BOYS HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL: Stillwater still rolling into Sectional Championship

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. — The Stillwater Warriors entered Monday night’s Section 2 Class B Semifinal matchup versus Fonda-Fultonville as both the top-seed in the tournament, as well as the no.2 ranked team for the class in all of New York State.

After already picking up a 46-point win in the first round of the bracket versus Taconic Hills, followed by a 34-point win in the quarterfinal-stage over Voorheesville, the Warriors continued to justify their status with another 34-point win, 57-33, over the Braves – also ranked at no.21 statewide.

“It’s always an expectation being the one-seed to win even though Fonda came in and they had nothing to lose,” Stillwater senior Jaxon Mueller said postgame. “We just were very determined and very confident going into this game that we would come out on top.”

Despite leading 13-4 after the first eight minutes of the game and 28-13 by halftime, Mueller described Monday’s semifinal win at Cool Insuring Arena as “probably one of our closer games so far,” for a group that went 21-1 in the regular season and 16-0 in league play.

Out of intermission, Mueller would score 13 points with the team as a whole outscoring the Braves 22-2 in just the third quarter alone, to take an insurmountable, 50-15 advantage going into the final frame.

“Not that we haven’t had difficult games this whole season, but it was tighter than we wanted it to be and something hit me when we came out in the second half; I saw all the fans up there and it just kind of fueled the fire,” Mueller said.

Mueller would pull in 15-boards as well, with three coming on the offensive end and leading to second chance points.

“I feel when I miss, I’m never missing long, so I always miss short, so I know where it’s going to be and my coaches have told me that I’m very quick at getting up and going back down and going up again, just quick on my feet in the rebounds,” Mueller said on the craft. “It’s just, those two points can go a long way in the end of the game.”

Aside from Mueller, the Warriors would put two others in double-figures, getting 13 from each of seniors Thomas McDonough and Kaelan Leak, and shoot 46% (23-50) from the field.

“We just knew that we had to speed ourselves up, but at the same time, slow ourselves down by not going too fast and just making easy passes when we can, getting up and down the court, rebounding and just making easy shots on offense,” said Mueller.

Even though the Braves would get a rejuvenated fourth quarter and outscore the Warriors, 18-7, it wouldn’t be enough as the no.1 seed continued on its warpath to the Sectional Championship game.

Stillwater however, will have to wait to find out its opponent, as the other Class B Sectional Semifinal contest won’t take place until Tuesday, February 26, at 8 p.m., between seven-seed Mechanicville and three-seed Schuylerville.

“We’re not really too worried about it right now. We’ll be more worried about it at 10 o’clock tomorrow night, after their game,” Mueller said. “We played Mechanicville twice already and it’s tough to beat a team three times in one season and Schuylerville, they got something really good going over there.”

“It’s gonna be a difficult matchup for whoever we play and whoever just executes more and is just balling that day is gonna come out on top.”

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Stillwater 57, Fonda-Fultonville 33

FF;4;9;2;18;—; 33

SHS;15;13;22;7;— ;57

Braves- Walker 1-0-2, Bulan 2-0-5, Wilson 2-2-6, Croucher 1-1-3, Smith 1-0-2, Miller 2-0-5, Melious 4-0-10. TEAM: 13-3-33.

Warriors- McDonough 5-0-13, Leak 5-1-13, Lilac 1-1-3, Cocozzo 3-0-6, Mueller 9-3-21, Wicheins 0-1-1. TEAM: 23-6-57.

Halftime- SHS, 28-13.

3-point Field Goals- SHS 5 (McDonough 3, Leak 2), FF 4 (Melious 2, Miller, Bulan).