Shenendehowa Shuts Down Guilderland In Chip

ALBANY, NY - When Shenendehowa faced off with Guilderland earlier this season Plainsmen head coach Tony Dzikas said he understood that containing Dutchmen guard Andrew Platek '16 would be the key to his team's success, and that proved to be true, as they limited the sharpshooter to just 5 points in a Shen victory.

Tuesday the two teams met up again, only this time the Section 2 Class "AA" Championship was on the line, but the plan didn't change. Stop Platek, Stop Guilderland, that was the motto, and once again the plan worked to perfection as even with a late Guilderland rally, it was Shenendehowa who claimed their first Section 2 Championship since 1996 with a 47-42 win.

The plan to once again try and stop Platek meant a box and one defense would be employed for most of the night, and that meant unsung Drew Lewis '15 would be given the assignment to trail and follow him, something that Shen guard Kevin Huerter '16 said just made the most sense.

"He did a great job on him the first time so it was easy to just say let's stick with it," Huerter said about the decision to have Lewis shadow Platek.

The plan worked to perfection in the opening half as Platek was limited in his touches and scored just 5 points, and while he struggled, Huerter for Shenendehowa was feeling it.

It started with a putback of his own driving miss, then it was a stepback jumper off the dribble, and then a long three from the wing. 10 points in the early going for the junior point guard put the Plainsmen in a great position as going into the half they were up 22-14, and Dzikas said that Huerter's start really got the team going, which was not a surprise considering the talent the coach says his young star has.

"Kevin can do this every game if he wants," Dzikas said. "When he finds that gear to play like this on a more consistent basis I am telling you he is going to be even better and more exciting than he already is now."

High praise for Huerter by Dzikas, and he kept up that play going into the 3rd quarter as he scored to open the half on a left handed dunk going down the left wing that had the crowd on its feet in awe of what the 6'4" guard had just done.

It seemed as if Shenendehowa was going to pull away and run away with this game, and they may have if not for the play inside of Guilderland big man Andrew Sischo '16.

Hampered with 2 fouls early on, Sischo came on in the 3rd and scored 9 points in the quarter to help pick up some of the scoring load that was lost with the Plainsmen's great effort on Platek to keep it reasonable at 40-30 for Shen heading to the 4th.

"We felt comfortable about how we were playing but we were still leery and cautious because we knew that Guilderland is a very good team who could get back in the game very quickly."

Those were the words and thoughts of Dzikas heading into the final quarter. He knew the finish line was near, but in a sense it was still so far away.

Guard Thomas Huerter '15, the older brother of Kevin, bumped the Shen lead to 12 after a baseline drive, but with Sischo controlling the paint, and Platek finding ways to get himself to the FT line, the Dutchmen were making a run.

Shenendehowa were hurting themselves from the charity stripe as well as they missed the front end of one and one's on back to back possessions and Guilderland actually knocked the deficit down to just 46-40 with under a minute to go.

Matt Alverson '15 was able to connect on 1 of 2 free throws with 20 seconds to play, and while Guilderland got off good looks after that to cut the Shen lead down even more, they could not get the ball in the hoop.

It took until there were just 3 seconds to play for guard Ralph Simeone '15 to putback a Platek miss, but because so much time had elapsed, the Plainsmen didn't even have to inbound the ball again as the buzzer sounded and it was celebration time as Shenendehowa were Section 2 Champions for the first time in nearly 20 years, defeating Guilderland by a score of 47-42.

Kevin, the younger Huerter brother, had a game high 20 points in the championship victory, while Thomas, the older brother, added 10 in the victory, and even though both of them had fantastic games, the talk afterward was on just how great of a game Lewis had once again on Platek.

"We needed him to come up big once again. That really is a lot to ask of someone to do the same thing twice, but he did it and it's a credit to Drew and his work ethic to be able to come through like that," Dzikas said after the win.

Platek had just 9 points, well below his 24 point per game average, but he did have 1 long three that showed when he gets free just how dangerous and how good a shooter he can be.

Sischo was the leader for Guilderland though as the 6'8" big man had a team high 17 points in the defeat.

It's a win that Shenendehowa and its fans will remember for a very long time, and while the Plainsmen will now move onto the NYSPHSAA Class "AA" Regional Final this Saturday night to play Section 3's Henninger, Dzikas said that they will celebrate this one for a little bit longer, noting that for him to be able to coach and win with this group is a very special thing.

"You get a group like this maybe once in your career and I feel great that I was able to accomplish this with them because they are such great kids on and off the court, and that is what it is truly all about."