Son defeats dad as Horde boys win
By Keith Harrington
History was made at the Granville High School gymnasium on Saturday afternoon when, for the first time in Adirondack League history, and only the third time locally, a father and son coached against each other in high school basketball.
On this day youth was served as Justin Nassivera’s Granville Golden Horde started fast and rolled past his father Kevin’s Fort Ann Cardinals, 74-40.
It was also Senior Day for Granville and six players, Alex Warrington, Logan Harrington, Connor Farrell, Nathan Rathbun, Christian Stevens and Avery Flory, were honored before the game.
Granville has struggled offensively early in games for the last few weeks, and usually has been able to overcome that and grab the win, but it has been perplexing to Justin Nassivera. That changed in this contest.
“We finally got off to a good start,” he said. “I have been waiting for a couple of weeks now for the flood gates to open up to start a game, and it finally happened today.”
The first-year Granville mentor joked about the irony of his team finally coming out hot against his dad’s team.
“Of all the days, it had to happen to him. It couldn’t happen to a better person,” Nassivera said tongue in cheek.
The Cardinals hung around in the early going, trailing just 8-7 midway through the first quarter. Then Granville exploded for a 15-0 run to lead 23-7 at the end of the stanza. It ended out being a 19-0 run as the Golden Horde used a 19-7 second quarter to lead 42-14 at the half and were never challenged from there.
Granville started five of its six seniors, who played well the first four minutes before Nassivera sent leading scorers Caleb and Cody Nelson into the game. The sixth senior, Avery Flory, got the honor of dribbling out the final seconds on the clock.
“This is his first year in the program as a senior,” Nassivera said of Flory. “We have a lot of laid-back calm guys, but he’s the pulse. He gets the guys on the bench fired up and gets guys fired up on the bus. He’s just a prankster too.”
Nassivera couldn’t say enough about his seniors.
“Those guys work hard. It’s not just in basketball. Whether it’s football, soccer or baseball, it’s a good group of kids,” Nassivera said. “My first year here these guys were in seventh grade. They don’t complain, they do their job, do what they’re told. I’m really going to miss them.”
Granville connected on 12 3-pointers in the contest and shot 7 of 12 over the first 16 minutes.
Caleb Nelson netted 24 points to lead the Golden Horde. Logan Harrington added 15, with Cody Nelson and Matthew Barlow chipping in nine each.
Dylan Brown, Jack Dornan and Javier Hernandez had eight points apiece for the Cardinals.
Granville is now 7-2, 9-3. Fort Ann is 5-7.
On Friday night Granville took on the Hartford at the Tanagers’ Ella Colvin Gym. Nassivera will tell you that Hartford is always a place that his team seems to have a battle. This time that was not the case as Granville took control right from the opening tip and went on to win, 56-32, in an Adirondack League matchup.
The Golden Horde led 18-7 after a quarter and 28-12 at the break. A 19-7 fourth quarter put the finishing touches on the victory.
Nassivera credited his team’s defense for the win.
“We held Harrington to just five points,” Nassivera said in reference to Hartford’s leading scorer, who has a few 30-plus point games this season.
Caleb Nelson led Granville with 23 points. Cody Nelson added 13.
Drake Stewart had 10 points for the Tanagers.
Granville moved to 6-2, 8-3 with the win. Hartford fell to 4-6, 6-8.
Hartford girls drub Granville, 76-30
By Keith Harrington
The three-point shot can be a decisive weapon in high school basketball. If you have players who can connect consistently from behind the arc it is a distinct advantage.
When you are the Hartford Tanagers and you can surround a dominating post player with four deadly outside shooters, it is even more difficult for an opponent to handle.
Friday night in Granville, Hartford bombarded the Golden Horde with shots from downtown by Gabbie McFarren, Izzy French, Cailin Severance and McKenzie Johnson to roll to a 76-30 Adirondack League victory.
The Tanagers connected on 15 3-pointers on the night.
“When we played them in the Christmas Tournament over the break, they made one three-point field goal in the whole game,” Granville coach Ben Hover said, “15 is crazy.”
Despite the loss there were signs of hope for the Golden Horde as they continue to show improvement under Hover, who took over the coaching duties in the middle of the season.
“We’re struggling a little bit offensively trying to get the ball to go through the hoop, but I like the way we are running our stuff,” Hover said. “We keep constantly preaching run your sets, believe in your sets and execution. And once we execute the offense will come.”
Hartford raced out to a 22-6 first quarter lead and in the second the Tanagers opened a 23-point lead, but a pair of buckets by Lauren Bascom and a put-back by Hannah Ingleston down the stretch reduced the deficit to 33-16 at the break.
In the third the Tanagers blew the game back open, building its lead to 57-26. Hartford used a 19-4 fourth quarter to provide the final margin of victory.
McFarren, who is closing in on the 1,000-point career mark, had 34 points to lead Hartford. McFarren likely will join Karlee Nims in the Tanagers’ 1,000 point club next game. Nims contributed 10 points. French and Johnson had nine points each.
Lilly Strout and Lauren Bascom netted eight points each for Granville.
Strout hauled in eight rebounds for the Golden Horde. Bascom, Bailey Phillips and Rachel Beaver added six boards apiece.
“We’re looking for someone to step up and be that little spark,” Hover said. “These girls feed off each other, so once we start seeing that throughout the game, I think things will start to fall together.”
Hartford is 9-1, 13-2. Granville is 3-6, 3-10.
Perry, Johnson wrestle well at duals
By Keith Harrington
The Granville-Fort Ann wrestling team made the long trip to Duanesburg on Saturday to compete in the Dominick Kossmann Memorial Duals. Granville-Fort Ann finished the meet with an 0-4-1 record in their five matches but did have some impressive individual performances.
Granville-Fort Ann tied Onteora, 30-30, but fell to Salem-Cambridge, 42-25, Duanesburg-Schoharie, 38-18, Bethlehem, 54-24, and Maple Hill, 48-18.
Brent Perry had a stellar day for Granville-Fort Ann. Perry went 5-0 at 189 pounds, recording four wins by pin and one by major decision. Perry pinned Mason Welch of Duanesburg-Schoharie in 1:07, Eamon Hill of Onteora in 3:53, Connor Heineman of Bethlehem in 1:07 and Nathan Devoe of Maple Hill in 26 seconds. Perry also defeated Quinn Donaldson of Salem-Cambridge by a 10-2 major decision. It was Donaldson’s only loss of the meet.
Perry is now 23-3 on the season.
At 126 pounds Quinn Johnson went 4-1 to run his mark to 23-3 for the season. Johnson pinned Thomas Shields of Onteora in 3:59 and Adam Place of Maple Hill in just 16 seconds. Johnson also picked up a pair of forfeit wins.
Thomas McMahon also pinned three opponents at 138 pounds. McMahon defeated Jack Longyear of Onteora in 1:25, Jackson Willi of Bethlehem in 1:42 and Kyle Bin of Salem-Cambridge in 33 seconds.
On Thursday evening, Granville-Fort Ann went head-to-head with Salem-Cambridge in an Adirondack League match and Salem-Cambridge came away with a 42-30 win.
Perry, Zachariah Wilson and Scott Whitman won by fall for Granville-Fort Ann.
Perry pinned Quinn Donaldson in 2:43 at 189 pounds.
At 145 pounds Wilson finished off Brayton Cary in 1:35.
Whitman pinned David Giles in 2:17 at 160 pounds.
Johnson and Timothy Lotz picked up forfeit wins for Granville-Fort Ann.
See also “Defense lifts Whitehall over Granville” and “Granville boys rally to top Whitehall” in Whitehall sports round-up, Jan. 27, 2022
