Sandstoner Boys Reach B Semis

TROY - The Potsdam Central boys basketball team put a defensive sting on the Plattsburgh Hornets on Saturday to earn the school's second New York State Region II Championship Crown in a 62-38 victory at Hudson Valley Community College.

"We've put a lot of hours in working on the defensive end, really everything stems from our defense. We just defend well and that gets a lot of things going in transition. Our two big offensive spurts in the second half tonight were really defensive spurts," said Potsdam coach Steve Kmack.

Potsdam (21-2) will face Burke Catholic, a 74-46 quarterfinal winner over Malverne, on Friday evening at the Glens Falls Civic Center in the New York State Class B semis. Potsdam reached the Final Four in Class C during the 2003 season, falling to Cooperstown in the semis.

"It's an emotional win here, a great victory for us. We've worked really hard. We kind of had a disappointing loss in our last game against Massena, a team we beat twice during the regular season. After that, we had a little talk and we got it straightened out in like 10 minutes. And we were ready to begin playing like we had been playing for most of the year," said Coach K.

"When we beat Ogdensburg in the section final, it was hard to get our team back up because they knew they were in the states. But we got them back together tonight and they played like they usually do," said coach Kmack who starts three juniors, a sophomore, and one senior.

A Scott Bartenstein bucket gave Potsdam a 12-7 lead with 1:11 left in the first quarter. A Tre Bucci three pointer with 3:22 left in the second quarter cut the Hornet deficit to 19-18, but Josh Adams scored two straight buckets and the Stoners eventualy went into halftime leading 25-21.

Bartenstein fired in a three pointer with 6:09 left in the third quarter for a 30-25 lead and after Plattsburgh was called with an offensive foul, the Stoners broke open the contest with eight straight points on a layup by John Coleman, two drives by Zach Adams and a deuce from Chris Whispell for a quick 38-25 advantage.

Leading 44-31 after three quarters, Potsdam ran off the first 10 points of the fourth on a Josh Adams put-back, a Whispell basket from Zach Adams, two inside moves by Bartenstein, and a layup from Whispell to make it 54-31, essentially putting the game out of reach.

"In the first half, we didn't rebound well and we didn't get to the loose balls. We got down and dirty in the second half. Our defense really keyed some fast breaks, at times we had four or five in a row," noted Kmack.

Zach Adams led Potsdam with 19 points. He finished 8-for-15 from the field, grabbed 15 rebounds,11 defensive, blocked three shots and collected two assists and one steal. Josh Adams went 7-for-10 from the field in a 14 point performance which was complemented by nine boards. Scott Bartenstein chipped in 13 points (6-10 field) and collected seven assists, two steals and two boards. Jon Coleman added 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting and posted six boards, three assists and two steals. Chris Whispell added six points and four rebounds.

Potsdam shot 29-for-51 from the floor compared to Plattsburgh's 13-for-51 and also out-rebounded the Hornets 39-28.

Kyle Knight scored 10 points and tallied four rebounds for Plattsburgh. Tre Bucci added nine followed by seven from Joe Kirkpatrick.

"We've been there once before in 2003 and we lost a heart-breaker to Cooperstown. It was my dream to back there someday and it's nice to be going back,"noted Kmack.