Back in Time: Niskayuna hoopsters made dramatic comeback in 1978

The bounces were all going wrong for Niskayuna High School’s basketball team on Friday, March 17, 1978.

The Silver Warriors had advanced to the semifinal round of New York State’s Class AA hoop tournament, and Rochester’s East High School had built a 7-2 lead during the game’s opening minutes.

There was more trouble; senior center Dan Terwilliger had picked up two quick fouls in the game at Webster-Schroeder High School near Rochester.

Nobody panicked.

Other locals

In another part of Rochester, other Capital Region high school players also were keeping their cools. Schuylerville’s basketball team had brought its 23-1 record to Fairport High School, and the state gathering’s Class B semifinals. The Black Horses, led by Bob Foote and Eric Stover, were a potent one-two punch. Foote scored 26 and Stover, Schuylerville’s 6-foot-8 center, netted 20 in a 58-44 win over Mattituck High from Suffolk County.

Terwilliger and his colleagues — guard John Leonard and forward Jim Bonaquist among them — didn’t need much time to put Niskayuna back on track. By the end of the first half, the Warriors led 12-11; at halftime, it was 29-16. Things would get worse for East’s Orientals. Midway through the third quarter, Niskayuna had a comfortable 42-29 edge.

The game got a little closer during the final period, but Niskayuna never gave up the advantage. At the final buzzer, the locals had a 61-49 win.

Head coach Tom Howley praised his team’s defense and patience. Leonard, who led all scorers with 22 points, also received good words from his boss.

“When Leonard gets the ball, they better have three players on him,” Howley told Gazette sportswriter Rick Stellrecht. “I haven’t seen a double-team beat him yet. He’s got a heckuva lot of stamina. . . . I don’t know where he gets it all. I felt tired on the bench just watching him.”

The silver machine made the most of its weekend in Rochester. On Saturday, March 18, the team overpowered Syracuse’s Jamesville-DeWitt, 75-65, before 3,526 fans at the Rochester War Memorial to claim the Class AA championship and finish the season 22-4.

Reaping rewards

Leonard, Terwilliger and Bonaquist all made the all-tourney team. (Leonard and Terwilliger kept their names in basketball stories. Leonard played at Manhattan College and ranks eighth all-time in scoring with 1,329 points. He was a 10th-round draft pick of the NBA’s New York Knicks in 1982. In 1996, he began a three-year stint as the team’s head coach; he is now an assistant coach at UMass. Terwilliger played at Siena College and ranks 27th all-time in scoring with 1,086 points and 17th all-time in rebounds with 548.)

Stover and his pals also acquitted themselves with honor in the championship match, also held Saturday at the War Memorial. Stover scored 35 points — including two at the last buzzer — as the Horses defeated Bloomfield of Buffalo 70-68 in three overtime sessions.

“I didn’t know how many seconds were left,” Stover said of his last basket, “but I heard my coach tell me to shoot when I got near the bench. I just drove as hard as I could and prayed it would go in.”

Stover would continue his basketball career at St. Bonaventure University.