Albany, NY - The basketball teams wrapped up their regular seasons over the weekend with some exciting games!

First, on Saturday the men's team traveled up to Paul Smith's to take on the Bobcats. Paul Smith's started white hot and built an early 10-0 lead, but the Panthers responded with a run of their own to take a 17-14 lead. After that, the momentum switched back to the Bobcats' favor as they eventually went into the half with a 40-28 lead. 

For the first half of the second half, the Bobcats hovered around a 10-14 point lead, until they went on a 15-2 run to push their lead to 23 points with about 8 minutes left. For the remainder of the game, the Panthers cut down to 16 by the final buzzer, 76-60. Alex Carrillo (Akron, OH) led all players with 32 points and 10 rebounds.  

The next day, both basketball teams played in a doubleheader with the women tipping off at noon against Washington County. The Golden Eagles started hot, just like the Bobcats, and jumped to a 9-2 lead early which the Panthers cut down to 2 points by the end of the first quarter.  In the second, the lead went back and forth until Washington went on a 10-2 run to help give themselves a 6 point halftime lead. 

Riding that momentum, Washington caught fire in the second half and simply ran away with it. They outscored the Panthers 41-28 in the half to win the game 72-53.  Despite a monster 20 point, 17 rebound performance from Samantha Howland (Whitehall, NY) and an additional 16 points from Ava Gaspie (Mechanicville, NY), the Panthers were unable to keep up with the three point shooting, making only 3 compared to 11 by Washington. 

After the completion of the women's game, the men tipped off against NHTI at 2pm. The Panthers were finally the ones with the hot start as they jumped to an 11-0 lead early. The Lynx, seemingly inspired by Washington, hit a bunch of threes after their slow start to build a 4-point lead for themselves at the break. 

In the second half, the hot shooting for the Lynx continued. The Panthers matched the Lynx' hot shooting with good ball movement of their own to take a 59-54 lead with about 12 minutes left. The Lynx responded by drilling even more threes and took a 75-65 lead that grew to be as big as 15 points.  The deficit was too much for the Panthers to overcome, eventually losing 99-89 despite 23 points from Nathan Lynes (Miami, FL) and another 26 combined from Clarence Claiborne, Jr. (Petersburg, VA) and Logan Yohe (Delmar, NY) while freshman Jack Hunterton (Green Township, NJ) had a career day with 11 points. 

The women finish the season with a 15-7 record including 8-6 in the conference while the men finish with a 12-16 record, 4-12 in the conference. The men's season is now complete while the women will host Word of Life in the YSCC Play-In game, the first time since joining the YSCC!

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.