Sun Seven H.S. Boys Basketball: Another big MMAA victory for Frannies
By Michael J. Petro
Monsignor Martin Association take notice! St. Francis has become a legitimate contender to battle for the league title. But an unrelenting league schedule to finish the regular season will continue to test for just how long.
Once an after-thought in the championship picture with the league so loaded with Western New York-ranked teams this season, the Red Raiders have become a factor after stringing together four straight league wins, the latest coming on their home floor over longtime rival St. Joe’s 56-50 on Jan. 28. Three of those four wins have come against a Western New York ranked team with St. Joe’s ninth in the large school poll.
Going into a showdown Feb. 2 at Nichols, St. Francis was alone in second place in the league behind unbeaten Canisius (7-0). The Red Raiders had moved in front of Nichols (5-2), Timon-St. Jude (4-2) and St. Joe’s (5-4).
In the win over St. Joe’s, St. Francis exhibited balanced scoring, a tough defense and an added knack for pulling out these close games. Including wins over Timon-St. Jude, now the No. 5 large school, and St. Mary’s, the No. 9 small school, the Red Raiders have taken the three by a combined 10 points.
Third-year head coach Ed Hoak played only seven players but all of them contributed and wound up reaching the score sheet, while an improved man-to-man defense held St. Joe’s in check in the fourth quarter, allowing only six points. The win was in spite of continued troubles at the free throw line where St. Francis finished 10 of 19.
The Red Raiders trailed 44-41 coming into the fourth quarter, but built their biggest lead at 53-46 with 1:48 remaining in the game. However, St. Francis missed one of four free throws over the game’s final span, twice failing on the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, keeping St. Joe’s comeback hopes alive.
“Besides the foul shooting, I can’t say enough about our kids’ effort,” said Hoak, who has beaten St. Joe’s at home in the regular season the past two years. “It’s just the little things that we did and the team effort. That’s what we need. We have to have our unsung guys stepping up.”
“I wasn’t able to use my eight to nine man rotation tonight, but everyone was really into the game, even the guys on the bench,” he added after watching his team improve to 6-2 in league play and 12-7 overall.
Senior point guard Kyle Clifford had his usual big game as the floor general for the St. Francis offense, finishing with 16 points and seven assists, but so many others came up big on both ends of the floor. Anthony Weichec was effectively cutting to the basket all game, leading to his 14 points, to go along with seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, there were several key plays defensively that propelled the Red Raiders to the win. Junior forward Chris Miller ended both of St. Joe’s final two possessions, the first on one of his six blocked shots with St. Francis in front 54-50 and 30 seconds left and the other on one of his 10 rebounds that iced the game with just a few ticks remaining. He added eight points.
Senior Matt Reger also pulled down a huge defensive rebound with under a minute left in the game and the Red Raiders leading by only three. He finished with six rebounds, to go along with five points and four blocks. In addition, senior guard Rolen Kerr came up with a timely steal with just over a minute in the fourth.
“It’s defense that won this game,” said Hoak, whose team also had an impressive second quarter, holding St. Joe’s to eight points, to go into halftime with a 32-28 advantage. “I had a feeling this game would be in the 50s and I was dead on.”
St. Francis also received contributions from sixth-man Joe Pantano, who nailed a pair of three-point shots, and Desmond Howard, who finished with just three points but played an important role in helping disrupt the St. Joe’s offense in-close to the basket.
“We really were able to shut them down inside,” Hoak noted. “They couldn’t get a thing done there.”
After taking on Nichols, St. Francis hosts Canisius on Saturday, Feb. 6, then finishes the league schedule playing at Timon-St. Jude and hosting Nichols.
“Home court is going to be such a big advantage in these games,” Hoak noted.
Frontier excited about win despite circumstances
Frontier’s not giving this one back. The Falcons earned an enormous 64-57 win on the road at a short-handed Jamestown, formerly ranked No. 1 in Western New York.
Jamestown played without several of their regulars due to suspensions handed out for conduct detrimental to the team. However, Frontier still had to overcome an inspired start by Jamestown in one of the most difficult places for an ECIC basketball team to travel to and earn a win.
“I thought they still had a pretty good line up,” Frontier head coach Gary Domzalski said of Jamestown. “They had been 2-0 without their starters.”
The Falcons trailed from the outset of the game but used a 19-6 run in the fourth quarter to earn the come-from-behind win. Nick Patronik tied the game at 51-51 with a driving three-point play and Brian Antonik gave Frontier its first lead at 54-53 with a deep three-pointer from the corner. Darius Edwards hit three straight baskets for the Falcons down the stretch and finished with a game-high 25 points, while Matt Hauser hit a pair of crucial free throws in the last minute.
Jamestown got out to a 12-1 lead but Domzalski said his team settled down and actually went deep into its bench for help in the first half. Juniors Brian Cleary and Skyler Szymanski helped Frontier cut the lead to 36-30 at the half. The Falcons trailed 51-45 after three quarters.
“It’s always tough to win down there, so our players were really excited afterwards,” said Domzalski, who is hoping that his team, which improved to 4-6 in ECIC Division I, carries some of that momentum into its next game with Orchard Park at home on Thursday, Feb. 4.
Short-handed North Collins still prevails
A short-handed North Collins pulled out a 40-28 victory at home over Franklinville on Jan. 29. The win improved the Eagles to 6-0 at home and 6-6 overall.
Brett Wilczynski led the way with stellar defense of Sean Finch, holding Franklinville’s 31 point per game scorer to three. Wilczynski also scored a season-high nine points. Stevie Ray Foit finished with 10 points and Vince Sherman and Casey Bucco each added seven. Most notably, the Eagles played without senior forward Dan Keicher.
In junior varsity action, North Collins earned a 61-43 win over Franklinville that day behind Jared Keppel’s 35 points and a solid effort from Todd Youngman.
Elsewhere in local JV action, St. Francis won its fifth straight game and improved to 12-4 overall (5-2 in Monsignor Martin Association play) by defeating Cardinal O’Hara 53-31 on Jan. 26. Sophomore Brett Cawthorn pushed his double-digit scoring streak to eight games by netting 10. Sophomore Dominic Bucierri led overall scorers with 14 points, to go along with four steals.
Sophomores Joe Clifford, Matt Smith, Sean Dobrick and Connor Denz all registered points in the win. Freshman Brian Melisz and sophomore Miles Bartholomew continued their dominant play in the post, adding seven and eight points, respectively. In the game prior on Jan. 22, Cawthorn’s 19 points and 13 from Bartholomew led to a 59-56 win over St. Mary’s. Freshman point guard Cory Cullen added nine points and five assists and Dave Call chipped in with eight points off the bench. Melisz and sophomore Matt Morcio also contributed five apiece.
Before being beaten in two straight games, St. Francis’ freshmen team reeled off three straight MMAA wins to improve to 4-2. In a 51-49 overtime win over St. Mary’s on Jan. 21, Matt Hernick led the Red Raiders with 15 points and Pat Schaefer finished with 12. Brennan Macey scored a team-high 13 points and Robbie Choboy played an all-around solid game in St. Francis’ 46-14 win over Timon the day prior. Hernik led the team with 10 points, while Macey chipped in nine in St. Francis’ earlier-season win over St. Mary’s 41-34 on Jan. 16.
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