No. 1 seeded Jacks open C playoffs at home
Dan McClelland
By Dick Sterling
Let the playoffs begin!
The road to the New York State Class C playoffs begins tomorrow evening when the top-seeded Tupper Lake Lumberjacks open the Section 10 playoffs with a semifinal game against either fourth seeded Brushton-Moira, or fifth seeded St. Lawrence Central.
The game will be the final one of the season on the Jacks home court, where they have won 18 straight, a streak that stretches back into the 2022-23 season. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tupper heads to the playoffs with an overall record of 17-3 (14-0 NAC East). The Lumberjacks are currently ranked No. 18 in the New York State Sportswriter’s Association Class C poll.
The other opening round Class C game which was played on Tuesday featured sixth seeded Madrid-Waddington at number three seeded Heuvelton. The winner of that game will play second seeded Lisbon tomorrow (Thursday). The two winners will battle in the Section 10 Class C championship game next Friday (Feb. 23), with tip-off scheduled for 5:45 at SUNY Potsdam.
Last week the Jacks reeled off three straight victories for the second consecutive week. On Monday they headed to Russell to tangle with the Edwards-Knox Cougars in a non-league contest that had been postponed twice because of winter weather issues.
Tom Peterson opened the game with a three-pointer, but the Cougars responded with threes from Kale Geer and Cooper Allen to grab an early lead. Another three from Allen and a putback from Dawson Matthews gave Edwards-Knox a 13-7 lead, before the Jacks regrouped and reeled off 12 straight points, from four different players, and they never trailed again as they held a 19-15 advantage after one and scored the first six of the second quarter to open up a double-digit lead. The Jacks reeled off 18 straight points in the quarter to race to a 45-21 lead at the intermission.
Peterson scored Tupper’s first 11 points of the third quarter, and the Jacks outscored Edwards-Knox 24-5 in the period to open a huge 69-26 lead as both teams slowed the pace and left the final quarter to the bench players as Tupper coasted to a 78-34 victory.
Peterson finished with 29, leading four scorers in double figures. Ashton Clark scored 12, Mikey Corneau finished with 11 and Tyler LaPlante added 10. Garrett Pelkey and Wyatt Godin each finished with eight. Allen scored nine to lead the Cougars. Kyle Reif added eight.
On Tuesday, the Lumberjacks hosted the Madrid-Waddington Yellowjackets for their last home game of the regular season and, once again, faced a stiff challenge in the opening quarter. Peterson took just three seconds to score off the opening tip, but Madrid-Waddington’s Ryan Mayette scored his team’s first eight points as the visiting Jackets took an early 8-7 lead, and the two NAC East division foes battled back and forth over the first eight minutes with the Jacks taking a 17-14 lead after one.
Tupper opened the second quarter with a 20-4 run, with all five starters contributing to the scoring run. At the half-time break the Lumberjacks held a 40-21 advantage, and they kept the offense rolling through the third quarter, where they put up another 25 points, 11 of them from freshman Garrett Pelkey and 10 more from Peterson as the Jacks lead swelled to 65-34 and they rolled to an easy 78-45 victory.
Peterson scored 21 to lead Tupper Lake. Pelkey finished with 19 and Mikey Corneau added 17. LaPlante scored eight, Godin had seven and Clark finished with six. Ryan Mayette, who was hot early, scored 13 to lead the Jackets. Jakob Mayette scored 10. Jamison Zysik and Kolby Todd each added seven.
On Friday, Tupper Lake wrapped up the regular season by traveling to Colton to battle the Colts. The Jacks eased out to a 15-6 advantage after the opening quarter and outscored Colton-Pierrepont 20-5 in the second quarter to open up a big 35-11 advantage at the half. The Colts were much more competitive after the half-time break, outscoring Tupper Lake 18-15 in the third quarter as the two NAC East Division foes played nearly even in the second half as the Jacks wrapped up the season, and put the final stamp on their undefeated league season, improving to 14-0 in the East (17-3 overall) with a 65-40 victory.
Peterson scored 19 points, pulled down eight rebounds, dished out five assists and was credited with six steals to lead Tupper Lake. Pelkey scored 15 points and had 15 rebounds and Corneau added 12. Eric Friedel scored 18 to lead the Colts. Ty Farns finished with six.
Tupper Lake Head Coach Brian Bennett is proud of his group. “I am very happy with the boys going undefeated in the league, but our true goal is a Class C championship. So I told them that they still need to be hungry, and not to be satisfied yet as we still have a couple of weeks ahead of us,” said Coach Bennett.