Albany, NY - The basketball teams hosted the Paul Smith's Bobcats on Wednesday evening in the last regular season game for both squads. In addition, the Panthers had a cancer awareness night where they took some time to honor cancer survivors.
Before that, the women tipped off at 5 pm against their conference rival. Playing their third game in three days, the exhaustion was evident early on. Shooting only 3/18 from the field in the first quarter, the Panthers only had 7 points. However, they also played excellent defense, holding the Bobcats to only 10 points in the period. The Bobcats started the 2nd quarter hot, going on a 12-0 run, but the Panthers answered with a 17-3 run of their own that extended into the third quarter, giving them their first lead of the game.
However, the exhaustion set in again and the Bobcats ran away with it. They would go on to win the game 48-39 in what would be the last game of the season for the women's basketball team. They finished the season with an overall record of 6-11, 6-10 in the conference under first year head coach J'Neil Sharpe. Samantha Howland finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks while Emma Russell added 7 points and 12 rebounds.
At halftime of the women's game, the American Cancer Society took time to honor a cancer survivor, ACPHS' very own Claire Hughes who shared her touching story with the crowd. ACS received donations to help fund cancer research and advertise their Relay for Life event on April 6th, a regional event with several other colleges involved.
After the women wrapped up their season, the men tipped off at 7pm against the Bobcats. The Panthers came out firing from deep as their first five buckets were all threes. The Panthers finished the half with 8 made threes, led by Logan Yohe (Delmar, NY) who had half of them. Alex Carrillo (Akron, OH) finished the half with a near double-double with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Despite the hot shooting, the Bobcats kept up with the Panthers as ACP led by only 1 point at the break.
After the break, the Panthers switched to a more paint focused offense as Carrillo had 10 more points and Brett Richards scored all of his 13 points in only 11 minutes off the bench in the second half. In those 11 minutes that Richards played, the Panthers outscored the Bobcats 25-11 to push their lead to double digits. The Panthers would then go on to win the game 91-78.
Yohe would finish with 24 points while Carrillo had 21 points and 13 boards. Clarence Claiborne Jr. (Petersburg, VA) finished with 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists while Michael Leak (Delanson, NY) had 13 points and 8 boards. The men's basketball team will host the UMA Moose on Saturday night in the YSCC Play-In game. If they win, they'll travel to Southern Maine to play in the YSCC Final Four.
How to follow the Panthers: For the latest information on ACPHS athletics, visit acphspanthers.com or check out the ACPHS athletics social media platforms on Instgram @ACPHSPanthers or X @ACPHSAthletics.
Written by Angelo Oddo.
