, Tamarac head coach Eric Medved was adamant after the game that the team is just working through a rough stretch, playing some of the biggest and most physical teams in the Wasaren League. The team is not letting the expectations of a state ranking distract them in any way.

"We have a lot of intangible things affecting our team that a good basketball team has to fight through," he said. "I don’t think it was the state rankings."
"We have to come back to work and decide how tough of a team are we going to be," Medved continued. "Toughness - that’s something we have to find from the coaching staff and from the players. We’ve got to go to work. We have to look at it like it’s our job."

With the victory, the Panthers vaulted into sole possession of first place in the Wasaren League and helped their cause on Friday, defeating Stillwater.

2008-09 Wasaren League boys basketball standings (1/17/09)

Hoosick Falls (5-1, 9-2)
Granville (5-2, 10-2)
Stillwater (5-2, 8-5)
Tamarac (B, 6) (5-2, 11-2)
Hoosic Valley (2-4, 8-4)
Schuylerville (2-4, 5-6)
Greenwich (1-5, 6-6)
Cambridge (1-6, 2-10)

"Our league is really going to be a dogfight this year," Lilac said. "Everybody already has a loss and anybody truly can beat anybody and we’ve shown that."

--
Check out the full story and get the scoop on the history of the matchup between McMahon and Tamarac's Steve Hunt in Sunday's edition of The Record.