By Rob Potter
HANCOCK — Forgive Livingston Manor coach Charlie Hicks for gushing over his team’s first quarter performance against the Family School Tuesday night. It was just that good.
“We scored 24 points in the first quarter and it was beautiful,” Manor Coach Charlie Hicks said. “We were passing the ball and playing good, unselfish basketball. It was gorgeous to watch.”
Except for a brief hiccup in the second quarter, Manor continued their masterful play and rolled past the Falcons 59-33 to even their overall record at 3-3, 1-0 in Division VI.
Kenny Fisk scored eight points in that first quarter and teammates Troy Correa and Mike Mills each added six points. Family School mounted a challenge in the second quarter reducing the lead to single digits. As much as Hicks liked what he saw in the first quarter, the picture wasn’t as nice in the second quarter.
“We missed some shots and Family School was able to come back,” Hicks said of the second quarter lapse. “We were up by about 18 or 19 points and Family School cut our lead to eight points. You can’t let a team come back when you have a big lead on them.”
But once the Falcons made it a 24-16 game when Roger Maiure swished a free throw with 4:59 remaining in the half, Manor responded with a 8-3 scoring run to extend its advantage to 32-19 at halftime.
The Wildcats got back to the “beautiful” basketball Hicks saw in the first quarter with a with a 12-0 run to open the third quarter. Fisk scored seven of those points for Manor as they opened a 41-19 lead.
“In the second half, we didn’t show up,” Family School Coach Larry Patrisso said. “We couldn’t stop their pick and rolls and couldn’t stop them from getting good shots in the lane.”
But Patrisso noted that for the most part his team competed well.
“They played hard tonight,” he said of his players. “We have a young, inexperienced team that will get better. There are only three guys returning from last season and none of them were starters last year.”
Fisk finished the evening with a game-high 19 points. Correa and Mills added 14 and 13 points respectively.
Max Wilkey scored 10 points to lead The Family School (0-7, 0-2 Div. VI.)