Whitehall “Staying Alive” in ADK Playoff Race

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By Keith Harrington

I doubt any of the Whitehall boys basketball players are Bee Gees fans. They likely have never even heard of them. Even if they haven’t, “Staying Alive” could easily become the Railroader’s theme song. Whitehall kept their hopes for a spot in the Adirondack League playoffs alive with a thrilling 60-57 overtime win over Hadley-Luzerne Wednesday night.

The victory avenges a loss to the Eagles earlier in this season which makes it even sweeter for the Railroaders. Whitehall started the season 0-4, mainly due to not being healthy, but they have won 11 out of 13 since.

“If we could take the first four games back that we weren’t healthy in, we’d be a different team,” Whitehall coach Keith Redmond said. “But right now we’re the best team. I think we’re the best team in the league.

The Eagles won the first meeting 58-39 and it looked early on like they might roll again. Hadley-Luzerne raced out to an 18-7 first quarter advantage behind the hot shooting of Caden Wilson who scored 11 points in the frame, nine from beyond the arc.

Whitehall struggled to score the basketball in the first quarter, but started to put things together in the second. Trailing 20-7, the Railroaders ripped off a 10-0 run to close the gap to 20-17. Hadley-Luzerne held on to lead 24-23 at the half, despite being outscored 16-6 in the stanza.

“It’s a matter of time. You can’t dig too big of a hole in the first quarter. I think we got down thirteen but we battled right back,” Redmond said. “I think we were down one at halftime so the halftime speech was simple. You just outscored them by 12 points, now let’s go out and do the same thing in the next two quarters.”

Whitehall opened the third quarter with a bucket from Cash Burgey to take their first lead of the contest at 25-24. The lead exchanged hands several times during the quarter with the Railroaders leading 42-39 heading to the fourth.

A 5-0 run early in the fourth extended Whitehall’s lead to eight, and the Railroaders led 55-51 in the closing seconds. However, baskets from Josh Ellis and Josh Harder brought the Eagles even and forced overtime.

In the extra session the foul line was the difference. Hadley-Luzerne did not score a field goal, and Whitehall only managed one. Burgey went 3 for 4 from the line down the stretch to clinch the victory for the Railroaders. The Eagles had several looks on their final possession, but could not connect.

“We made some mistakes at the end. We’ve got to clean those up, but we haven’t really been in that situation. An overtime game and how important this one was tonight,” Redmond added. I’m sure there were some nerves as well, but they were able to adjust and finish for us.”

Burgey led Whitehall with 24 points. Latrell Evans added 11 for the Railroaders.

Wilson paced the Eagles with 16. Conroy and Alex Mattison each added 14 points.

Whitehall is 9-5, 11-6. The Railroaders need to take care of Salem Friday night and hope for Hartford to defeat Hadley-Luzerne to earn a spot in the league semifinals.

Hadley-Luzerne is 9-4, 10-7.