By Craig Handel

 (Special to Section2Basketball.com)

 

FORT MYERS, FL

Six days after he led his Glens Falls football team to a New York State championship, Joseph Girard III was on the court for the Indians’ basketball team’s season opener.

 

He was off that night. Just 34 points.

 

Off? You have to understand, this was a guy averaging 50 a night last season.

 

That’s how much Glens Falls relies on Girard, a 6-foot-2 guard headed to Syracuse.

 

When Girard is on – as shown by outings of 53 and 57 points this season – the Indians win.

 

When he’s off, they’ll likely lose.

 

It’s a lot of pressure. Girard squarely puts it on his shoulders, even if it bothers his uncle and coach, Robert Girard.

 

“He’s why we’re here,” Robert Girard said moments after Mississippi’s Petal High pulled away from Glens Falls for a 78-56 victory on Thursday night in the Culligan City of Palms Classic Signature Series.

 

With the loss, Glens Falls (6-1) will play Brunswick (Ga.) in the consolation game Saturday.

 

“He takes too much of the blame. He’s got two guys covering him, all game long. That wears on a kid. We know we live or die by him, no doubt about it. Those other kids know their roles and know what he can do.”

 

In the last two nights, Girard received a big dose of the highs and lows of competing at this level against some of the best high school players in the country.

 

In the last two nights, Girard received a big dose of the highs and lows of competing at this level against some of the best high school players in the country.

 

On Wednesday, the 6-foot-2 guard headed to Syracuse showed why when he won the 3-point shooting contest.

 

On Thursday, he made just 5-of-23 shots – and 2-of-14 from 3-point range.

 

“(Wednesday) night, I got it going in the 3-point contest,” said Girard, who had 22 points or 23 below his average. “I wanted to compete.

 

“Today, it didn’t work out in my favor. This one is definitely on me.”

 

Since age 3, Joseph Girard III has been on a basketball court. As a youth he won a national Elks foul-shooting contest, which got his named etched in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

 

“It’s definitely been in his blood for a long time,” Robert Girard said.

 

Last season, Girard III made 179 3-pointers as he led his team to a 20-3 record.
He has been compared to another Glens Falls great – Jimmer Fredette. In 2011, Fredette led BYU to the Sweet 16 before losing to Florida in overtime. He averaged 28.9 points his senior season.

 

After being a first-round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks, he jumped around the NBA before finding his niche in China the past three years.

 

In November, Fredette scored 75 in a Chinese Basketball Association game, including 40 in the fourth quarter. In 2016-17, he led the league in scoring, at 37.6 points per game, counting all phases of the season and won the CBA International MVP award for the Shanghai Sharks.

 

“He’s been compared to him since he was 10 years old,” Girard’s father, Joseph II, said. “They went to the same elementary, middle and high school.”

Joseph III said he went to Fredette’s camps and learned a lot.

 

“He showed me his footwork and quick release, scoring in the paint,” he said. “And he’s a great role model on and off the court. Great player, great person. If I can be half as good and get half the accolades, I’ll be pretty good.”

 

While Penn State liked Girard for football as well as basketball, Duke, Boston College, Notre Dame and Michigan also offered scholarships in hoops.

 

Michigan coach John Beilein thought he may have had the inside track because he coached Joseph’s dad at Le Moyne College but another player compared to young Girard – Syracuse assistant Jerry McNamara – gave the Orangemen the edge.

 

“He would text, call or FaceTime almost every day,” Joseph Girard II said. “Gerry sees a lot of himself in Joseph, like looking in the mirror. He wants to coach him and feel he can help him in a lot of ways.”

 

Joseph Girard III added, “In the end, I felt more comfortable with Syracuse. Coach Mac and I talk all the time.”

 

With an interest in being a broadcaster, Girard III also found Syracuse appealing.

 

However, it looks like he’ll be playing for awhile.

 

“No. 1, he’s a competitor,” Robert Girard said. “He can shoot the lights out for sure but he’s got a gene that he doesn’t like to lose at all. He’ll fight to the bitter end. That’s how he was brought up. He also can defend when he wants to.

 

“He’s gonna have a real good college career.”

 

 

By Aidan Joly

 

CLIFTON PARK – Shenendehowa made a furious comeback in the final few minutes but they came up just short, falling to Troy 60-56 Friday night at Shenendehowa High School.

 

The Flying Horses led by 15 with four minutes to go and starting to create separation, but Shen was not going to go quietly on their home court. They made a quick rally in the final few minutes of the night behind scores from Jake Reinisch, Andrew Martin and Lucus Seyoum to cut the deficit to three with under 30 seconds to play. However, a clutch free throw from Troy’s Latyce Faison and an offensive foul on the Plainsmen with under 10 seconds left sealed the deal, with Troy barely holding on for the win after having a big lead late.

 

It was a night of clutch plays for Troy as they needed them throughout the night with the game being close until the first few minutes of the fourth. Every time Shenendehowa would make a run at Troy, the Flying Horses would have an answer for them. It was most apparent through the play of both Nazaire Merritt and Faison, who combined for 50 of the team’s 60 points on the night and hit 12 three-pointers between the two.

 

Coming into the second half with his team leading by three, Merritt came up huge as he hit a trio of threes as part of an 11-point quarter for him. He finished with 24 points.

 

(Nazaire Merritt of Troy being guarded by Shenendehowa's T.J. Sangare)

 

“He’s just a guy who has the ability to see the moment and put it on his shoulders and when he rises up like that as a senior, I’m so proud of him to be able to do that,” Troy head coach Greg Davis said.

 

However, Faison had his share of big moments. He hit three shots from behind the arc in the second quarter and hit seven in total as part of a 26-point night. The biggest pair came in the fourth when he hit them back-to-back to extend the Troy lead from nine to 15. He had another huge one to end the first half, hitting one to beat the buzzer, giving the Flying Horses a five-point lead at the break.

 

Troy hit 12 three-pointers on the night, contrary to Shen’s five, but the mistakes of the Plainsmen, especially turnovers, proved costly to them in the long run.

 

“As far as the score and even the tempo of the game, I don’t mind it, I think we can run with teams like you saw at the end but I think we just gave the ball up, you can’t give the ball away,” Shenendehowa head coach Tony Dzikas said.

 

Many of those turnovers came in a fast-paced first quarter that saw Troy score 21 points and force Shen into turnovers numerous times, leading to easy scores.

 

“They were tremendous on defense, we struggled handling the ball,” Dzikas added.

 

Shen falls to 4-3 in league play, and 5-5 overall.

 

The Plainsmen were led in scoring by Jake Reinisch with 14 points and Andrew Martin added 12 points.

 

Troy continues to be undefeated in the league, at 6-0 now. They are 6-1 overall heading into some tough competition.

 

Davis said, “We have some quality wins against quality opponents, but it only gets harder. Columbia’s a great team, Schenectady is very tough next week for us. Still have Bethlehem, still have CBA, we have all those teams to play and we just need to be ready every night.”

 

 

 

By Bryan Cooney

 (Special to Section2Basketball.com)

 

FORT MYERS, Fla. - 

It was fitting that Joe Girard gave Southwest Florida basketball fans a taste of what he has done to many basketball teams in New York over his high school career after a lackluster showing in Glens Falls’ defeat Thursday in their Culligan City of Palms Classic debut.

 

The all-time leading scorer in New York history and Syracuse signee scored early and often Saturday afternoon as the scoring dynamo put up the second highest individual scoring output in tournament history with 59 points to help the Indians defeat Brunswick (Ga.) 80-65 in the consolation final of the Signature Series.

 

“That might have been one of his better ones ever and he probably passed up a few shots he could have taken,” Indians head coach Robert Girard said.

 

“We feel good about that, he got everyone involved. Guys made big shots, even our defense was really good. That’s who he is out there, he’s our leader. The kids look at him, everybody knows. When they’re handling the ball, they look to go to him.”

 

 

Converting on 20-for-42 from the field, Girard connected on 11 of his 29 3-point attempts but rued afterward of his three misses at the foul line that would have given him the tournament scoring record of 62, one better than former University of Florida guard Kenny Boynton who accomplished the feat for American Heritage High School in 2007.

 

“I struggled from the free throw line this week for sure, I’ll definitely have to go back and practice that,” Girard said.

 

“It is what it is, we won so it’s all good with me.”

 

After being held to 22 points on 5-for-23 shooting from the field in Glens Falls’ 78-56 loss to Petal (Miss.), Girard needed to produce after the Indians fell behind 9-0 just two and a half minutes in. After catching fire to the tune of 13 first-quarter points, the 6-foot-2 guard added 15 more in the second quarter to finish the half with 28 on the strength of six 3-pointers and push Glens Falls to a 39-35 halftime advantage.

 

Hot shooting from the perimeter kept Brunswick in the game as Torrey Dickens, Jr. knocked in three 3-pointers in the third quarter to help the Pirates close to within 57-54 entering the fourth quarter, but Girard scored five quick points to open the quarter to give Glens Falls some breathing room.

 

After Girard pulled the trigger on a right-wing 3-pointer to put the Indians ahead by double figures for the first time all game at 67-56, the chase was on to try and add his name to the tournament record book.

 

Sitting at 48 points, Girard bombed in another 3-pointer on the opposite wing on the ensuing possession to give him 51 points with 4:10 remaining in the game. With the crowd buzzing, Girard went back to the right-wing to knock down an even longer 3-pointer to put him at 54 with a little over three minutes remaining.

 

 

With the game well in hand, Girard knocked down a pair of free throws after a Brunswick technical foul and added a driving lay-up to put him at 58 points with a little over a minute remaining. One final 3-point attempt from the left wing bounced out and it seemed like Brunswick would dribble out the clock, but the Pirate bench was called for a technical foul with 6.1 seconds left. Giving Girard a chance to match his personal best of 60 points in which he accomplished twice last year as a junior for the Indians, he missed his third free throw of the game before converting the second and was removed to a rousing hand from the Suncoast Credit Union Arena crowd.

 

It was the first 50-point game since Boynton set the tournament mark 11 years ago and only the fifth such game in tournament history as Girard joined two other former Florida guards in Teddy Dupay (56 points) and Nick Calathes (50 points) along with late Clifford Rozier, who scored 51 points in 1989 before being a first-round pick in the 1994 NBA Draft out of Louisville.

 

Girard’s cousin Trenton added 16 points with four 3-pointers for Glens Falls who return to New York with a blemish on their record at 9-1 but will take memories and confidence with them as they push for a long postseason run.

 

“It was a great experience and definitely helped me, but more importantly it’s going to help our team,” Joe Girard said.

 

“I don’t know if we’ll see some teams like this back at home, but it gives us a confidence booster coming out of here with a win. It can help us for the playoffs back at home. Our confidence is definitely rising and our ability to play is definitely rising as well.”

 

Game Highlights.

 

Teams	End 1Q	Halftime	End 3Q	Final
Glens Falls	18	39	57	80
Brunswick (GA)	15	35	54	65

 

 In game win probability

Glens Falls		Brunswick (GA)
16	3PT SHOOTING	9
8-11	FREE THROWS	6-12
73%	FT %	50%
3	LEADS	2
19	LARGEST LEAD	9
	Top Scorers
Glens Falls	Joseph Girard #11	59
Glens Falls	Trenton Girard #13	16
Brunswick (GA)	Torrey Dickens Jr. #14	21
Brunswick (GA)	Xavier Bean #10	11

 

 Game flow chart

 

 Full Glens Falls shot chart -HERE

 

 

 

All 11 of Joseph Girard III made three point field goals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.