No. 2 Saugerties advances to regionals
The down-and-up season of the Beacon boys’ basketball team came to an end at Mount Saint Mary College on Friday (March 1) when it was overwhelmed by No. 2 Saugerties in the Section IX, Class A title game, 61-52.
The Bulldogs trailed for nearly the entire game and a cold third quarter put the contest out of reach. Seeded No. 5, Beacon had reached the final — its first since 2003 — by upsetting No. 4 Red Hook on Monday (Feb. 26), 56-54, and No. 1 New Paltz on Wednesday, 61-52.
Photos by Cadence Heeter
After two games in four days, Beacon appeared to run out of gas against Saugerties, struggling to keep up with the fast and physical Sawyers. Saugerties took a 41-26 lead into the fourth quarter after several minutes of sloppy play from the Bulldogs. Beacon’s only lead came two minutes in the first quarter.
Derek Fortes led the scoring for the Bulldogs with 10 points, followed by Ryan Landisi with eight.
The Bulldogs started the year 2-7 before winning 10 of their last 11 regular season games and two playoff games to finish 14-8.
“We are building something special, and I’m excited about the future,” said Coach Patrick Schetter. The run was “unbelievable but we have set a standard now of what we want for postseason basketball, and we will be back.”
