If there’s anything that the Wallkill boys’ basketball team has shown so far this season, it’s that they have multiple players capable of stepping up to lead them to victory. Whether it’s Kyle Krebs shooting threes, Jaylan Perrin driving to the basket, or Justin Noelizaire collecting a crazy amount of offensive rebounds, this is a team to watch out for in the Class A tournament, especially when you add Mathew Shea and Vincent Marvulli into the equation.

On Friday night, it was Noelizaire’s turn to lead the Panthers, and he didn’t disappoint. Wallkill picked up the victory 62 – 45.

Noelizaire collected 16 points against the Sawyers, with 8 of them being from free throws. He was able to get to the free throw line so many times because of his offensive rebounding throughout the game. Out of his 16 total rebounds, 9 we on the offensive side.

“If I miss a shot, I’m not just going to give up on the play. I’m going to keep going and try to get the ball in the basket and get more possessions for my team,” said Noelizaire, who was remarkably close to a triple-double. While he completed the double-double in points and rebounds, he had 6 assists and 8 steals in the game. Just a couple more of either could have completed the feat.

“I just keep playing the game, I don’t really look at the stats like that,” he said.

As a team, the Panthers made it to the free throw line 28 times in the game, completing 75% of those shots, going 21 – 28. Although the game started out in an unusual fashion.

Instead of a jump ball, Saugerties shot free throws before the first quarter started, after Wallkill was called for a technical foul during warm-ups, for hanging onto the rim.

Kyle Krebs added on 14 points, although his one three-pointer was fewer than normal. Vincent Marvulli had 9 points and 5 rebounds. Mathew Shea had 6 points and 5 rebounds.

Rand Desantis and Anthony Scarano each added 5 points.

The Panthers excelled in defensive throughout most of the game. “We were able to really lock in defensively in the second and third, especially in the third playing half-court man.

As a team we really focused on doubling any screen that they had, and we held them to around the same point total through the duration of the quarter. Plus, we rebounded the ball really well, especially in those middle quarters,” said Coach Hunter Andrews.

With the victory, Wallkill gets their record over .500, improving to 7-6 on the season.

They are now 3 – 3 in their division. They will resume action on Thursday January 23, against New Paltz.