PLATTSBURGH — The Plattsburgh High boys' basketball team will enter the Section VII Class B playoffs as one of the hottest teams.
The Champlain Valley Athletic Conference Division I champion Hornets are riding a nine-game winning streak into the quarterfinal round.
But at the start of the season, after losing all five of their starters from a season ago, the outlook was uncertain.
Plattsburgh debuted with a 16-point loss to Peru.
"That game we got blown out in I just don't think we were ready to play," coach Chris Hartmann said. "We were a team still that did not have an identity."
The Hornets had a new starting five, led by three returning seniors in Ethan Votraw, Ab Maknani and Rob Fout. The other starting guard was a sophomore, Garrett Frady. Rounding out the frontcourt was junior Nate Harrington, who was returning from a two-year absence from high school basketball.
Hartmann entered the season with no other expectations than wanting his team to work hard, give 100 percent and play defense. He fully expected his team to take its bumps and bruises along the way.
It didn't take long for him to see improvement.
The Hornets, 2-1 at the time, lost a close game to Potsdam, the Section X Class A champion the past two years, in the Section VII/X Challenge.
"That's a very experienced team still up there in Potsdam," Hartmann said. "That Potsdam game showed me that these kids can play."
Since that game, Plattsburgh High has lost just twice. One came against Section X's Ogdensburg Free Academy. The other was against AuSable Valley — which finished unbeaten in CVAC play — when the Patriots hit the go-ahead bucket with seconds left.
Votraw, the team leader in points per game (15.5) and 3-pointers (30), credited defense and the developed team chemistry as key factors to the turnaround.
"A lot of us wanted to be scorers at the beginning of the season. We just needed to find our roles on the team and really work harder on defense," Votraw said. "I think we're a new team. … We're a lot more aggressive. We're ready to play."
Hartmann praises the three senior starters with helping provide leadership and an identity to the team.
Maknani, whom Votraw calls a defensive stopper, is second on the team with 17 3-pointers and is third in scoring average with 9.4 points per game. Fout is second with 10.4 points, and Hartmann said he has really started to rebound better as of late.
When talking about the importance of his three senior starters, Hartmann recalled a specific moment in a recent close win over Saranac.
Trailing with 11 seconds left, Votraw got free off a screen from Fout, took a pass from Maknani and hit the go-ahead triple.
The win wrapped up the CVAC Division I title for the Hornets.
"We are where we need to be right now, and we're playing excellent basketball," Hartmann said.
Rusty at first, Harrington started to pick his game up by the end of January. He has averaged eight points per game during the recent winning streak.
Votraw said they were expecting Frady to get a little bit of playing time, but the sophomore exceeded expectations.
"He jumped into the starting lineup pretty quickly," Votraw said. "He's a smart player. He came into the starting lineup and he handles pressure very well."
Hartmann is also quick to give credit to the bench for keeping the intensity up in both practice and games.
The Hornets will often go with a 10-man rotation consisting of Damon LaBorde, Mike O'Connor, Will Love, Brooks Kelley and Keenan Hunt-Stone.
Plattsburgh will host Saranac Lake in the quarterfinals tonight. The Hornets swept the regular-season series against the Red Storm, but Votraw said the Hornets won't go in overconfident.
"Can't take any team lightly," he said. "Any given night, anybody can lose, so even though we beat them twice, we got to come out as if we're playing the state champs."
Email Ryan Hayner at: rhayner@pressrepublican.com
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