Bethlehem @ Lansingburgh (boys basketball) , 12/1/18

If there is one thing we learned during football season, a Class B school can beat one from a higher classification.

Unfortunately, while we saw Class B beat Class A, Class AA is a different animal altogether, as Lansingburgh found out today.

Bethlehem, a year and a half removed from a Class AA title, played their second game in 24 hours as the Eagles came to North Troy for a non-league twilight game. Originally advertised for a 3 pm tip, Lansingburgh made a late change, pushing back the start of the JV game by a half hour to 2 pm, and never bothered to submit the information to their webpage on the Colonial Council website.

One week after taking Kingston to the limit before falling in their own pre-season tournament, the Knights drew first blood when Jahad Lewis put the first points on the board two minutes into the game. Unfortunately, Lewis quickly got into foul trouble, and spent the better part of the first half on the bench. The Eagles, meanwhile, relied on one basic weapon, the three-pointer. Michael Ortale had four of those and finished with 14 points. Bethlehem's smothering defense made it difficult for the Knights to find their footing in the first half, but the Eagles went into the break leading by only six points at 33-27.

However, Lansingburgh came out of the break with renewed energy, and Trevor Green promptly brought the crowd to their feet with a trey of his own. Green finished with a game high 21 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. The Knights took a one point lead into the final frame, only to have Bethlehem, helped out by some questionable officiating, outscore Lansingburgh 29-18. What appeared to be a goaltending call against Bethlehem wasn't ruled as such. Green had two baskets taken away, one when he was called for traveling, and the other on a foul that was ruled to have been committed before the shot was made. Green made both halves of a 1-and-1 free throw to get those points back, but the fans were booing the non-call on the goaltending.

In the end, Bethlehem ran its record to 2-0 with a 73-63 win, but to be sure, this was earned the hard way. Lasingburgh falls to 1-2, and begins Colonial Council play on Friday at Ichabod Crane. Jakob LeClair led Bethlehem with 18 points in the win.

Bethlehem also won the JV game, a lopsided 69-27 blowout that had all the markings of one of those college games where a Top 25 team blows out a smaller, overmatched foe. And you wonder why the local papers don't report JV scores anymore.