MECHANICVILLE — The Mechanicville boys’ basketball team was running on pure adrenaline, and perhaps a jolt of energy supplied by head coach Alex Lilac.
Locked in a back-and-forth battle against Voorheesville in the Section 2 Class B semifinals on Tuesday night at Cool Insuring Arena, Mechanicville put together a monstrous fourth quarter.
From finishing off 3-point plays to hitting clutch shots from beyond the arc in the fourth, Cruz Goverski, Logan Starks and Chris Couser sent Lilac jumping for joy multiple times throughout the period.
“That’s one benefit of being a younger coach, that these guys look to me and I think my energy can become their energy,” Lilac said. “Especially in a game like tonight, where I’m sure they were exhausted, giving them a jolt of my own energy helped them down the stretch.”
After mounting a comeback in the second quarter, and ending the third quarter tied, a 27-point period in the fourth allowed No. 2 Mechanicville to surge past No. 3 Voorheesville with a 70-61 victory.
The two teams were deadlocked 12-12 after the first quarter, but in the second, Voorheesville began to build a lead.
“When we played them in January, it kind of went the same way where we got down 10 in the first half, and were able to chip away to make it manageable,” Lilac said. “It was the same type of thing tonight, and I kept telling the kids to stay persistent, keep rebounding the ball and let the offense do its thing.”
Mechanicville went on a run to close the second quarter with a 32-28 edge.
However, the momentum favored the Blackbirds in the third, as they were able to tie things up 46-46.
Thomas Burns scored seven of his 15 points for Voorheesville in the third quarter, helping his team stay in the game. Overall, the Blackbirds were led on offense by 19 points from Brady Eitleman.
Mechanicville took the momentum back in the fourth quarter, and then some.
“We have confidence in all of our guys. It was just a matter of time,” Goverski said. “They were longer than us, so we really had to be the dogs in the fight and find bodies to box them out.”
Starks, who hit four 3-pointers in the game, had two in the fourth quarter. He also hit 3 of 4 shots from the free throw line in the period, as he scored nine of 15 points in the fourth.
Goverski, who had a game-high 27 points, scored 11 in the fourth quarter. He was 6 for 6 at the line in the period and 11 for 11 in the game.
Couser scored seven of his 10 points in the fourth, as the trio combined to score all of Mechanicville’s 27 points in the period.
“I think we just came out with more energy,” Goverski said. “We were amped up in the locker room, ready to go, it was just a matter of time. We just had to stay together and play as a team.”
“It just shows who we are as a team,” Starks added. “We play to the final second of every whistle.”
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Lilac said of the way his team played in the final quarter. “This time of year you’re going to have a lot of close games and over the course of the season you hope you play enough of them to kind of practice what it takes to finish games like this. To do it up here on this stage, it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.”
Throughout the final eight minutes, as 3-pointers continued to go in, Lilac and the Mechanicville bench continued to be sent into a frenzy.
“It just brings even more energy to the team knowing that he’s with us all the time,” Starks said of watching his head coach punch the air in celebration after hitting a 3-pointer. “He’s supporting us and wants the best for us.”
“We have a bunch of experienced guys, not just in basketball, but in a number of sports,” Lilac said. “We had a really good fall between soccer and football, so these guys really have been battle-tested in everything. They weren’t afraid of the moment, and I think that showed.”
After falling to Stillwater in the Section 2 Class B title game last season, Mechanicville finds itself back in the same position this year, but this time against No. 4 Greenville.
“[We have to] remember the feeling from last year, it wasn’t good,” Goverski said. “That’s what keeps us going.”
Now with an 18-5 overall record, Tuesday’s win gave Mechanicville its ninth straight victory, dating back to Jan. 7.
Greenville, which is 19-4 overall, upset No. 1 Hoosick Falls 52-41 in its semifinal, to advance to the title game.
The two championship teams met during the regular season in a non-league game on Feb. 12, which Mechanicville won 63-38.
The Class B championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Hudson Valley Community College.
“We know just to play in these games you have to be really good, and to win here you have to be even better,” Lilac said. “To get here two years in a row with these guys, especially after all we lost from last year’s team, is really pleasing.”
Voorheesville 12 16 15 17 — 61
Mechanicville 12 20 11 27 — 70
Voorheesville scoring: Novotny 2-3-8, Burch 1-1-3, J. Burns 4-0-8, T. Burns 6-3-15, Turnbull 3-0-8, Eitleman 7-4-19.
Mechanicville scoring: Starks 4-3-15, Goverski 7-11-27, Pingelski 4-0-10, Shakow 2-0-6, Couser 3-3-10, Morton 1-0-2.
Team scoring: Voorheesville 23-11-61, Mechanicville 21-17-70.