The reigning sectional champion Red Storm rallied to a 73-52 semifinal victory Saturday over the AuSable Valley Patriots at home. Saranac Lake has now won seven straight, and this win improved their overall record to 18-3 (11-2 in league).

The team’s trio of senior guards — Cedar Crist, Mik Denkenberger and Zack McCarthy — were their usual selves, scoring a combined 58 points. Denkenberger netted a game-high 30 points, which included four 3s, while Crist added 15 and McCarthy had 13.

Aiden Blaise scored 14 points for AuSable Valley, which lost to the Red Storm twice during the regular season. All of the junior’s points came in the first half, as he also notched three 3-pointers, which allowed the Patriots to hold small leads in both the first and second quarters.

The state-ranked Saranac Lake squad, however, struggled with “uncharacteristic” shooting woes and mistakes.

(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“For whatever reason, we weren’t really connecting,” Red Storm head coach Daryl Crist said. “But give credit to AuSable. They played well in the first half, and they made shots.”

Saranac Lake trailed 36-34 at halftime, and it didn’t take long after the break for the team find a spark. Right away, the Red Storm used a 13-0 run to open up the third quarter, and rode the hot hand the rest of the way.

Whether that spark came from a made half-court shot from Saranac Lake student Katy Hoffnagle during the intermission or the key halftime adjustments — the likely answer — doesn’t really matter. To Coach Crist, “all credit goes to the boys.”

“They came out in the third quarter and really took it to them, and our defense was much, much better,” he said.

The Red Storm’s pesky second-half defense resulted in a bunch of points off turnovers, while Denkenberger opened up the inside game after connecting on three 3-pointers.

Saranac Lake’s Gunner Harrison looks to get past AuSable Valley’s Deon Lawyer (10) during Saturday’s Section VII, Class B semifinal game. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“We’ve got shooters … and shooters got to shoot,” Coach Crist said.

Saranac Lake outscored the Patriots 39-16 in the third and fourth quarters. Sophomore Gunner Harrison added 14 points, while senior Connor Gillis scored one. Marco Amato scored 11 points and Robert Amato added 10 for AuSable Valley, which ended their season with a 7-13 overall record.

Coach Crist said he knew Saturday’s contest was going to be a dog-fight against the Patriots, especially since it’s always hard to beat a team three times. But he never doubted that his team could pull it together after the not-so-great first half.

“There’s really not much that they haven’t seen in the game of basketball,” he said. “They stayed together as good as any of my teams ever have. And just their belief in what they do, and how they treat each other. There was no panic. They knew exactly what they had to do, and as you can see in the second half, when we get it going, we’re pretty good.”

The Red Storm are now hoping to defend their sectional title at 8 p.m. on Friday against the Saranac Central Spartans in the championship game at the Clinton Community College gym in Plattsburgh. The top-seeded Spartans beat the No. 4 Northeastern Clinton Cougars 81-43 in the other semifinal game on Saturday.

Saranac Lake’s Levi Lambert shoots a 3-pointer during Saturday’s home Section VII, Class B semifinal game. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

For the Saranac Lake squad, the sectional title game is becoming an annual thing. Since Coach Crist took over the reins before the 2022-23 season, they haven’t missed it. And in his tenure, they’ve won 58 games, which is one more victory than the 12-years prior to when he took over in 2022.

But so far, this has been one of the most dominant seasons the Red Storm program has ever seen. The team is currently ranked 20th in the state for Class B boys basketball, according to the latest New York State Sports Writers Association poll.

They also boast one of their best records in well over a quarter century, and were even crowned as the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference Division II regular season champions.

“They’re doing things that haven’t been done in a long time up here,” Coach Crist said. “It’s because of what they’ve done together in the workouts and practice all year. (To make it to the title game) four (years) in a row is an unbelievable accomplishment. We don’t ever want to settle, but we’re making it a regular thing.”

Coach Crist is hoping that the team’s experience in the title game over the past few seasons will help them on Friday. The Red Storm also topped Saranac Central 64-47 earlier in the season.

“ESPN” and “CBS” cover the Saranac Lake boys basketball game on Saturday. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

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Saranac Lake 73,

AuSable Valley 52

Red Storm 12 22 27 12 — 73

Patriots 14 22 9 7 — 52

Individual stats

Saranac Lake (73): Zack McCarthy 6-1-13; Cedar Crist 5-4-15; Mik Denkenberger 10-4-30; Connor Gillis 0-1-1; Gunner Harrison 5-4-14; Levi Lambert 0-0-0; Elias Willett 0-0-0; Maddox Hamelin 0-0-0; Noah Hastings 0-0-0; Jonah Kunath 0-0-0; Owen Hybicki 0-0-0; Finn Maiore 0-0-0; Cooper Barry 0-0-0. TOTALS: 26-14-73.

AuSable Valley (52): Noah Goyette 1-0-2; Robert Amato 3-4-10; Marco Amato 3-4-11; Aiden Blaise 5-1-14; Deon Lawyer 1-1-3; Carson Bresett 0-0-0; Jaxston Fuller 0-1-1; Celton Dupis 0-0-0; Alex Egglefield 4-0-8; Luke Garcia 0-0-0; Ayden Martineau 1-0-3. TOTALS: 18-11-52.

3-point goals: Saranac Lake (7): Mik Denkenberger 6, Cedar Crist. AuSable Valley (5): Aiden Blaise 3, Marco Amato, Ayden

Martineau.