Vikings lose to Finger Lakes

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams lost to Finger Lakes Community College last Saturday, Dec. 7. The women lost 52-48 and the men followed with a 90-81 defeat.

 

“I thought our first half was sloppy and our second half was a little better, but in the end, we didn’t

play well enough to win and they did,” said Women’s Basketball Head Coach Kathleen Russell.

 

“I think we played well as a team, especially in the second half,”  said team leader Rose LaPietra.

 

“We struggled in the first half but in the second half I think we did well moving the ball and making the offense work.”

 

The Women’s Basketball team fell to 2-5 on the season but saw some bright spots from center Sarah Janson. Janson lead the team with a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.

 

“She’s been working hard and getting better every day,” Russell said.

 

Samantha Tomeck also pitched in 13 points of her own.

 

“It hurts even more knowing that we should have won. We’re going to use this as motivation,” said LaPietra.

 

The men’s game was also close throughout the contest but they would come up short.

 

Casey Hall stole the show in the first half, scoring the Vikings first six points including being on the receiving end of an alley-oop dunk.

 

“We came in knowing that I had size on them and we were looking to take advantage of that,” Hall said.

 

“He has that potential and we always try and get that out of him,” said Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Long.

 

Hall would finish with a career high 26 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots.

 

“I just felt good. I wasn’t trying to do too much and I was just playing my game,” said Hall.

 

“He played well but unfortunately he ran out of gas,” said Long.

 

Like the women, the men experienced turnovers, missed free throws and miscommunication.

 

“We were up by ten and then our players started to get selfish,” Long said. “We can’t make the mistakes we did and expect to win the game.”

 

“This loss will make it hard to sleep tonight but we gotta shake it off and get back at it tomorrow,” Hall said.

 

The loss gave the Men’s Basketball team a 3-3 record on the season but it also denied Coach Long his 400th win in his coaching career.

 

“I’m not too worried about it. When you’re around long enough those things just kind of happen,” said Long.

 

After the game, Long didn’t mention anything to his team about his upcoming milestone.

 

“All I told them was to forget about what happened today and be ready to bring it tomorrow,” Long said.

 

The men brought it on Sunday afternoon and got Coach Long his 400th victory as a coach in a 86-69 victory against Corning.

 

The women bounced back with a 52-44 win over Corning as well.