By Aidan Joly
SARATOGA SPRINGS -- It’s been a theme for Saratoga all season, and Tuesday night was just another example of it. Starting slow, then coming from behind to pick up a win. That was what they did against CBA, beating them 63-53.
The Blue Streaks started the night about as flat as you can be and it showed on the scoreboard, as the Brothers led 18-6 at the end of the first quarter, and saw them trail by as many as 14 points early on in the second quarter.
Then, as Saratoga has done all year, they turned it on. They closed the half on a 15-4 run and only were down by three at the break, out-scoring the Brothers by nine in the second. That was spearheaded by Marcus Davis and Nate Chudy, who scored the majority of their points in that timeframe. Chudy had six points in the second, and had a team-high 17 for the night.
The Blue Streaks really got it going in the third quarter. Chudy, Will Fox, Aidan Holmes and Michael Rogan each came up with huge buckets for the team in the third, taking the lead early on in the quarter after the teams traded leads for the first few minutes of the second half, and then extended their advantage to 13 points, 46-33, by the end of the quarter. Overall, Saratoga had seven different player score Tuesday night. Holmes had 10 points, while Davis, Rogan and Fox had nine each.
“The majority of us on the team have been playing since we were very young. That chemistry as well as being able to play to other people’s strengths and helping their weaknesses has really helped us as a team,” Chudy said.
(Saratoga's Nate Chudy)
From there it was smooth sailing for the team, extending their lead to as large as 16, before eventually winning by 10, a very large turnaround from how they started, one of many occasions this has happened. Every time, though, they win, putting their record at now 10-0 for the season and 7-0 in league play.
“For whatever reason we seem to come out flat and once we get down or get frustrated, we seem to play a whole lot harder, so we’re going to keep mixing things up and hope to start from the get-go,” Saratoga head coach Matt Usher said.
CBA attempted to mount a comeback in the fourth, but they never got closer than nine points. They were led by Jordan King with 15 points, Drew Signor with 14, and Peter O’Toole had 11.
Head coach Dave Doemel said, “We played a hell of a first quarter. In the second quarter he switched things up a little bit and we panicked, and we can’t do that.”
The Brothers are now 4-3 in league play, and 5-3 overall.
