Friday Roundup: GV/Belfast outlasts And/Whi through early battle, maintain half-ending momentum to build 58-48 road win; Fillmore’s Ward nets season-high 33 in win at Fri/Scio
Story and photo gallery by CHRIS BROOKS, managing editor, wellsvillesports.com
ANDOVER — There’s no better time to start playing some of your best basketball, than right now with two weeks left in the regular season. For Andover/Whitesville, pieces to their winning puzzle helped start the process of coming together after garnering wins in four of their last six games.
The hope to close out the week was to keep that spark alive going down the stretch. But for Genesee Valley/Belfast, their hope was to wipe the slate clean and begin fresh in time for the final hurdle before Sectionals.
Through the first eight minutes, it was anyone’s game to take control of going forward, ultimately ending with the hosts claiming a three-point lead. But then the momentum began to sway back towards the middle of the pendulum before completely shifting in the other direction.
Genesee Valley/Belfast got hot. And once they did, they couldn’t be extinguished.
Trailing by as much as nine during the early stages, Genesee Valley/Belfast made up ground fast by erasing the deficit in exchange for a four-point advantage to control at the break. Upon their arrival back out for the second half, they went on to pick up where they left off, accounting for a complete second half turnaround to keep Andover/Whitesville at bay, snapping a six-game slide in the process with a big 58-48 road win to build from.
“It was a pretty frustrating night for us. We did everything right in the first five minutes, and then we lost focus after that,” Andover/Whitesville coach Jimmy Joyce said. “I definitely have to give credit to GV/Belfast. Their shooting was hot, and we are certainly in a pretty bad slump from the field lately. But, we just have to battle our way out of it. We tried to chip away a few different times, but we could never get within striking distance. I love this group, and the future is bright ahead. We certainly have some work ahead of us before Sectionals.”
The first quarter was a frame filled with scoreless runs engineered by both teams, with Andover/Whitesville (8-10) starting it off with four straight points off the hand of Colton Calladine before GV/Belfast created even playing ground and then some, with five in a row themselves to overtake the lead led by Kadin Logue inside and a Kyle McCumiskey three immediately following on the next drive.
The hosts quickly responded to go back out into the lead with six straight points — three consecutive baskets inside the arc to begin opening the defense slightly. The latest run by Andover/Whitesville would reach eight points in a row before GV/Belfast (6-10) found their way back onto the board, but not for long, as the team in white and blue fought back with CJ Estep and Colton Calladine garnering back-to-back baskets inside.
Andover/Whitesville was riding on a run that had seen them score 10 of the last 12 points at that point in the opening quarter, until GV/Belfast concluded it with the last six in a row to trim their deficit from nine to three.
The visitors in black would then overcome it all towards the tail end of the second frame, with Ian McKenzie catching fire with his third triple of the half before a runner on the next transition would close the gap back down to three. Both baskets by GV/Belfast were punctuated on a pair of Andover/Whitesville turnovers deep in their defensive zone.
A fair amount of exchanging would progress forward up until the last two minutes of the half, when a reverse lay-in across the baseline by Kadin Logue, and a long three from Thai Norasethaporn with nearly 10 seconds left to play, kept the momentum in GV/Belfast’s favor to close out the frame, heading into the break with a full head of steam and a four-point lead.
When the teams returned to the court for the second half, GV/Belfast turned out the lights.
They would never relinquish the momentum again from the start to the end of the second half, as they put the hammer down on the game-changing quarter with a 21-8 run of Andover/Whitesville to push their lead out to a 49-33 advantage going into the last eight minutes, where they were able to keep it intact, despite a late push from the hosts towards the end.
McKenzie finished as GV/Belfast’s leading contributor with a game-high 16 points, including four of the team’s seven treys from downtown. Norasethaporn chipped in with 11 points of his own, while Logue and Max Wedge each had six points.
Andover/Whitesville was paced by both CJ Estep and Colton Calladine, as the two hot hands tallied 13 team-high points each. Kohler Niedermaier pitched in with 11 points, while Brody Vance bucketed seven. The team will now get set to welcome in Fillmore for a 7:30 p.m. visit on Monday right back in Andover.
As for Genesee Valley/Belfast, they will look to keep their spark ignited with another road trip come Tuesday, visiting Houghton Academy for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
Genesee Valley/Belfast 13 16 21 9 – 58
Andover/Whitesville 16 9 8 15 – 48
GV/BELFAST: Brayden Cooper 2 0-0 4, Kadin Logue 3 0-0 6, Owen Heaney 2 0-0 4, Kyle McCumiskey 2 0-0 5, Ian McKenzie 6 0-2 16, Max Wedge 3 0-0 6, Thai Norasethaporn 3 3-6 11, Ryan Daciw 1 3-3 5. Totals: 22 6-11 58.
ANDOVER/WHITESVILLE: Brody Vance 3 0-0 7, Colton Calladine 5 3-6 13, CJ Estep 5 3-4 13, Will Kent 1 0-0 2, Gage Hall 1 0-1 2, Kohler Niedermaier 5 1-1 11. Totals: 20 7-12 48.
3-point goals: GVB 7 (McKenzie 4, Norasethaporn 2, McCumiskey), A/W 1 (Vance).
Total Fouls: GVB 14, A/W 14. Fouled out: Calladine (A/W).
Bolivar-Richburg 63, Houghton Academy 26
HOUGHTON — A chance for the Wolverines of Bolivar-Richburg to rebound after a tough defeat to the hands of Cuba-Rushford would come the very next night on the road. All they would need is the first half to shake it off completely, starting strong and then shifting the momentum over into the second to build what ultimately led to a 63-26 win over host Houghton Academy.
It was the Aydin Sisson and Landon Barkley show for the Wolverines (14-3) all game long, as the two sharpshooters converged and combined to record 44 of the team’s 63 points, including five Barkley three-pointers, as each totaled 22 game-high points to lead an effort that began with a first quarter spark on both ends of the floor.
Bolivar-Richburg went on to set the tone with a 14-2 lead after the opening quarter, and then built upon it later on with their largest frame of the game — a 21-point second quarter that gave them more than enough room to work with to close up shop.
Following Sisson and Barkley was Evan Pinney, who had seven points. Reiss Gaines had four points.
Houghton Academy (1-13) was led by James Adenuga and his 14 team-high points. Josh Davidson had seven points. The Panthers will return to their home floor Monday night with a 6:30 p.m. contest against Hinsdale.
The Wolverines are back out on the road Tuesday night, paying a visit to the Wellsville Lions for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
Bolivar-Richburg 14 21 16 12 – 63
Houghton Academy 2 10 8 6 – 26
BOLIVAR-RICHBURG: Aydin Sisson 8 3-4 22, Cayden Gaines 1 0-0 2, Landon Barkley 7 3-4 22, Reiss Gaines 1 2-2 4, Trevor Pforter 1 0-0 2, David Baldwin 1 0-0 2, Evan Pinney 3 0-0 7, James Margeson 0 2-4 2. Totals: 22 10-14 63.
HOUGHTON ACADEMY: Jack Prentice 0 1-2 1, Josh Davidson 2 1-3 7, James Adenuga 5 1-1 14, Marco Zanini 1 0-0 2, Pedro Rebello 0 2-2 2. Totals: 8 5-8 26.
3-point goals: B-R 9 (Barkley 5, Sisson 3, Pinney), HA 4 (Adenuga 3, Davidson).
Total Fouls: B-R 7, HA 12. Fouled out: None.
Cuba-Rushford 47, Hinsdale 28
HINSDALE — After one of the most emotional battles of their season the previous night against Bolivar-Richburg, the Rebels of Cuba-Rushford regaining their rhythm over the road on Friday, but used an immaculate first quarter against host Hinsdale to set the pace for the rest of the evening, rolling towards an eventual 47-28 win over the Bobcats.
Jacob Smith, Luke Brooks and Finn Ricketts all came together to record all 10 of Cuba-Rushford’s (15-3) points in the first quarter, while the defense delivered an outstanding start by shutting Hinsdale completely off from the field with a 10-0 run.
The first quarter would be used as fuel for the Rebels to control the game going forward, as they accounted for at least 10 points in each of the next two quarters to pull away from the Bobcats (1-15), en route to victory.
Smith led all scorers with a game-high 19 points for the Rebels. Brooks and Jack Frank each recorded six points, while Ricketts had four.
Hinsdale was led by Xander Pascucci and his 11 team-high points. Damion Brown recorded seven points, while Henry Schwartz had seven to add. The Bobcats will head out for Houghton Academy, Monday night at 6:30 p.m.
Cuba-Rushford is now off until Thursday night back on the road in a contest that will likely determine this year’s Allegany County Champion, as the Rebels square off with red hot Fillmore — winners of six of their last seven games. Tip-off is slated for a 7:30 p.m. start in The Rock.
Cuba-Rushford 10 18 14 5 – 47
Hinsdale 0 7 7 14 – 28
