Story by JOHN ANDERSON, photos by ELLA GREEN
Finally.
After close to 80 years, the Andover Panthers basketball team played Wellsville, and this time in a large enough gym to host both communities, plus Whitesville, as the schools merged in sports because of declining numbers.
Friday night’s game was worth the wait as Wellsville held a 10-point lead most of the game before having to sit starters with foul trouble the last 90 seconds of the third quarter.
Andover/Whitesville went on an incredible run that ended with Jake Mattison scoring to give A/W a 51-50 lead.
The aggressive style of play that helped Wellsville take a comfortable lead caught up with the Lions in the fourth, as one player fouled out and three starters had to rotate in and out with four fouls. The teams traded buckets for a few minutes, but A-W took a lead and didn’t give it up, winning 70-64.
The atmosphere was electric in the gym. The Wellsville cheerleaders, contenders for another Section V title, brought the energy up and the student sections had their share of fun and chants. As Brian Cannon pointed out in his feature (CLICK HERE), the relationships and connections with the communities made it special.
No one wanted to leave the gym.
For the first time in anyone’s memory, the staff had to flick the lights to try to get people to leave. It almost worked. Andover and Wellsville players and families were taking photos together and the victory was sweet for a lot of former Panthers.
Dick Joyce was one of them. He was the last person to leave the gym, but not before calling John Hames, a 1968 Andover graduate.
Hames, a member of the Allegany County Sports Hall of Fame, dominated for four years on the varsity, something unheard of when the freshmen and sophomores usually played JV. He did it all, had all of the honors, but he never played or beat Wellsville.
“John? Are you awake?” Joyce said. On the other end of the phone, Hames said, “Yes, I’m waiting to become a great-grandfather.” His granddaughter, Nicklin Hames, who graduated as a volleyball setter at Nebraska, is due any minute with a child. Nicklin was a two-time All-American and two time All Big 10 honoree as a 5-foot-10 setter. John then realized this call wasn’t about her.
“Dick? What could you possibly want?” John said.
Dicky Joyce smiled. If he could have pulled out a cigar like Red Auerbach did winning titles with the Celtics, he would have. “Hey John, I’m standing in the Wellsville gym,” Dick said, “We can finally go into the Texas Hot with our heads held high!”
Hames knew exactly what he meant.
Andover/Whitesville had won.
Joyce started down the stairs to the parking lot. He asked about the two freshmen who had significant minutes in the varsity game. Then he said, “Wait, they could’ve been on the JV team that beat us earlier in the night, 70-8?” Yep, he was told. Joyce’s excitement died down.
However, the smile came back to Joyce’s face as he walked away. He turned and said in the cold December air, “Well, that’s ok, we got this one. We don’t have to play them for another 80 years!”
The coaches might think otherwise. There were game-changers on both teams and it was a game both teams needed to improve for sectionals.
“It was one of the best basketball games I have ever been a part of. It was nice to play against our neighbors for the first time in many years,” said Andover/Whitesville coach Jimmy Joyce. “We knew coming into the Lion’s Den was going to be a tall task. They severely outplayed us early, they had us on our heels searching for answers. Wellsville plays a very physical brand of basketball, which we knew coming in.”
Wellsville senior Trent Green had a monster game with 22 points, 15 rebounds, four steals and two blocks as well as 7-for-7 from the free throw line. Wellsville senior Nicholas Germain-Tardieu had 28 points. The Lions do not have much rivalry time to rest as Hornell plays in Wellsville on Monday with the JV game at 6 p.m., varsity at 7:30 p.m.
“Trent is an absolute monster and Nick can do it all as well,” Coach Joyce said. “We made a little run late in the second period that kept us in it. We made a few in-game adjustments that also helped. In the second half, we kind of ramped up the pressure and turned the table a bit. We finally were able to create some turnovers and get into transition. We are at our best when we run.”
Brody Vance made key free throws to help Andover/Whitesville, draining 12 from the charity stripe finishing with 29. Vinny Joyce had a strong game with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 7-of-9 from the free throw line. Colton Calladine had eight big points and James Miller-Young had 10 points and eight boards.
However, the play of Mattison to spark the win was not lost on Coach Joyce.
“Jake made some really big plays for us , he has really cemented his status in our lineup early in the season,” Coach Joyce said. “Vinny had the tall task of going against Trent all game and for the most part did a really good job. He’s the glue on this team for sure and we don’t win without him on the floor . Brody didn’t have his usual dominant game early, but man, he was everywhere late which helped get us the lead and keep it. I’m very happy to be going into the break at 5-0 and beating a big school like Wellsville. Hats off to (Wellsville Coach Tom Muska), he is one heck of a coach. This game is going to look better on paper later in the year as Wellsville gets better and better.”
Muska also had strong games from Cole White defensively and Blake Kalkoff running the floor. Drew Cowburn had a key bucket for the Lions and Payson Root, Fletcher Kaye and Ben Helveston logged a lot of minutes as starters were in foul trouble.
“Andover/Whitesville did a good job of changing defenses on us and put us in a position to defend an offense our team has not seen, being so young,” said Muska of his Lions. “This is only Game 4 and our team is too young to beat a team as seasoned as they are. The Andover team has already been through the ringer last year with high hopes and they hope to right the wrongs. We need nights like tonight to build that experience and keep getting better.”
Andover/Whitesville 13 16 22 19 — 70
Wellsville 23 14 13 14 — 64
ANDOVER/WHITESVILLE: James Miller-Young 5 0-0 10; Rogan Perkins 0 0-0 0; Trey Kent 0 0-0 0; Carter Grice 0 0-0 0; Jake Mattison 2 1-2 6; Vincent Joyce 5 7-9 18; Brody Vance 7 12-16 28; Gavin Frungillo 0 0-0 0; Colton Calladine 2 4-6 8; Skyler Orpet 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21 24-33 70
WELLSVILLE: Cole White 1 0-0 2; Blake Kalkoff 3 0-0 6; Drew Cowburn 1 0-0 2; Nick Germain-Tardieu 10 3-4 28; Payson Root 0 0-0 0; Fletcher Kaye 0 0-0 0; Cole Densmore 2 0-0 4; Trenton Green 7 7-7 22; Ben Helveston 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 10-11 64
Three Point Goals: Andover/Whitesville 4 (Brody Vance 2, Vincent Joyce 1, Jake Mattison 1). Wellsville 6 (Nick GT 5, Trent Green 1)
Total Fouls: Andover/Whitesville 13, Wellsville 24
Halftime score: Wellsville 37, Andover/Whitesville 29
JV game: Wellsville 70, Andover/Whitesville 8
Wellsville: Ryker Johnson 14, Xander Faulkner 13, Claytin Loucks 12, Devon Mattison 10, Kniffen Cook 10, Ronan Ader 6, Wes Urbano 5.
Andover/Whitesville: Lucas Outman 3, Peyton Chamberlain 3, Darius Rossrucker 2
Ella Green slide show:
