It can be a tall order for a Class B team to swing it against a Class AA team, and the Rhinebeck Hawks tried their best when they visited the FDR Presidents Feb. 21. But they lost, 68-45.
The Hawks got off to an inauspicious start to what was their final regular season game, even before the match: a scheduling error left them without a bus to travel in and 20 minutes late to the party.
Once the party started, Rhinebeck’s Nick Hoynes and John Walsh got on the board first, and actually got Purple out to a 6-0 lead within the first two minutes. Some sharp shooting and a pair of three pointers, however, put the Presidents up 10-6 with a minute and a half left in the quarter; they came out of the period up 17-10.
In the second quarter, it was FDR’s barrage of threes that helped bury the Hawks, 39-26, going into the half. Adding to a first quarter three, Isaiah Chisholm scored three triples in the second, flushing 12 of his game-leading 18 points on three-pointers. But FDR couldn’t make the long-ball work in the second half, and failed to score a single three-point field goal.
Rhinebeck actually managed to keep it kind of tight halfway through the quarter, when Hoynes scored a pair of free throws to bring the Hawks within seven points of the Presidents. FDR’s big Chris Roach – who had a night of his own, going for 15 against the shorter Rhinebeck lineup – netted a buzzer beater at the end of the quarter.
The Presidents didn’t take any plays off coming into the third quarter. They initiated a full court press to open things up and cut the Rhinebeck low-block defense to ribbons, getting up to 47-26 within the first three minutes of play. In the fifth minute, however, they were called for three fouls within a span of 60 seconds. Rhinebeck was in the bonus at the end of the quarter, and Hoynes dropped a three with five seconds left on the clock. Unfortunately, a couple of good breaks for Rhinebeck couldn’t hold up to the unrelenting fast breaks of the Presidents, who left the quarter up comfortably 59-35.
The fourth quarter was a chippy one, as FDR head coach Kevin Hart checked out most of his starters and checked in the bench. With the bench in, Rhinebeck managed to get the lead down to 68-45 to end the game.
Hoynes led all Rhinebeck scorers with 12 points.
“We got beaten in transition in the first half,” Rhinebeck head coach David Aierstok told the Observer after the game. “That was the biggest thing. Should have been a closer game. We’ve got to be in better shape for sectionals, so we tried to rotate guys in tonight. But if we play like this in sectionals, we’re in trouble.”
The Hawks were to face off with Spackenkill on the road in the first leg of the Section 9, Class B tournament Feb. 24.