Senior forward Shawn Jansen grabs a rebound against Washingtonville. (photo by Robert Ford)
The Sawyers boys basketball team improved its record to 11-4 with a 75-59 win over Washingtonville on Jan. 29, and a 56-53 win over Our Lady of Lourdes in the Coaches vs. Cancer Game on Jan. 31.
Stats for the Sunday game were not available. In the win over Washingtonville, the Sawyers’ quick pass and ball handling proved too much for the Orange County team.
Coach Mike Tiano has taught his team how to play fast, something they will need if they want to have successful basketball careers in college.
Washingtonville attempted to run with Saugerties but couldn’t make the transition from their slower-moving, “set up a play, then shoot” type of offense. The Sawyers’ fast-break, “move the ball around quickly to the open man and then shoot” offense was too much for the Wizards.
Saugerties mixed up its scoring with a number of three-pointers, two-pointers and, thanks to the Wizards’ sloppy defense and fouls, a number of free throws. Saugerties ran the score to 20-8 at the end of the first quarter.
Washingtonville came out a little faster in the second and with two minutes gone in the period had moved one point closer 23-12.
The Wizards thought that going body to body with the Sawyers and mixing it up was the answer. They did manage to keep the score within 10 until Sawyer senior forward Shawn Jansen sank a three-pointer just as Washingtonville looked like it was going to make a go of it and pull to within eight. Jansen’s three made it 35-24.
Saugerties tough man-to-man defense was working hard and kept the Wizards from scoring much the rest of the way through the period. The second ended 41-27 as the Wizards managed to get off a three-pointer just as the buzzer sounded.
Thanks to some encouraging remarks by Tiano to his team at halftime, the Sawyers came out fast and pumped up the score to 53-38 three minutes in.
Then it was steals by Saugerties that kept Washingtonville off the scoreboard.
Washingtonville got a breath of fresh life halfway through the period as Saugerties’ vaunted ball handling vanished for a time. The Wizards managed to outscore the Sayers 18-17 in the period to make it 58-45 at the end of three.
With the 13-point lead, Tiano put in a number of his bench players to get them some playing time, but Washingtonville’s starters pulled the Sawyers back and made it 58-50.
Back in went Saugerties’ first team, who began to overpower the Wizards, increasing the lead to 66-52.
That was pretty much it for the Wizards. They were only able to score another seven points and the Sawyers pumped in nine to make the final score 75-59.
Saugerties was led in scoring by Jeroy Gordon with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Jansen had 10 points and 12 rebounds. Jake Vernon also had 12 points and seven rebounds.
Other scorers for Saugerties included Eyzaiya Ortiz with 10, Dondre Francis with nine, Austin Curlin with four, Omar Mazariego with four, Martin Lopez with three and Nick Slate with two.
The Sawyers next play on Feb. 5 at home against Poughkeepsie.