H.S. Boys Basketball: Frontier, Lake Shore, North Collins ousted in quarters
By Michael J. Petro
Frontier, Lake Shore and North Collins all fell just a game short of playing in Section VI Tournament semifinals. After Frontier and North Collins pulled off road upsets and Lake Shore held on for a victory at home in opening round playoff games on Wednesday, Feb. 24, each of the locals dropped quarterfinal contests two days later.
Tenth-seeded Frontier fell short of returning to Buffalo State for a third straight season, losing at No. 2 Jamestown 65-37 in Class AA. The Falcons won earlier in the season at a short-handed Jamestown, which at the time had several players out due to suspensions, but Frontier head coach Gary Domzalski knew his team would have a daunting task going up against a full-strength Jamestown, which he believes is probably the most talented team in the Class AA Tournament. Junior standout Darius Edwards led Frontier with 12 points in the loss. The Falcons were also eliminated last season by Jamestown in the semifinal round.
Frontier had advanced with a 58-53 win over No. 7 Lockport. Leading by one point with 18 seconds left, Edwards made two free throws to increase Frontier’s lead to 56-53. On Lockport’s ensuing possession, Joel Pike stole a pass at half court and dunked the ball to seal the Falcons’ win.
Frontier, which led 34-26 at halftime, suffered from some of its usual issues, including shooting only 40 percent (7 of 17) at the free throw line and turning the ball over too much down the stretch, but overcame those deficiencies with outstanding rebounding — 36 for the game.
Pike was determined not to make this his final game as the senior recorded a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds. “We got some great individual play from Joel,” Domzalski noted.
After a torrid start to the season, Edwards had slowed down of late but one wouldn’t have known by his play against Lockport. He finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, six steals and three assists. “Some were starting to doubt Darius, but our team knows how much he does for us,” said Domzalski, whose squad finished the season 8-12 overall.
After ninth-seeded North Collins won its first Section VI playoff game in 10 years, knocking off a tough eighth-seeded West Valley team 61-55 in Class D, the Eagles nearly pulled off another upset at top-seeded Sherman. However, North Collins was outscored 10-2 in the final 1:10 of the game and fell 52-44.
Senior leading scorer Stevie Ray Foit was forced to sit the bench for almost half of the game due to foul trouble, but the Eagles fought hard behind junior Vinny Sherman’s 13 points, five assists and five rebounds and senior Dan Keicher’s 10 points, four assists and eight rebounds. Foit still managed nine points, while teammates Chris Zymowski and Nick Gier contributed six points and seven rebounds, respectively.
“Playing the No. 1 seed on the road is a daunting enough task, but having to do it with your leading scorer on the bench for half the game makes it even tougher,” said North Collins head coach Bill Weidner, whose team had lost to Sherman during the regular season by 18 points. “I may be disappointed in the outcome but proud about the team and program we have become.”
Against West Valley, the Eagles battled back twice from double digit deficits, showing incredible determination, according to Weidner. Leading the offense in the win was Sherman, who finished with 23 points. Also for the Eagles, Foit recorded 15 points and 15 rebounds and Zymowski chipped in with 12 points.
Defensively, Keicher locked down four-year first team divisional all-star Jeff Engels. He also chipped in six points and seven rebounds. Also, Gier ably handled the defensive duties on West Valley’s other four-year first team divisional all-star, Anthony Sutton, and pulled down four rebounds, in addition to finishing with three assists. Casey Bucco and Bret Wilczynski also provided solid minutes off the bench for the Eagles, who finished the season 10-10 overall.
Sixth-seeded Lake Shore gave No. 3 McKinley a scare but fell to the Buffalo City school power 65-57 in Class A-1. Senior forward Sean Bellomo poured in 28 points and classmate Erik Marx added 15 but Lake Shore could not hold onto its 34-31 halftime lead.
In the round prior, the Eagles connected on 12 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter and 16 of 18 for the second half to stave off an upset bid by No. 11 Kenmore East, 50-45.
Despite an emphasis by East on defending the low post against the 6-foot-8 Bellomo, the Division II college basketball recruit still finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocks. He was also supported well by Marx, who finished with 12 points, and fellow seniors Tom Fritz and Matt Kennedy, who added 11 and nine points, respectively.
One of the team’s senior captains, RC Hubbard, tweaked an ankle the day before the game and tried to battle through it, but it was hindering him primarily on defense so he could not finish the game. Filling in, Alex Govenettio knocked down two big free throws in the waning moments the game to lock down the win.
“When we moved the ball in rotation it negated the double and sometimes triple team effect on Sean, but when we were stagnant with ball movement, we had trouble,” said Lake Shore head coach Dan Gerken, whose team, finished the season 10-10 overall.
Lake Shore was able to get out to double-digit leads during the game, but Gerken said his team had trouble showing patience and methodically building a bigger margin. The Eagles did do a good job of shutting down East’s dribble drive offense with jump switches and by communicating.
Less than 10 hours after the victory, the Eagles exhibited their commitment to make a run at getting to Buffalo State for a semifinal contest. To prepare for McKinley and avoid the possibility of missing a practice due to snow in the forecast for Feb. 25 and 26, Lake Shore players got back into the gym at 5:45 a.m.
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