The Blue Bombers combined to score just five points in the second and fourth quarters in a game that saw Keene junior twins Antonio and Azriel Finsterer team up for 30 of the Beavers points. Antonio Finsterer had the hot hand for Keene, especially in the opening half, and finished with a game-high 23 points, with Azriel chipping in seven points.

Stuart Baird and Blake Roy provided all the offense for Lake Placid with the exception of two points. Baird tossed in 19, Roy added 12, and Logan Brown banked in a layup in the third period for the only other Blue Bombers points.

Keene held a 14-11 edge after one quarter and then jumped out to a 28-13 lead at halftime after Lake Placid was only able to manage two points in the second quarter. The Blue Bombers caught fire after intermission and slashed their deficit to just four points, but the Beavers regained control late to pull away for the win while improving to 6-7 overall.

“We knew Baird and Roy are a tough combination to defend,” said Keene coach Chad Lopez, whose Beavers completed a two-game season sweep of Lake Placid. “Baird is quick, tough and likes to slash through the middle, and Roy is tough inside. Defensively, we wanted to keep the pressure on Baird, not let Roy step into the middle unguarded and make their other guys beat us.”

Matt Brandes comes down with a Blue Bombers rebound in front of Keene’s Antonio Finsterer during second-half action in Wednesday’s game. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Antonio Finsterer gave Lake Placid problems early, and wound up scoring 16 of his game-high total in the first half. He knocked down a trio of three-pointers before intermission and added one in the third quarter while the Blue Bombers were attempting to rally.

Keene’s biggest run of the game was a 12-point string in the second period. Down by 15 points, Lake Placid made a move in the third, outscoring the Beavers 17-7, which included a run of nine unanswered points at the end of the period to make it a 35-30 score in favor of the visitors heading into the final quarter.

Lake Placid made it a 10-point run and a 35-31 contest to kick off the fourth quarter when Roy sank one of two free throw attempts, but Keene then converted two steals into layups by Josh Baldwin and Damien Brown to regain a bit of control. Baird answered by hitting both ends of a 1-and-1 to move the score to 39-33, but the Beavers shut down the Blue Bombers the rest of the way while tossing in six more points down the stretch.

Baird score 11 of his team-high total in the third quarter, but was held to two points in the fourth on his two successful foul shots. For Keene, Baldwin finished with six points and Miles Warner added seven points.

“It’s a game of runs. They made their runs, we made our runs,” Lopez said. “In the end, I think our defense kind of closed it out for us.”

“We have a lot of rivals,” Antonio Finsterer said. “Every day is a struggle. We had an 8- to 10-minute stretch in the second half where we just couldn’t seem to find anything. I think our defensive intensity helped win it for us – just keeping everything in front of us so they didn’t get any run outs and being strong with the ball.”

Lake Placid coach Brian Van No strand said his team played strong defensively in the second half but struggled with the ball.

“In the first half we gave them a lot of easy shots,” Van No strand said. “We changed things up at halftime and got a hand in their face, and played really good defense during that whole second half. I would say the big difference was we couldn’t get out there in transition, get easy points and stretch the floor. It didn’t help that Jacob Novice, who had a big game for us the last time out, got into foul trouble, but we had other guys on the floor. We just couldn’t find open looks.”

The Blue Bombers dropped to 3-4 in league play and 3-6 overall with the setback. Their next game is Friday on the road against Indian Lake/Long Lake. The Beavers also play Friday at home against Crown Point.

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Keene 45, Lake Placid 33

Beavers 14 14 7 10 — 45

Blue Bombers 11 2 17 3 — 33

Keene (45)

Paley 0-0-0, Shambolic 0-0-=0, Antonio Finsterer 9-2-23, Brown 1-0-2, Warner 3-1-7, Azriel Finsterer 2-2-7, Haversack 0-0-0, Baldwin 3-0-6. Totals: 18-5-44.

Lake Placid (33)

Matos 0-0-0, Briggs 0-0-0, Baird 6-5-19, Roy 5-1-12, Novice 0-0-0, Brown 1-0-2, Brandes 0-0-0. Totals: 12-6-33.

3-point goals: Keene (4), An. Finsterer 3, AZ, Finsterer 1; Lake Placid (3), Baird 2, Roy 1.