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December 15, 2009

Hornets hound Eagles

By RYAN HAYNER



BEEKMANTOWN — After watching his team jump out to a strong start, Hornets coach Chris Hartmann pushed them on with an oft-repeated phrase.

"This is the pace we want!" Hartmann shouted from the bench.

It was a pace the Eagles couldn't keep up with.

Plattsburgh High's frenzied attack on both sides of the ball lessened Beekmantown's obvious size advantage as the Hornets pulled off an impressive 74-51 Champlain Valley Athletic Conference boys' basketball victory Tuesday night.

Before the tip-off, the Eagles appeared to have a decisive mismatch with three players on the court standing at or above 6 feet 4 inches. But the Hornets neutralized that advantage with their speed and ended up forcing 28 turnovers, many of which led to easy transition buckets.

Credit the Hornets' depth with allowing them to exert so much energy in playing their full-court game.

"I can't say enough about our team defense — team defense won it for us," Hartmann said. "We have a deep bench; we have one of the deeper benches in the conference."

Kyle LaPoint scored a team-high 19 for the Hornets (1-1), nine of them in a pivotal third quarter that saw Plattsburgh High push its lead to double digits going into the final stanza.

"He played very smart," Hartmann said. "If he got the big man up in the air, he just went around him."

Beekmantown (1-1) still took advantage of its height — 6-foot-6 center Thomas Ryan scored a game-high 22, all from the paint — but the Eagles often had trouble just getting the ball up the court to set up a half-court offense.

"Their pressure took us out of our game we let them dictate the tempo and we didn't play our style of basketball," Eagles coach Ryan Converse said. "I expected them to be quick and get our and pressure us.

"I knew that was their strength — but, I felt like defensively tonight, we just made a poor defensive effort."

Hartmann stressed to his players not to give up cheap fouls, and the Hornets followed that game-plan well as Beekmantown attempted six free throws and made just one.

After the Hornets built up a 21-12 lead in the first quarter, Ryan and Devon Anderson led the Eagles on an 8-3 run that cut the deficit to four in the second.

The Hornets' hounding defense stymied the run soon after, with Plattsburgh High collecting four steals in the next two minutes that helped push the Eagles deficit to seven.

A 19-point third quarter, aided by six steals, gave Plattsburgh High a 52-39 lead and the Hornets outscored the Eagles 22-12 in the final stanza to put away a marquee win early in the season.

"It's just the second game of the season, but coming off a hard loss, this was a great win for us," Hartmann said.

—

PHS 74, Beekmantown 51

Plattsburgh High (74)

J. Knight 5-2-15, K. Knight 4-4-13, Bucci 3-0-6, LaPoint 8-3-19, Favro 3-2-8, Fout 3-0-7, Curtis 2-0-4, Porcelli 1-0-2, Kirkpatrick 0-0-0, Benoit 0-0-0, Telfair 0-0-0. Totals: 29-11-74

Beekmantown (51)

LaDieu 3-0-7, Frennier 1-0-2, K. Ryan 1-0-2, D. Anderson 7-1-15, Valerien 1-0-3, T. Ryan 11-0-22, LaMere 0-0-0, Lattrelle 0-0-0, MacDonald 0-0-0, Ducatte 0-0-0, Smith 0-0-0. Totals: 24-1-51.

PHS21121922—74

Beekmantown12131412—51

3-point goals: Plattsburgh High (4) J. Knight 2, K. Knight, Fout. Beekmantown (2) Valerien, LaDieu.

JV: Plattsburgh won.

E-mail Ryan Hayner at: rhayner@pressrepublican.com

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