The Albany Patroons need to win two days in a row at Washington Avenue Armory to keep their season alive and reach The Basketball League Finals.
That’s the situation the Patroons find themselves in following Thursday night’s 108-86 loss at the St. Louis Griffins in Game 1 of the East Regional final.
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: Washington Avenue Armory, Albany
The best-of-3 series will continue at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Armory, followed by Game 3 at 7 p.m. Monday, if necessary.
“I feel good,” Patroons coach Derrick Rowland said. “If they come to Albany and beat us, they deserve to move on. If they can beat us on our court, they deserve to move on. But I don’t think that they can. I think that we can come back Sunday and Monday and turn this thing around and continue on. That’s my feeling. That’s my belief. A lot of my guys didn’t play well (Thursday) and I think that will change.”
The Patroons shot 33-for-92 (35.9 percent) from the field and 5-for-23 from 3-point range while suffering their first loss of the postseason. It was a dramatic decline from their East Conference final sweep of Newfoundland. In that series, the Patroons scored 134 points in Game 1 and 135 points in Game 2.
“We just didn’t make shots,” Rowland said. “That was the big difference for us. They were a better defensive team, but we missed layups and we didn’t knock shots down.”
Ed Dyson III shot 2-for-17, Arsenio Arrington was 5-for-16 and Trevis Wyche was 4-for-15. St. Louis held a 59-52 rebounding advantage and a 64-50 scoring edge in the paint.
“I think they just out-hustled and out-toughed us,” Rowland said.
Rowland said the Patroons didn’t adjust well to St. Louis’ defensive pressure on the smaller court at Jennings (Mo.) Senior High School, the Griffins’ home court.
“I think we’ll have our advantage when we get back on our court,” Rowland said. “It’s hard to run anything because of the size of the floor (in St. Louis). It’s just different.”
Rowland said the Patroons wouldn’t be able to practice Saturday at the Armory, which is booked with roller derby. Their fallback practice site is the Schenectady YMCA.