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The Poughkeepsie Pioneers boys basketball team is on a roll.
Aiming for its ninth straight win on Jan. 7, Poughkeepsie beat back a pesky Hendrick Hudson squad for three quarters before taking total control of the game in the fourth period to win going away, 78-55.
“The kids came out and played hard,” said Pioneer coach Brian Laffin.
At the beginning of the contest, Poughkeepsie started out like a house on fire. Following a traveling call on the first possession, Moquan Dickens stripped the basketball at mid-court and glided in for a thunderous dunk that put his team up 2-0.
Hudson’s Corey Glaser responded with a midrange jumper to knot it up. This began a trend of trend of the teams trading hoops. Poughkeepsie was led, once again, by senior Antonio Williams, who gobbled up offensive rebounds like candy and drew fouls in the paint. Williams hit four free throws in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Hudson was patient on its offensive sets, running four or five screens per possession. T.J. Olesczuk hit a driving lay-up at 4:42 of the period to cut the Poughkeepsie lead to 8-6. The Pioneers seemed on the verge of running away when Dayvone Whitaker dialed in from downtown on a three-point field goal to increase the margin to 13-6. Whitaker would connect on another shot from beyond the arc with seconds to play in the quarter, giving his team an 18-10 lead.
To open the second period, Hudson’s Matt Larmore drove the lane into three Pioneers and made two subsequent foul shots to pull his team closer. Feeling that Hudson was running its half-court sets a bit too comfortably, Laffin had the Pioneers apply full court pressure.
This strategy seemed to ignite Poughkeepsie. Williams hit a lay-up and Taquan Webb hit a put-back to increase the lead to 24-12 and the Pioneers forced Hudson into several turnovers midway into the quarter.
Hudson however refused to go quietly. After a basket by Glaser, Adam Mayer hit a three-pointer to pull to within 24-17 at 1:30 of the quarter. Poughkeepsie responded as Whitaker made a deft pass to Malik Dennard for a bucket and Williams followed a Darryl Charles Jr. miss to give Poughkeepsie a 32-17 advantage. With seconds to go in the half, Olesczuk hit a three to pull Hudson to within a dozen at halftime.
Coming out of the halftime break, Olesczuk connected on a jumper. After Dickens hit a runner, he passed to a cutting Webb for the lay-up to make it 39-26. Hudson had one more run left in them when Olesczuk nailed a three-pointer and Glaser connected from the top of the key to cut the Poughkeepsie lead to 39-31.
Regaining their composure, the Pioneers, specifically Williams, went to work. Using a dazzling array of interior moves, Williams scored eight points during a 3:00 stretch to give Poughkeepsie a 47-33 lead. The scoring spree was capped by a whirling basket by Webb in the lane, which turned into an old-fashioned three-point play.
In the fourth period, the Poughkeepsie bench acquitted itself well during some extended playing time. Jaquan Brown had five points, including a three-point goal, and Anthony Lacatavia also connected from downtown.
The final score was not necessarily indicative of how hard Hudson competed, and the Pioneers earned their victory and solidified themselves as the 24th-ranked team in the latest New York State Sportswriters Association poll.
