By JOHN ANDERSON
Wellsville boys basketball coach Raymie Auman said this is one of the most complete Bolivar-Richburg teams he has seen in his playing and coaching career.
On Tuesday night, Auman’s bench gave his starters a spark as Wellsville took a big lead and cruised to a 59-31 victory.
“I don’t expect the score to be the same when we travel to Bolivar, but this was a big win against an extremely talented team, “Auman said. “Our defense was great tonight, we did a great job clogging the lane and we still closed out on shooters. It was one of those nights where our defense got our offense going and that’s how we want to play.”
To help with the athletic and tall Cam MacDonell of B-R, Auman went with Logan Dunbar and Connor Ferguson at the same time, something he has not used a lot this season. MacDonell finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. Guard Landon Danaher added eight.
Ferguson came off the bench and had four points, six rebounds, two blocks and a steal. His energy excited the crowd. Another senior, Dalton Ketchner, came off the bench and drained a 3-pointer then Asher Billings hit a big 3-pointer in the third quarter.
“Everyone contributed off the bench and we played good team defense, we were really in our help-gaps, it was a good team win,” said Wellsville junior guard Cody Costello. “Connor came in the game, got some big boards for us, gave us a spark and got an and-one.
“We match-up pretty well (with Bolivar-Richburg), I think we have the same talent as them guard-wise,” Costello continued. “Now we have Hornell (Friday night at 6 p.m., varsity only) and we are coming off a big win, hopefully we can have a few good practices and get ready for them.”
Costello had nine points, four assists and two steals while Alex Perkins had six points with seven rebounds for Wellsville, Eli Schmidt scored a game-high 13 points, Logan Dunbar had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds, Aidan Riley had three points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals and Cooper Brockway had four points, two assists and a steal.
Bolivar-Richburg 7 5 7 12 – 31
Wellsville 7 19 18 15 – 59
BOLIVAR-RICHBURG: Aydin Sisson 2 0-0 5, Landon Danaher 2 4-8 8, Wyatt Karnuth 1 0-0 2, Reiss Gaines 1 0-0 2, Evan Pinney 2 0-0 5, Cam MacDonell 4 1-2 9. Totals: 12 5-10 31.
WELLSVILLE: Cody Costello 4 0-2 9, Alex Perkins 3 0-0 6, Cooper Brockway 2 0-0 4, Eli Schmidt 5 2-3 13, Dalton Ketchner 1 0-0 3, Aidan Riley 1 0-0 3, Logan Dunbar 6 1-3 14, Connor Ferguson 2 0-1 4, Asher Billings 1 0-0 3. Totals: 25 3-9 59.
3-point goals: B-R 2 (Sisson, Pinney), Wellsville 6 (Costello, Schmidt, Ketchner, Riley, Dunbar, Billings).
Total Fouls: B-R 11, Wellsville 11. Fouled out: Ferguson (WLSV).
