Lansingburgh Advances to Quarter-Final in Win vs Queensbury

The Lansingburgh Knights were on the run for all 32 minutes of the game and held off Queensbury despite their late-game runs. The 6 seeded Knights beat the 11 seeded Spartans 62-57.

Lansingburgh juniors James Oliver and Aayden Green had a combined 43 points. Oliver was a force down low in transition and with offensive rebounds. “The fans and coach keep me going, always on me, stay in my role, and keep doing my thing,” Oliver said. Oliver did it all from outside, inside, and in transition with ball handling at some points, but his presence was most felt in the paint.

Greene got a couple of easy buckets early in transition that helped him stay confident and dominant throughout the entire game. Although Lansingburgh was running the whole game, their defense didn’t look winded at all. They were swarming for turnovers for all 32 minutes.

Lansingburgh seemed to have the momentum from the jump, even in warmups the Knights were waiting to start layup lines five minutes early. The Spartans hadn’t left the locker room until Lansingburgh was already five minutes in.

Queensbury’s junior forward Trevon Bailey did his best to keep the Spartans in the game. Bailey had a buzzer-beating fastbreak layup to end the half at a score of Lansingburgh 38, Queensbury 29. Bailey also leads a quick second-half start for the Spartans. That hot start was answered quickly by a big three-ball from Lansingburgh junior Wesley McIntyre. 

Knights junior point guard Isaiah Allison wasn’t much of a scoring threat in this game but his connection with Oliver was crucial to stopping any big Spartans run. He took care of the ball, played great defense, and contributed with his passing abilities. 

The Knights had a lead all the way to the end of the 3rd quarter before Queensbury tied it up with one minute left in the quarter. The Queensbury hit their second buzzer-beating layup of the game before the 4th quarter to give the Spartans the lead heading into the 4th.

The Allison and Oliver connection was in full effect to start the 4th quarter. It was back and forth all the way until there was a little over a minute remaining when the Knights started to knock down their free throws and capitalize on defense. 

A crucial charge was called on Bailey taken by junior Logan Hardt. The Knights had the ball up three with just 30 seconds to play. They went on to close it out with free throws. They will move on to play Mekeel Christian Academy Sunday at Hudson Valley Community College at 1:30 pm. 

“We got to hit our free throws down the stretch and limit our turnovers. We got a young group with no varsity experience… In these prime time moments, teams are stepping up their energy and level because it’s win or go home. So hopefully each game we get a little bit better,” said Lansingburgh head coach Eric Loudis.