Men’s basketball season comes to a close

The Hudsonian Student Newspaper Wednesday, March, 11Tuesday, September, 22 0 Comments HVCC, HVCC Athletics, Men's Basketball, Ryan Duda, Sports, Stephen Brokalis, Vikings

Stephen Brokalis | The Hudsonian Student Newspaper

By: Ryan Duda

Sports Editor

The end of the season was a fight for the Hudson Valley Men’s basketball team, as they lost in their Semifinal game in the NJCAA Region 3 Tournament to Mohawk Valley Community College.

The Vikings completed the year with a 12-3 record at home and 11-5 record away.

Throughout the season, the team was quite successful, with a winning record the entire time. During the second half of the season, the Vikings improved their record with an eight-game winning streak heading into the final week of the regular season.

The Sophomore Night game for the team gave them positive reinforcement heading into the postseason.

After the game, multiple sophomores commented on the upcoming playoff game.

“We have a lot of comradery; we play together as a team,” said Dominique Threatt, a human services major.

The comradery Threatt spoke of continued into an impressive win over Corning Community College. The Vikings held a 20-point lead for a majority of the game, pulling off a 91-66 win.

Freshman standout and individual studies major, Brandon McKenly, had multiple impressive plays and dunks to set the Hudson Valley Community College men’s team to move forward into more postseason basketball.

“We were just more hungry, [and] we trust our teammates and our coaches,” McKenly said.

Mckenly had a staggering 18 rebounds along with 18 points.

The lead scorer for the game, physical education major Izayah Pigott, had 30 points, with half of those points coming off three-pointers.

“[It all started with] defense,” Pigott said. “We all played defense and communicated.”

Ryan Long, a sophomore Physical Education major, also added 27 points to set the Vikings up for a semifinal match with Mohawk Valley Community College.

Heading into the game against Mohawk Valley, the Vikings had a great deal of momentum. This momentum was quickly halted by the attack of the Hawks offense. All five starters from the Hawks hit double digits in scoring, while also out-rebounding the Vikings 47-35.

Starters Pigott and McKenly helped keep the team in the game, continuing their offensive effectiveness from their Quarterfinal win, as well as Daivel Jackson, an individual studies major, and Zach Hilton, a business management student. All four scored in the double digits this game, giving the Vikings a fighting chance.

In the end, the Hawks from Mohawk Valley Community College topped Hudson Valley. The second ranked Nationally Hawks beat the Vikings by a score of 96-83.