Lansingburgh's Sajae Pryor fights for a loose ball with Mohonasen's Quinton Brown during Friday's Section II Class A quarterfinal game at Hudson Valley Community College. Mohonasen's Garrett Sisson (50) and Ben Dalton (22) look on. (Lansingburgh photos by J.S. Carras - The Record).

Despite a 16-day layoff and despite running into the team that knocked them out of the playoffs a season ago, the Lansingburgh boys basketball team is marching off to Glens Falls for a Class A semifinal game for the first time in Guy DiBacco's seven-season tenure with the Knights.

Sajae Pryor scored 19 points, adding seven rebounds and four blocks in a superior defensive effort by Lansingburgh in the 56-42 victory.

Senior center Tyler Hammett, 6-foot-10, added 17 points and 13 rebounds, anchoring Lansingburgh's 2-3 zone and providing the Knights an unstoppable offensive force in the paint.

Not unlike Thursday's Class AA game between Troy and Colonie, the Suburban Council team set the pace of the game early. While Lansingburgh did make a nice run late in the first quarter - Alex Drake scored seven points and made three steals during an exciting stretch - Mohon ground the game to a halt in the second, holding 'Burgh to just nine points in the frame.

"We came out a little slow and finally picked it up," Hammett said. "We kept scoring and we played great defense. With our team, we have to play good defense if we want to win games."

Lansingburgh junior point guard Alex Drake drives around Mohonasen's Jeffrey Kruzinski during Friday's Section II Class A quarterfinal game at Hudson Valley Community College.

Drake finished with 10 points, adding three steals and two assists for the Knights.

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It's been a long and strange season for Lansingburgh. Head coach Guy DiBacco and assistant Mike Benfer had tempered expectations about the year ahead when I spoke with them prior to their first game at Catholic Central in the Crusaders' Thanksgiving weekend tournament.

But, they have fought through some early questions to win a share of the Colonial Council regular season title, only to lose to a then-winless Ravena team late in the season.

Still, after knocking off Mohon Friday night, the Knights will be heading to the Civic Center for the first time under DiBacco's watch, blazing new ground for the Lansingburgh basketball program.

"I’m very excited. Maybe it was my lack of faith in them early, I don’t know," DiBacco laughed. "This is a group that their components fit well together. We have a couple of guys that can shoot it, we have a couple of guys that can handle it and I have a 6-foot-10 guy that’s coming on."

Schuylerville's Katelyn Fane dribbles around Catskill's Kiona Walters during Friday's Section II Class B opening round game at Schuylerville, a 54-26 victory for the Black Horses. (Photo courtesy The Saratogian).

Schuylerville's win sets up a quarterfinal rematch with Watervliet, which needed double overtime to dispatch the Black Horses in the quarterfinals a season ago.

Friday, No. 1 seed Watervliet topped Colonial Council rival Schalmont 45-33 in an opening round game on George Mardigan Court.

The Lady Cannoneers will host a pod of quarterfinal games on Wednesday, March 3.
Ravena will face Monday's Cohoes/Greenville winner at 6 p.m., followed by the Watervliet/Schuylerville clash at 7:30 p.m.

On the other side of the Class B bracket, we know No. 3 Mechanicville will playing No. 6 Johnstown at 6 p.m. Wednesday, but we don't know the location yet. Assuming No. 2 Fonda beats No. 15 Granville Saturday, the games will be played at Fonda.

In other girls action Friday, Glens Falls beat Gloversville in a Class A opener, setting up a quarterfinal matchup at No. 1 Averill Park Saturday night.

In Class CC, the Maple Hill and Hoosic Valley teams both advanced to the semifinal round, but did it in different fashions. Hoosic Valley cruised to a 61-24 victory, while the Wildcats sweated out a 49-42 triumph over Cambridge.

In Class C, Berlin topped Mayfield by three points, clinching a game at No. 1 seed Greenwich Saturday night.

In Class D, the Heatly girls topped No. 5 Hartford, 47-40, sealing a date with No. 1 Whitehall at Adirondack Community College Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.

(For all results, see the post below this for digital brackets)

In Friday's boys action, Ichabod Crane made a furious second quarter rally to toppled No. 4 Scotia-Glenville in a Class A quarterfinal game. The Riders will face No. 1 Lansingburgh Thursday night in Glens Falls in the semis.

In Class B, Johnstown edged Hudson 61-60.

In Class C, Corinth, Schoharie, Voorheesville and Canajoharie were winners. Maple Hill plays a long-awaited game against No. 16 Berne-Knox this afternoon at 4 p.m.

In Class D, New Lebanon, Fort Edward and Hawthorne Valley all marched on to the round of eight.

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Check back Saturday as I'll be bringing you live updates from the six boys basketball games at Hudson Valley Community College, staring with the Averill Park vs. Gloversville game at Noon.

We'll also have full covering of the New York State Wrestling Championships in Sunday's paper and I will do my best to bring you updates from that as well. For nearly real-time scores, see the wrestling post below this to view PDF brackets updated often at www.armdrag.com

Thanks for reading. Click the play button to view a replay.

Despite a lack of wireless internet during the games, here is a recap of the Coaches vs. Cancer High School Challenge at Siena College Sunday afternoon.
Brothers and head coaches Guy DiBacco (Lansingburgh) and Orlando DiBacco (Bishop Maginn) led their teams to victories.

Lansingburgh's Salaam Knight leaps for a layup over Cohoes' Reggie Johnson during Sunday's Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge game at Siena College. Knight scored 12 points and was named the game's Most Outstanding Player. (All photos by Tom Killips - The Record).

Lansingburgh played without 6-foot-10 senior center Tyler Hammett, and junior sensation Sajae Pryor was limited to just three points with a sore thumb. Up stepped Knight to take care of the scoring in a 56-21 Colonial Council victory over the Tigers.

"There was a lot of pressure on me because Sajae had two good games leading up to this one and he wasn’t doing what he had to do," Knight said. "He told me to step up and I had to step up."

Lansingburgh's Marcus Little slashes his way between Cohoes defenders Eric Maxwell (left) and Nate Monson (right) during Sunday's action at Siena.

Everyone on the roster except Blake Mosley scored at least two points, but Mosley added three nifty assists in the second half for the Knights. The fact that the Knights can get the job done without Hammett and a less-than-healthy Pryor has to be an uplifting thought for sectionals if those two fall into foul trouble late in a key game.

Guy DiBacco, hopes however, that both will be back ASAP.

"Hopefully it’s just temporary. He (Pryor) struggled holding on to the ball in the second half," DiBacco said. "We had the trainer here look at it and it doesn’t seem to be anything other than a normal jam. Holding on to the ball with a weaker thumb and tape is just something he’ll have to get used to."

Lansingburgh's Dominic Fruscio floats through the lane during Sunday's game against Cohoes at Siena. He scored four points and made four assists as the sixth man.

For the full story on the Lansingburgh-Cohoes game, make sure to pick up Monday's edition of The Record.

LANSINGBURGH 56, COHOES 21

Cohoes (21): Fogarty 1-0-3, LeMay 2-2-6, Shivers 4-1-9, Maxwell 0-1-1, Skaarup 0-2-2. Totals: 7-6-21.
Lansingburgh (56): Drake 2-0-5, Knight 5-2-13, Little 1-0-2, Pryor 1-1-3, Nichols 2-0-5, Fruscio 1-1-4, Garner 1-0-2, J.Jones 1-0-2, O.Jones 6-0-12, Laustrup 1-1-3, Luce 2-0-5. Totals: 23-5-56.
Cohoes (4-7, 4-10) 6 3 4 8 - 21
Lansingburgh (10-1, 13-2) 10 12 19 15 - 56
3-point goals: Cohoes 1 (Fogarty 1). Lansingburgh 5 (Drake 1, Knight 1, Nichols 1, Fruscio 1, Luce 1).

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Sunday's other games certainly were exciting. Guilderland's Ryan Ochs scored a game-high 24 points as the Dutchmen held off a feisty Mohonasen team, 46-39, in a Suburban Council showdown.

It was a fun back-and-forth game as the lead changed four times and the score was tied on seven other occasions.

GUILDERLAND 46, MOHONASEN 39

Guilderland (46): Brown 1-0-2, Gallo 2-3-8, Drislane 0-4-4, Ochs 9-4-24, Murray 4-0-8. Totals: 16-11-46.
Mohonasen (39): B.Manikas 1-2-4, Kruzinski 3-1-8, Sisson 2-2-7, Brown 3-0-7, Dalton 2-1-5, Tallman 1-0-3, Schaninger 1-3-5. Totals: 13-9-39.
Guilderland (5-7, 6-8) 9 12 14 11 – 46
Mohonasen (3-9, 4-10) 11 12 9 7 – 39
3-point goals: Guilderland 3 (Ochs 2, Gallo 1). Mohonasen 4 (Kruzinski 1, Sisson 1, Brown 1, Tallman 1).

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In the late games featuring Albany's private schools, Bishop Maginn certainly made a statement and the Albany Academy team, well it did, too.

Maginn clung to a narrow lead throughout the game but Newburgh, the reigning New York State Class AA champions and the current No. 2 team in the state, surged ahead by a point with 5:34 to play in the fourth quarter.

That was when Chris Jeffers took over. The Maginn senior scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds in the final period, willing the Griffins to a 60-56 victory over the Goldbacks.

It was a bit of a retribution victory for Maginn in two ways. One, Newburgh had knocked them off a season ago downstate and two, the Griffins lost a game to Big 10 rival Friday night in the Collar City.

"They beat us last year when we went to their house," Jerel Scott, the game's Most Outstanding Player, said. "We knew when they came back we had to beat them in a statement game. This is a new beginning for us."

BISHOP MAGINN 60, NEWBURGH FREE ACADEMY 56

Newburgh (56): Cousar 4-4-12, Henderson 1-0-2, Scurlock 5-0-11, Bouton 2-3-7, McMillan 4-0-8, Johnson 5-1-11, Hopper 2-1-5. Totals: 23-9-56.
Bishop Maginn (60): Scott 5-0-12, Petruccione 4-1-11, Fields 3-1-7, Jeffers 5-4-14, Scurry 7-0-14, Johnson 1-0-2. Totals: 25-6-60.
Newburgh (7-2) 6 20 19 11 – 56
Bishop Maginn (9-3, 11-3) 11 18 16 15 – 60
3-point goals: Newburgh 1 (Scurlock 1). Bishop Maginn 4 (Scott 2, Petruccione 2).

In the final game of the day, the Nichols School of Buffalo stormed to a first quarter lead against Albany Academy and never looked back, defeating the Cadets 65-43.

University of Virginia-bound Will Regan scored 19 points and snared 22 rebounds in 26 minutes for Nichols (11-5), the No. 12 ranked Class A team in the state.

Still, Albany Academy has raised over $30,000 for the American Cancer Society the past two years by hosting this event and no matter the results on the court, the Cadets (7-8) certainly made a difference in the community.

"I’m going to look in the mirror because I didn’t do a good job and I asked them to look in the mirror, too," Academy head coach Brian Fruscio said. "That’s how we get better. It was our day as an institution, but it wasn’t our day as a basketball team."

For more on these games, check out Monday's edition of The Record.

NICHOLS 65, ALBANY ACADEMY 43

Nichols (65): Regan 8-2-19, Clauss 2-3-7, MacKinnon 1-2-5, Vandegriff 5-2-12, Wier 9-1-20. Totals: 25-10-65.
Albany Academy (43): White 3-2-9, Currie 1-0-2, McCarthy 1-0-3, Benocs 4-0-8, Hart 5-6-18, Alley 0-1-1, Davis 1-0-2. Totals: 15-9-43.
Nichols (11-5) 14 13 16 22 – 65
Albany Academy (7-8) 6 11 11 15 – 43
3-point goals: Nichols 3 (Regan 1, MacKinnon 1, Wier 1). Albany Academy 4 (Hart 2, White 1, McCarthy 1).

Here is a complete list of the All-Academic and All-Challenge teams announced after the games Sunday.

All-Academic team

Josh LeMay – Cohoes
Dominic Fruscio – Lansingburgh
Brian Manikas - Mohonasen
Michael Drislane – Guilderland
Eddie Hopper – Newburgh
Dylan Tully - Maginn
Matt Filanova – Albany Academy
Andrew McKinnon – Nichols Schools

All-Challenge team

Josh LeMay – Cohoes
Salaam Knight – Lansingburgh, Most Outstanding Player
Quinton Brown – Mohonasen
Anthony Gallo – Guilderland
Ryan Ochs – Guilderland, Most Outstanding Player
Devon McMillan – Newburgh
Jarrod Scurlock – Newburgh
John Scurry – Maginn
Jerel Scott – Maginn, Most Outstanding Player
Nolan Hart – Albany Academy
David Benocs – Albany Academy
Conner Vandegriff – Nichols School
Stan Wier – Nichols School
Will Regan – Nichols School, Most Outstanding Player