Girmindl's Ghost

Today (3/7) in 1980: Shaker met Troy in the sectional semifinals. The sports section cover headline says it all:

That's a picture of Sam jamming home 2 of his 27 points, with Cain facing the hoop in the foreground.

The biggest crowd ever to watch a section 2 basketball game at the time - 6,181 - showed up for the first ever section 2 game in the Glens Falls Civic center (the record was broken later this week in the finals). They watched the Bison turned in an absolutely dominating performance, dismantling Troy 72-40. From the Times Union:

Shaker's latest triumph...was a textbook example of awesome power on offense and intimidation on defense. Nowhere was Shaker's supremacy more evident than on the front line, where Perkins and his two junior forwards, 6-6 Tim Cain and 6-5 Jeff Tuecke, outscored their Troy counterparts 48-6. Troy center Jon Berkeley, who averaged 18 points/game during the regular season, could manage only two because of Perkins' intimidation.

The Bison scored the first eight points of the game, and Perkins recorded a block on each of Troy's first three posessions. At the end of the 1st quarter, it was 17-7. In the 2nd, Cain began to hit from everywhere and Troy continued to shoot poorly. The Bison led 35-15 at the half. Perkins had 15 in the first half and Cain 13. Troy shot an unbelievably awful 5-for-31 from the field in the first half.

The second half proved to be no different. The Bison won the 3rd quarter 19-12 to take a 54-27 lead at the end of three, and they crusied home in the 4th. Perkins, Cain, and the rest of the starters were removed from the game with 4:39 remaining, to a standing ovation from the Civic Center crowd. The second team played out the 4th and the game ended 72-40.

Perkins finished with an incredibly stat line: 27 points on 12-for-13 shooting, 25 rebounds, and 10 blocked shots. His only miss was on attempted tip-in off a missed shot. Incredible. Cain finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Chuck Meehan added 14 and Tuecke 6.

Said Girmindl after the game, "My kids [the Shaker team] have been looking forward to these playoffs for half of the Suburban Council season. Now you're going to see the real Shaker team."

With the win, the 23-0 Bison advance to the 3/11/1980 sectional finals, against the winner of the Mont Pleasant - CBA game, which takes place tomorrow night, 3/8/1980, at the Civic Center.

Here's the partial boxscore:

Shaker (72) Perkins 12 3 27; Cain 6 3 15; Tuecke 3 0 6; Brundige 2 0 4; Meehan 5 4 14; Mitchell 0 1 1; Roe 1 0 2; Brennan 1 0 2; Barker 0 1 1. Totals 30 12 72.

Shaker 17 18 19 18 - 72
Troy 7 8 12 13 - 40

Record: 23-0 (3-0 playoffs)
Next '79-80 game: 3/11/1980, sectional championship vs. TBD, at Glens Falls.

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