Albany, NY - Over the last few days, the men's basketball team took on the VSUR Knights twice while the women hosted the NCCC Saints on Tuesday night.
But first, the men's team took a trip to Vermont on Sunday afternoon. The Panthers had a very early lead, but then the Knights went on a 16-4 run to give themselves a double digit lead. The Panthers fought back and cut that lead down to 4 points with about 6 minutes left in the half, but the Knights then went on another run, this time outscoring the Panthers 13-4 to bring their lead back to 10 points a the break.
In the second half, the Knights ran away with it, shooting over 60% from the field and outscoring the Panthers by 16 points to give themselves a 92-66 victory. Despite the loss, Alex Carrillo (Akron, OH) finished with 20 points and 8 rebounds while Josh Bendele (San Antonio, TX) and Logan Yohe (Delmar, NY) combined for another 24 points.
Fast forward to Tuesday evening and the women's team took on the North Country Community College Saints on Cancer Awareness Night. The women tipped off at 6pm in what would become a defensive battle. In the first quarter alone, the Panthers forced 10 turnovers and held the Saints to only 2 made field goals, giving themselves an 13-8 lead. In the second, the Panthers offense was stagnant, only making one shot the entire period. The Saints capitalized on that and outscored the Panthers by 9 to go into half with a 24-20 lead.
In the third, the Panthers retook a 1-point lead thanks to good ball movement and defense, dishing 5 assists on 6 made buckets. In the fourth, the game came down to the wire. With just under 5 minutes left, Samantha Howland (Whitehall, NY) had a clutch and-1 to give the Panthers a 2-point lead. A couple plays later, the Saints answered with a 3-pointer, but freshman Akosua Adu-Gyamfi (Holden, MA) then hit the eventual game winning 3-pointer with 29 seconds left to secure a 43-41 victory for the Panthers.
Howland would finish with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Adu-Gyamfi had 11 points.
After the exciting finish for the women's game, the men tipped off at 8pm. The Panthers opened the game with a Yohe 3-pointer, but the Knights got hot and went on a 17-2 run immediately after. The Panthers were able to cut the lead down to 8 points at 20-12 about halfway through the period, but then the Knights went on another huge run over the next eight minutes to push their lead all the way up to 25 points. At the break, the Panthers found themselves down 51-29.
In the second half, the Panthers flipped the script. In the first half, they had 10 turnovers against 11 field goals whereas in the second they only had 4 turnovers against 17 made field goals. Ball movement and defense led to the Panthers cutting the lead down to 7 points with 6 minutes left. However, the Knights finally got their first half groove back and went on a 10-3 run over the next three and a half minutes to regain a double digit lead, which they would ride out to the end of the game. The Knights would win by a score of 81-70.
Yohe led the team in scoring with 19 points while Carrillo had another double-double with 17 points and 10 boards while Clarence Claiborne, Jr. (Petersburg, VA) dished out 10 dimes.
The women won't play until Sunday afternoon against Washington County Community College at home in their final game of the regular season while the men will host their senior night on Friday against Vaughn.
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 Instagram @ACPHSPanthers or X @ACPHSAthletics.
Written by Angelo Oddo.
