Story by CHRIS BROOKS, photo gallery by TRICIA DAVENPORT
SCIO — The Senior Night spotlight illuminated ever so brightly in the sky for Friendship/Scio, where they honored their lone senior Tyler Nickerson in his home gym in Scio, Monday night.
To ensure a brilliant send-off to his high school career, Nickerson scored the very last bucket of the game for Friendship/Scio — a long three pointer that found nothing but twine on the way down, sending the home crowd into a frenzy as they went past Alfred-Almond with a 47-35 win.
“It was Senior Night for us tonight in Scio with Tyler, and it was nice to see him nail a three-pointer,” said Friendship/Scio coach Dillon McFall. “Everyone was pretty jacked up about that. The story for us was Alfred-Almond doing a good job packing it in early against us, and we did a good job getting the ball inside and around the basket. We took what they gave us defensively and we managed to make a positive out of it.”
In the early stages of the battle, both teams delivered back-and-forth exchanges that allowed the Eagles to pop out in front early, approaching the midway mark of the quarter. In turn, Friendship/Scio (4-14) shifted the momentum in their favor to close out the stanza with, as they propelled their way towards a 14-7 lead by netting nine of the last 10 points.
With Friendship/Scio looking to build off of it, Alfred-Almond responded with a long three-pointer to close the gap to as little as four points near the halfway point of the second quarter.
But with 4:41 left to go, the hosts in white then took advantage on yet another strong finish to a quarter, as they closed out the first half on an 8-0 run that would allow them to remain in front for good.
Leading the offense for Friendship/Scio was Jerome Harmon and his game-high 14 points, pairing them with five rebounds and five assists. Behind him was Connor Blouvet, who chipped in with nine points, eight rebounds and four assists of his own, while Deacon Brown had eight points.
Alfred-Almond was paced by a team-high 11 points from Jackson Jusianiec. Brogan Donlon had 10 more points to add for the Eagles.
Friendship/Scio will head over the hill and into Friendship for another battle in store, as they prepare to host scorching hot Fillmore in a 7:30 p.m. contest on Wednesday.
Alfred-Almond 7 7 13 8 – 35
Friendship/Scio 14 12 8 13 – 47
ALFRED-ALMOND: Nick Porter 0 1-2 1, Jackson Jusianiec 3 2-6 11, Ryan Washburn 1 4-10 6, Brogan Donlon 4 0-0 10, Noah Hefley 1 0-2 2, Liam Ruthven 1 2-6 5. Totals: 10 10-26 35.
FRIENDSHIP/SCIO: Aiden Golden 3 0-0 7, Jerome Harmon 6 2-6 14, Connor Blouvet 2 4-10 9, Charlie Taylor 1 0-0 2, Jerimiah Brown 1 0-0 2, Cooper Greenman 1 0-0 2, Deacon Brown 4 0-1 8, Tyler Nickerson 1 0-0 3. Totals: 19 6-17 47.
3-point goals: A-A 6 (Jusianiec 3, Donlon 2, Ruthven), F/S 3 (Golden, Blouvet, Nickerson).
Total Fouls: A-A 13, F/S 20. Fouled out: J. Brown (F/S).
