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The Mechanicville boys basketball team has methodically stacked wins since the condensed season of 2021 began and in a Saturday matinee in Mechanicville the Raiders added one more victory to the pile with a comfortable 66-42 “W” over Saratoga Catholic.

In the early going both squads struggled to find an offensive rhythm dealing with the second run of a back to back and an early afternoon tip.

A Hayden Day score midway through the first period gave the Saints their only lead of the contest at 4-2 and then the Raiders began to roll.

Mechanicville scored eight unanswered to close the quarter with a Kyle Johnson triple giving the home squad a 10-4 lead heading to the second frame.

Devin Garland opened the scoring with an inside bucket off a nice feed from Johnson. Then Garland turned playmaker setting up Luciano D’Ambro for a deuce off a nice pick and roll, and after a Colin Richardson floater, Garland dished to Johnson and Tyler Eiseman for scores, the latter at the 3:36 mark giving the Raiders a 20-11 advantage.

A Cam Khoury 3-pointer from the top briefly drew the Saints closer, but Mechanicville ended the half on a 10-3 run.

An inside bucket by Eiseman followed by a nice spinner from Johnson extended the lead to 20-14, then the Raider defense stepped up over the final :30 of the frame with three steals leading to four points from Egan and a pair of free throws by Garland to end the half with Mechanicville in control at 30-14.

The Saints dialed up the 3-ball in the third trying to close the sizeable Raider advantage.

Triples from Robbie Bolen and Anthony Barile, sandwiched around a D’Ambro score of another find from Garland, trimmed the deficit to 32-20.

At the 5:58 mark Bolen drilled another long ball but five unanswered points from D’Ambro quickly extended the Mechanicville lead to 39-23 midway through the quarter.

Aiden Lambert and Hayden Day joined the trifecta party for the Saints but the Raiders wouldn’t give, as Nick Salustri answered with a pair of buckets and Eiseman finished the period with a driving deuce to give Mechanicville a 15 point spread at 48-33 heading to the fourth.

Over the final eight minutes the Saints never came within striking distance as five Raiders scored in the period, led by D’Ambro and Richardson with four points each, closing out the “W” on Senior Recognition Day.

Mechanicville (8-0) put nine players in the scoring column and were led by D’Ambro’s 19 points.

Saratoga Catholic (3-5), saw Day and Barile reach doubles scoring 18 and 10 points respectively.