ALBANY – The Albany Patroons ended the regular season on Saturday night with a decisive victory over the Syracuse Stallions, the same team that defeated the Patroons in the season opener almost three months ago at Washington Avenue Amory.
Trevis Wyche scored 26 points and Shadell Millinghaus added 25 points as the Patroons ran past the Stallions 130-109 on Saturday before a sparse crowd at the Armory.
The Patroons finished the regular season at 20-4 and will begin The Basketball League playoffs at home on Tuesday with a one-game first-round playoff against an opponent to be determined – possibly Syracuse again.
“Just trying to set the tempo right now going into the playoffs,” Millinghaus said. “You always want to finish well so you have some type of momentum going into the playoffs … I think we came out strong, we played together, you know what I mean?”
The Patroons wait to see who wins Sunday’s game between the Atlantic City Gambits (20-3), who are in first place in the TBL’s Northeast Division, and the host Reading Rebels.
If Atlantic City loses at Reading, the Patroons will be the No. 1 seed in the Northeast and have homecourt advantage until at least the TBL finals, according to Patroons head coach Derrick Rowland. If the Gambits win Sunday, Albany will be the No. 2 seed in the Northeast.
“It’s huge for us to get homecourt advantage from this point on,” Rowland said.
Saturday’s game against Syracuse (15-8) was supposed to be played in the Binghamton area but was moved to the Armory.
“This was good for us, actually, to come on the road and we’re going to use that to our advantage,” said Syracuse head coach Patrick Beilein, who wasn’t entirely clear why the game was relocated. “We can’t start off so slow.”
The Patroons led 38-29 after one quarter and 67-56 at halftime. They maintained a 99-88 edge after three quarters and kept the Stallions at bay.
It was a much different outcome from the season opener, when the Stallions knocked off the Patroons 115-109 on March 3.
“That was the very first game of the season,” said Patroons forward Mustapha Traore, who had nine points on Saturday. “We didn’t really have any chemistry, no team bonding or anything. Now we’re going into the playoffs. We know what to do as a team. Coach expects certain things out of guys and everybody’s living up to their role right now.”
Millinghaus wasn’t on the Patroons in that earlier meeting. Neither were Albany guard Ed Dyson III or forward Arsenio Arrington, who had 15 and 13 points, respectively, on Saturday.
Patroons forward Marcus Merchant, who missed Friday’s game against the Tri-State Admirals with a foot injury, returned on Saturday and had 16 points.
Charlie Marquardt led Syracuse with 35 points.