By Ted Waddell
LAKE HUNTINGTON — January 24, 2006 – The Sullivan West Bulldogs started out in a hole and couldn’t dig their way out during Saturday’s non-league hoops game versus the visiting Saugerties Sawyers.
Early in the first frame, SW starting guard Kevin Cappiello was sidelined by an ankle injury.
In the Bulldogs’ recent game against John S. Burke Catholic School, Paul Pitz was ejected from the contest for what SW Coach Rick Ellison called “a heat of the moment thing.” As a result of that incident, Pitz, who is SW’s other starting guard, sat out the game against Saugerties, which is a Section IX Class A team that plays in the Mid-Hudson Athletic League (MHAL)
The Sawyers chopped down SW by the final score of 53-34.
Saugerties (6-5) outscored the Bulldogs in all four quarters: 9-7, 12-10, 14-11 and 18-6.
Derek Hahn was the only SW player to top the double-figure scoring bar. The junior center scored a team-high 14 points.
For Saugerties, Jonah Brill scored a game-high 20 points and Justin Fredenburg added 10 points.
Stats from the free throw line: SW went 14-of-19 (74 percent); Saugerties was 2-of-6 (33 percent).
“I thought we played a lot better in the second half,” said Saugerties Coach Steve Eggnik. “Both teams struggled in the first half, but then we started doing some good things defensively.”
Brill, who is the Sawyers’ starting two-guard, is one of the top players in the MHAL this season.
“He had a real solid second half, setting his teammates up [to score],” Eggnik said. “He’s a lot to contend with.”
As for Ellison’s take on the game, he noted that “it was rough.”
“We hung in there for a little while, but they wore us down,” he commented.