JOHNSTOWN — What do you tell your team when it falls behind 20-0 in the opening minutes of a high school boys’ basketball game?
“I just told them to play our game, and that starts with defensive stops and that is what we have done all year,” Johnstown coach Phil Satterlee said. “That is why we are where we are with 15 wins now, because of our defense. We knew if we could get stops that the shots would begin to fall. We kept playing as a team, and they never gave up. That is a credit to them. Down 20 is no easy feat to overcome.”
That is exactly what the sixth-seeded Johnstown Sir Bills did in the opening round of the Section 2 Class B tournament Tuesday night against No. 11 Stillwater.
The Warriors held Johnstown scoreless in the opening quarter and for more than a minute of the second quarter before senior Marley Bramer scored the Sir Bills’ first points of the game.
The score energized the Sir Bills as they began an improbable comeback, chipping away at Stillwater’s lead to take their first lead of the game, 34-33 late in the third quarter.
The Warriors fought back, tying the game at 36 with less than seven minutes to play.
Again, the Sir Bills used a high-pressure defense to keep the momentum on their side, turning turnovers into points for a 49-46 victory Tuesday night at Johnstown High School.
“We haven’t had a game in over a week, so we needed to wake up,” Johnstown’s Dylan Hulbert said. “We just tried to stay active and chip away at the lead instead of taking one big swing, and that is what we did. The whole team picked it up. From everyone on the bench to everyone on the court, it was high energy.”
With the victory, Johnstown advances to the Class B quarterfinals to face third-seeded Voorheesville Saturday at 1 p.m. at Guilderland High School. Voorheesville advanced to the quarterfinals with a 61-41 victory Tuesday over No. 14 Coxsackie-Athens.
Johnstown and Voorheesville squared off in a non-league contest in the second game of the season, with the Blackbirds claiming a 61-41 victory.
“We played them early in the season, and they beat us by 20,” Satterlee said. “I know they are playing better basketball now, but I also know we are playing a lot better basketball now. I haven’t watched their recent games because I have been concentrating on Stillwater for the last 10 days. I will spend some time catching up with that. They are tough. The first time we played them, they were super physical and played great as a team and I am excited for the rematch.”
After starting the season off 0-4, the Sir Bills went on a run, winning 11-straight to help boost their regular season record to 14-6 overall and 9-3 in the Western Athletic Conference.
In 2023, Johnstown was seeded 15th and hosted a play-in game, defeating Coxsackie-Athens 71-49 to advance to the first round before falling to second-seeded Tamarac. Earning the sixth seed in the Section 2 Class B bracket this season, the Sir Bills hosted their first opening-round game since 2019.
“I was in seventh grade,” Hulbert said laughing. “It meant a lot [getting a home sectional game]. Our home crowds have been great this year. It brings energy. We have lost only one game at home this year.”
In Tuesday’s game, Stillwater used a swarming defense to keep the Sir Bills off balance in the opening quarter.
John Williams played a key role in the Warriors quick start, grabbing five rebounds in the opening eight minutes and getting the ball into the hands of their playmakers, leading to all five starters putting points in the book.
Satterlee reflected on the Sir Bills’ opening quarter, saying, “Honestly, I thought our defense wasn’t as good as it could have been. Obviously, it got better in the last three quarters. Part of that was offense. I don’t think we got terrible looks offensively. We had four or five good looks rim out and the ball just didn’t drop. We were always running back in transition because they were consistently getting rebounds and just going. I told the guys, ‘Look, we are getting the looks we want. We made a couple of adjustments. Trust me. We just need to chip away, chip away, chip away.’”
The Sir Bills’ defense picked up in the second quarter, as did the offense, as they outscored Stillwater 34-15 in the middle quarters to erase the 20-point deficit and stayed strong in the final eight minutes to finish off the 49-46 victory.
“The third quarter, when we got up by one, I told them the hard work is not done yet. We still have eight minutes to play,” Satterlee said. “I am proud of their effort, and proud that they never gave up and that is the message I gave to them. We talked about that at the end. When you are down 20 and don’t give up you never know what will happen.”
Hulbert led the Sir Bills with 16 points, while Danny Brown connected for 13 points and Braeden Fennessey hit three 3-pointers in his 12-point performance.
Mason Wagner paced Stillwater with 15 points, while Rocco Schneller added 12 points and John Williams finished with six points.
Stillwater won seven of its last nine games and finished the season with an 11-10 overall record to go with a 7-6 mark in the Wasaren League.
Stillwater 18 9 6 13 — 46
Johnstown 0 14 20 15 — 49
Stillwater scoring: Wagner 5-3-15, Brown 1-2-4, Callanan 2-0-5, Williams 2-2-6, Schneller 6-0-12, Morris 2-0-4. Johnstown scoring: Hulbert 5-6-16, Bramer 1-0-2, Brown 4-4-13, Fennessey 4-1-12. Team totals: Stillwater: 18-7-16. Johnstown: 16-13-49.
