First set of Boys Basketball Games

One Patroon Conferece game on Monday and a trio on Tuesday gives us a good early feel for how the season is shaping up. Neither Cairo or Maple Hill have played yet, two teams who were top notch squads last year so watching out for how they fair in their start to season will be key.

MONDAY

Chatham at Rensselaer

Interesting first game match. A lot of people are looking at Chatham as a team who can be a real factor in both the league and section over the next two years. The decision of Josh Keyes to do indoor track intstead of basketball hurts this team a lot, but still with junior Will Gauthier running the show and versatile Brandon Johnson inside the Panthers should be good. The Rams lost a lot of good players and looked to rely heavily on a pair of seniors this year, Chris Britt and Mico Perez-De Los Santos who's been hampered by injuries on the court the past few years.

Chatham jumped out to a seven point lead after one quarter before the Rams cut their deficit to one at the half. Chatham pushed their lead back up to four heading into the final stanza but the Rams outscored Chatham 14-8 in the fourth quarter behind 10 points from Britt as Rensselaer pulled out a 53-51 win.

Britt finished with 17 points, scoring 4 times from the floor, once behind the arch and knocking down 6 of 7 free throws. De Los Santos added 12 for the Rams in the win. Gauthier scored a game high 20 points for Chatham, while Johnson added 12.

Chatham is going to look to get on track Friday when they face Taconic Hills who look as though they will struggle this year. The Rams head to Cairo on Friday in what should be an interesting tough, defensive battle.

TUESDAY

Hudson at Ichabod Crane

This was the battle everyone, including Chatham coaches, were watching on Tuesday. Two always tough teams battled out in what might be the most intense rivalry in the entire conference. The first big thing to point out is Jacori Anderson is not playing for Hudson. Anderson was voted by his peers last year as one of the most dominant shot blockers and rebounders in the league and his loss is huge to them.

Ichabod jumped out to an early lead but Hudson closed the gap and the game remained pretty close throughout. The Riders never seemed to lose control in the game and no matter how close it got it seemed as though ICC would hold on for the win. After some free throws late to help ice the game the Riders held on for a 50-40 victory.

Not shockingly the Riders were led by a trio of seniors who all scored in double digits. Derick Horn scored 12, Chris Larm added 11 and Josh Ingham threw in 10 including a pair of triples. Tanner Wolfe another senior added in 8 points and was a force on the boards while junior point guard Mitchell Niemeyer scored 7 points and dished out a number of quality assists.

Larell Roberts scored 11 points to lead Hudson while Lindon Alert and Jeff Crank scored 9 and 8 respectively. Sophomore Alert was very impressive running the point and attacking the hoop while Crank, a junior, plays under control and has a versatile game. Senior point guard Nevin Sheldon coming off a fantastic fall football season was held scoreless, but did provide a good defensive effort.

Ichabod returns to action on Thursday against a much improved Coxsackie Athens team. Hudson will host Maple Hill on Thursday on a big early season contest. If the Bluehawks fall to 0-2 this early in the season they could be in a rough spot.

Coxsackie Athens at Greenville

Two teams who finished near the bottom of the league last year, the big difference for this season is the Indians return most of their top talent while the Spartans lost most of their big guns. Greenville took an early lead before C-A went up by 1 before the half. After a defensive third quarter the two teams put up a lot of points in the fourth but Coxsackie held on for a 62-55 win.

Nate Tailleur and Dan Hanson each scored 14 points for the Indians while Kevin Wiley added 12. Austin Simmons put in 5 for C-A but his main strength is in his rebounding, shot blocking and defense. For Greenville Ross Bentley scored a game high 19, but John Hicks was the only other Spartan who reached double digits, scoring 11.

Coxsackie hosts ICC on Friday in what should be a great early test to see just how far they've come while Greenville heads to high scoring Catskill on Thursday.

Catskill at Taconic Hills

The Cats blew out the Titans 81-37 in both teams opening game of the year. Catskill jumped out to a 16 point lead after one quarter and carried that through the final three. The Titans were expected to struggle thsi year but this first loss is tough, while the Cats lost a good amount of talent but returned enough to be considered at least a middle to upper middle of the pack squad.

Jeremy Taylor led the Cats in scoring with 16 while Mike Beauford, Dean Forrester and Jason Jones each added 12. Mike Jacobsen scored 13 for the Titans in the loss.

Up next for Catskill is a home stand against Greenville on Thursday, while Taconic Hills heads to Chatham on Friday in what could be a tough game.