Trailing by as many as nine points late in the first half and badly out-rebounded, Spencerport rallied in the second half to squeeze out a 48-46 win over visiting Hilton in boys basketball.
The Rangers who won only four games all of last season, have exceeded ten or more wins just once over the last 15 years and haven’t won a division title since the 1997-98 campaign, picked up their third win of the young season under first year head coach Kyle Trevas.
“That’s (rebounding) been a focus of ours after we got slammed on the boards in our first game against Brighton,” Trevas said. “We’ve been focused since then and are also taking very good care of the ball. All three wins have been by two points or less, so we’re finding a way to win.”
Hilton held the Rangers to just one free throw during a six minute portion of the second quarter as they built a 23-14 lead. Senior guard Bailey Pittman hit four three-pointers in the first half alone and Brett Turpyn knocked down two of his own to account for much of the Cadets offense.
The Rangers chipped away late in the second quarter as Justin Johnson and David DeBellis hauled down offensive rebounds and hit put-backs to make the Hilton lead five at halftime.
Junior guard Ryan Gentile hit a jumper and a trey on consecutive possessions in the third quarter to put the Rangers on top for the first time in the game. The Cadets tied it later in the quarter on a Joey Lipani trey, but Spencerport’s Gentile hit on a three-pointer and senior guard Zekiah Owens stole the ball and drove the length of the court for the slam to rebuild the lead.
The Rangers led by seven points in the fourth quarter before the Pittman show began again for Hilton. He hit on an alley-op lay-up, a trey and on a drive to pull his Cadets to within 46-44 with two minutes remaining.
But each team traded lay-ups over the final 90 seconds to end the contest.
Pittman led all scorers with 22 points including six treys. Turpyn had 12 points with six rebounds, three steals and three assists for the Cadets. Teammate Lipani added six points and Jonathan Letta added nine assists.
Gentile led the Rangers with 15 points with three three-pointers and added five rebounds and three assists. Owens finished with ten points, five steals and five rebounds; Johnson tied for the team lead with six rebounds and added ten points while John Feeney came off the bench to also add six rebounds.
