Taconic Knocks Off Green Tech
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- It is far too early in the season to compare this year’s Taconic boys basketball team with last year’s state finalist squad.
But more games like Thursday’s and the comparisons will be hard to resist.
Isaac Percy scored 15 points, and Sean Harrigan added 12 as Taconic knocked off Green Tech, 51-48, in the final game of the Pittsfield Hoop Club Holiday Classic at the Boys and Girls Club.
Taconic improved to just 1-2 on the season. But one of those losses was a three-point decision against Putnam, a team that beat Taconic by eight in the second game of last season.
And the win, against an Albany school rated among the best in New York’s Capital District, avenged a four-point loss to the Eagles in last year’s season opener.
So by some measures, this year’s Taconic squad is already a little ahead of last year’s -- at least on paper.
“Maybe that’s a good sign,” Taconic coach Bill Heaphy said with a laugh. “If that means anything, I’ll take it.”
Heaphy could afford to smile and breathe a sigh of relief after coming out on the right side of a nail-biter that saw neither team lead by more than seven points.
Mohammed Sanogo scored nine points -- seven in the pivotal fourth quarter -- and Eric Montgomery scored eight points and had steal and dunk that ignited the crowd late in the third quarter.
“Eric was huge,” Heaphy said. “And Sean Harrigan got aggressive and made some shots, because we need it. It can’t all be Isaac. So [Harrigan] got more aggressive and saw some lanes and took advantage of it. He’s a good player, and he made some good hoops for us.
“I thought Bo [Bramer] was terrific. He’s not going to score 30, but he ran our team out there. He runs things. He knows what to call. He keeps everyone engaged. And he’s only a sophomore. I was really happy with him. And Mo [Sanogo] down there just changes so much.
“Team effort. Everybody had to do something, and it took all of us. It wasn’t just one guy doing it.”
Taconic took a 19-12 lead late in the second quarter when Sanogo hit a pullup from the foul line, but Green Tech rallied to tie the game at 23-23 going into the locker room.
The Eagles took their last lead when Mazziah Thorpe (18 points) hit a pair of free throws midway through the third quarter to put his team ahead, 29-28. The Eagles led by three before Taconic closed the quarter on a 10-0 run that featured four points from Montgomery, including the jam.
Frank Boua closed the run by converting an alley-oop pass from Harrigan to give Taconic a 38-31 lead.
Taconic was still ahead by seven midway through the fourth, but the Eagles closed to within two when Thorpe put back a rebound with 2:10 on the clock to make it 48-46.
But Taconic’s defense allowed just one more basket over the next two minutes to put the game away.
“I was really happy with our defense tonight,” Heaphy said. “That’s a good team that can score because I went and saw them on Saturday, and they put up points. … That’s what I was worried about.”
Taconic on Monday goes to Lenox.