Big second half sinks Railroaders

The Whitehall boys basketball game against Lake George was a tale of two halves.

As well as the team played in the first half of Friday’s game, they played even worse in the second half as the Warriors rolled to a 73-44 win.

The Railroaders went into the half trailing by only five points, but were outscored 35-11 in the second half.

Joel Wincowski scored 18 points for Lake George and two other players reached double digit scoring on the night.

Josh Hoagland scored a game high 24 points for the Railroaders, hitting six three-point shots. His younger brother Justin Hoagland scored nine points and Carl Rehm added six points on a pair of three-point shots.

Whitehall burst out of the gate shooting the ball well, particularly from beyond the arc, hitting eight of 12 three-point shots and ended the first quarter tied at 18-18. They continued to shoot well in the second quarter and went in to the half trailing 38-33.

But the intermission seemed to cool off Whitehall’s shooting and the Warriors didn’t give up a made shot until two minutes left in the quarter and outscored the Railroaders 17-3.

“We shoot lights out in the first half but our defensive effort in the second half lost the tenacity from the first half allowing easy buckets and second chance points,” said head coach Keith Redmond.

Whitehall fared slightly better in the fourth quarter, scoring eight points, but Lake George (4-0, 5-0) scored 18 points of its own and cruised to the win.

The Railroaders (1-2) will face another stiff test on Friday when they travel to face a North Warren team that entered the week 4-1 in the league and 5-1 overall.

Whitehall will host its annual Holiday Tournament on Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 26 and 27.