By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — The Salamanca boys basketball team has made it through the first half of its league season unscathed.
The only obstacle that could have prevented it from doing so was Dunkirk, which it dispatched with a 59-38 victory.
However, the Marauders were not going to just roll over for the CCAA Div. I leaders, in fact, its physicality and energy out of the gate hurt the Warriors early on as the sides jostled for the lead into the second quarter.
Dunkirk was able to put together a 9-2 scoring run in the second frame, nabbing the lead back from its hosts. What it did not know was that it had just provided Salamanca with a spark, which it used to close out the first half with a 10-0 run and carried the momentum through the interval for an extended 29-4 run through the third quarter.
Salamanca coach Adam Bennett first gave Dunkirk its flowers for the pressure it brought, but chalked up a lot of the points his team scored on their big run to its defense and how successfully his players were able to turn their stops into baskets on the other end.
“I’m going to give a lot of credit to Dunkirk,” Bennett said. “That was one of the most physical teams we played all year. … They were really aggressive off the ball, on the ball, they tried to play us the way that we play other teams, and that’s good for us. I didn’t love the start in terms of our offense. But, I also think that it’s good for us, every once in a while, to get punched in the mouth. I told our guys our defense from the five minute mark of the first quarter on was fantastic. We rebounded the ball very well, we got points in transition, and that’s our identity. Some nights you’re going to struggle to score. … We weren’t finishing tonight, but we still win by 21 because of our defense and because of our rebounding.”
Payton Bradley, whose sheer size was a big reason Salamanca dominated on the boards, played a major role in the team’s winning effort, scoring a game-high 16 points. Maddox Isaac joined him in double figures with 10, but the remainder of Salamanca’s points came via committee with 10 different players getting on the scoresheet.
“We don’t want to play in the half court, we want to run and we want to run off our defense,” Bennett said of his team’s offense. “I thought we got deflections, we got steals. But even if (we’re) just getting stops and rebounds, it’s a quick outlet up the floor. That’s how these guys love to play, and that’s when we’re at our best. So, it starts on the defensive end of the floor, holding them to four points for that long of a stretch of the game, with two great scorers like that, that’s tough to do. But, when we do that and we run, that’s when we’re at our best. So, we got to continue to learn from it.”
Salamanca’s Cory Holleran (24) looks for a pass while being closely guarded by a Dunkirk defender. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
Cory Holleran finished with eight points to his name, the next highest tally for the Warriors behind Bradley and Isaac. And while he may not have led the team’s offense on the night like he did with his 15-point performance against Falconer on Jan. 13, he has found himself progressively growing into the offense and getting rewarded with increased point tallies. Bennett noted how this is a side effect of his growing confidence on the court.
“He’s becoming a three-level score,” Bennett said. “He had a huge (game) at Falconer and he shoots the ball well. In practice, he’s starting to shoot it better. But when he’s confident, when he’s flying around, that’s when we’re at our best. He’s a leader for us, he really is. So, we need him to continue to play like that, because he’s critical to how we play, our process and the types of players that we want to represent us. And if he continues to score, we’re a dangerous team.”
And while the nail may have been put in the coffin with well over a quarter left to play, it was not all perfect for Salamanca which was not without its turnovers and slower-developing set plays that led to more possessions for the Marauders. However, Bennett saw two different kinds of turnovers from his side: one he was more critical of, the other, more sympathetic towards.
“We have to get better with the unforced turnovers,” Bennett said. “I think I’ll attribute some of that to (Dunkirk’s) pressure. But honestly, we go against that pressure in practice every day. So, the unforced stuff we have to clean up. I think we share the ball so much that sometimes we are going to turn it over because of that ball movement. … I’m never OK with turnovers, but they’re more understandable if they’re the north-south aggressive type. The unforced stuff, we got to get better at but, it’s January, and in reality we’ve been going for just over a month. We got a long way to go, and we got to continue to get better.”
Salamanca’s Maddox Isaac (10) puts up a jump shot. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
The Warriors will have over a week to clean up some of those smaller aspects as their next game will not be until Jan. 24 away at Southwestern. Tip-off there is set for 7:30 p.m.
AT SALAMANCA
Dunkirk (38)
Orcutt 4 1-2 11, Tell 3 0-0 8, McCall 3 1-2 7, Chaverez 2 3-4 7, Denson 1 1-2 3, Krystofiak 1 0-0 2, Marticci 0 0-2 0. Totals: 14 6-12 38
Salamanca (59)
Bradley 8 0-4 16, Isaac 4 1-2 10, Holleran 4 0-0 8, Brown 3 1-1 7, Herrick 2 0-0 4, Farmer 2 0-0 4, Ghani 1 2-2 4, Hill 1 0-0 2, Crouse 0 2-4 2, Taylor 1 0-0 2. Totals: 26 6-13 59
Dunk. 11 20 24 38
Sala. 12 28 47 59
Three-point goals: Dunk. 4 (Orcutt 2, Tell 2), Sala. 1 (Isaac); Total fouls: Dunk. 13, Sala. 10; fouled out: None.
JV: Salamanca won.
