(Ben Helveston had a career-high 11 in the win at Bolivar. Ella Green photo)
With big wins this week over Bolivar-Richburg and Rochester Prep, both in the road, the Wellsville boys’ basketball team improved to 5-5, jumping from #8 in the Section V standings for playoffs to #5.
The Lions have the same record as #4 Waterloo. In the #3 spot is 4-4 Midlakes. The #2 seed is LeRoy at 6-4 and #1 is Hornell at 6-2, with on of their two losses to Wellsville.
Wellsville 62, Rochester Prep 53
Blake Kalkoff drained three 3-pointers and finished with 19 for Wellsville while Trent Green had 21, Nick GT had 11, C0le Densmore had seven and Cole White and Payson Root each had two.
“We didn’t play well on Wednesday (at Bolivar) and this was a good win in response to that performance,” said Wellsville coach Tom Muska. “This is one that makes you proud as a coach to see all of the things you worked on in practice getting corrected.”
The Lions also shook off a long bus ride to Rochester.
“It’s always a long trip, but isn’t that the goal?” said Muska, referring to the Section V finals being played at the War Memorial in Rochester. “Our goal is to eventually come back here and win big games. It was good to practice what that routine and drive feels like.”
Wellsville 66, Bolivar-Richburg 63
Wellsville needed a huge 28-point fourth quarter to come back and beat Bolivar-Richburg, 66-63 as B-R had a 49-38 lead after three quarters.
Trenton Green had 26 points for Wellsville and Nicolas Germain-Tardieu had 19 including 14 points in the decisive fourth quarter.
Also for the Lions, freshman Ben Helveston drained three 3-pointers and finished with his season high of 11, Blake Kalkoff had eight and Cole Densmore had two.
“We were not there mentally at the start and Bolivar-Richburg moved the ball better than us,” said Wellsville coach Tom Muska. “Their kids were able to knock down shots because they had good open looks. We were able to come back and a win is a win.”
For B-R, Braden Zilker had 25 points, Javier Rodriguez had five, Mason Baldwin six, Julien Weekley had 10, Hayden Schappacher had seven, Carson Lipyance had four and Jimmy Day had eight.
A few photos of the game at Bolivar from Ella Green:
