Thrilling Showdown Severs Saranac to Semis 79-64 Defeats Peru!
TROY — Both the Peru boys’ and Saranac girls’ basketball teams had a difficult time of it Saturday in NYSPHSAA regional final at Hudson Valley Community College. Peru dropped a 69-27 decision to Section II’s Hudson in Class A, and Saranac fell to Section II’s Mechanicville, 70-42, in Class B. BOYS HUDSON 69 PERU 27 Senior guard Keith Robinson tallied 18 points to lead the way for the Section II champions (22-2) and moved into second place on Section II’s all-time scoring list.
He now has 2,688 points for his career. The Bluehawks finished with four players in double figures. Peru scored the first four points of the game, but Hudson stormed out to a 27-8 lead after one.
Robinson had seven points in the quarter, and Eli Conte connected on three 3-pointers. Section VII-champion Peru (15-8) struggled offensively in the first half and trailed 37-10 at the break. The Nighthawks shot just four of 27 from the field in the first half and committed 16 turnovers.
It didn’t get any better in the second half as Peru fell behind 52-17 after three. GIRLS MECHANICVILLE 70 SARANAC 42 The Red Raiders (21-3) jumped out to a 21-6 lead at the end of the first quarter before the Section VII champions righted the ship some to trail 36-20 going into the halftime break. Saranac (14-10), however, wasn’t able to cut into the deficit in the third stanza and were outscored 34-22 over the final two quarters.
Junior forward Tanner Eiseman and senior guard Molly DiSiena each tossed in 22 points to power Mechanicville. Senior Maddie Gagnier accounted for just over half of Saranac’s offense with 22 points of her own. No other details of the Peru or Saranac games were made available.