By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — “If that’s not the greatest comeback in Salamanca basketball history, I don’t know what is.”
Salamanca boys basketball coach Adam Bennett was left with that to say after he witnessed his side, after facing a strong challenge from Falconer, complete an 18-point, fourth quarter comeback to keep its season alive.
“I mean in that moment, against a league team, a really good team, a well-coached team, with (a trip to) Buffalo State on the line, down 18 with seven minutes to go, our crowd, our community, our students, were phenomenal,” Bennett said of the atmosphere. “They kept lifting our guys up when we needed to be lifted up, and these seniors, they fed off that, and we’re appreciative of it.”
The Section 6 Class B2 No. 1 seed Warriors and the No. 9 seed Golden Falcons were neck and neck after the opening frame, in which the former made it a priority to get Avery Brown going down low, drawing up five straight plays for him in the post, four of which he converted into points. In fact the only other points Salamanca scored in the first quarter were from a mid-range jumper from Cory Holleran.
However, in a direct response to its hosts showing their cards early, Falconer nailed three first-quarter 3s in a display of what was its go-to move on the night.
The Warriors put together an 11-0 run early in the second frame, but it was in the immediate aftermath that the wheels started to fall off. What had been a relatively efficient start to the game was disrupted by the speed and defensive prowess of the Golden Falcons which forced numerous turnovers on forced passes to the inside and soft, backwards passes that made for easy transition buckets.
“I saw a lot of passes the wrong way,” Bennett said of his team’s struggles. “I thought (Falconer) had a good plan. They’d trap us in the long corner, the short corner, and we’d turn and throw it, expecting a guy to be there. But I also wasn’t pleased with our lack of movement off the ball. … I just felt like we were perimeter oriented instead of attacking. Their 2-3 zone does a great job of taking the first cutter away. … We needed second and third cutters, we were not getting that in the first half. I thought the entire second half, we got it. We just had to limit those turnovers because that’s where they were killing us, in transition.”
Falconer, on the back of Salamanca’s mistakes, strung together an 18-0 run to close the second quarter and managed to take a seven-point lead into halftime. Within that run, nine straight points were scored by Roger Markham, who led his team with 19 points in the affair.
Coming out of the intermission, the Warriors were able to shave down the deficit slightly, showing its willingness to fight, with five straight points. However, the early, third-quarter burst was short-lived and, once again, Falconer closed out a quarter with another big run in their favor, this time taking an 11-2 streak into the final frame.
Salamanca’s Jacob Herrick (1) rises up for a deep 3-pointer while being closed out by a Falconer defender. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
It was then, after Falconer’s four-quarter-opening bucket, with his side down 18 points, that Bennett noted his message to the team shifted tone.
“The thing that we said heading into the fourth was, if we’re going to go down, we’re going to do it our way and with our identity,” Bennett said.
And in return, with his players facing the possible end to their season, he got a spark.
Salamanca’s offense found new life in the fourth quarter and, in unison, slammed the door shut on the Falconer offense through the means of “new pressure plays” that resulted in turnovers galore, this time in their favor.
The Warriors gave up just six points in the final quarter of play and managed to go on a 17-4 run before Jacob Herrick managed to find himself the beneficiary of a mistakenly placed Falconer inbound pass and punished his team’s opposition by draining a 3-pointer that cut the Golden Falcons’ lead to just two.
“He’s just got ice in his veins,” Bennett said of Herrick. “He’s not afraid. We talk all the time, with his size, to do what he does in this league, takes a tremendous amount of courage. First of all, he’s a great kid who gives everything that he’s got, but he’s not scared of the moment.”
And the Warriors just kept rolling.
Avery Brown forced yet another timely turnover after Herrick’s 3 and expertly fed it through to Maddox Isaac who fought through heavy pressure inside to see the game-tying bucket through the net. And with one final timeout called by the Warriors, the roof just about blew off the gym.
But there would be one more eruption of exuberance in Salamanca before the night was over.
Salamanca’s Avery Brown (20) races back to close down Falconer’s Nathan Bailey (11). Brown led the Warriors with 20 points against the Golden Falcons. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
Brown, after all the work he had done, from scoring early to laying out for crucial, potentially season-saving steals late on, had the ball in his hands with the game on the line. And he did not waver on his efficiency from within the arc, capping the comeback with a game-winning floater.
Falconer had a sliver of hope in the form of a full-court heave, but as it missed the target, the Salamanca faithful, already on its feet, could not be kept off the court as the Warriors punched their ticket to the B2 Semifinal. An effort that Bennett credited his experienced players with getting over the line.
“With the experience that we had on the floor, we never, ever had the sense that we were out of it,” Bennett said. “It started with the defensive end. We were able to get some in transition, hit some big shots down the stretch, and execute on both sides of the floor. But, you know, you don’t do that without great, experienced kids. And that’s what we’ve got.”
Salamanca will not have long to revel in the victory as the postseason keeps on rolling. The win booked itself a date in the semis with No. 4 seed Wilson which will be played on March 5 at 5 p.m. at the Buffalo State Sports Arena.
AT SALAMANCA
Falconer (58)
R. Markham 8 1-3 19, Z. Markham 3 2-2 10, Bailey 4 0-0 10, Brainard 3 0-0 9, Delaney 2 2-2 6, Max. Parmentier 1 0-0 2, Wood 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 5-7 58
Salamanca (60)
Brown 8 3-6 20, Herrick 5 1-4 13, Isaac 3 3-3 10, Crouse 3 0-0 7, Holleran 3 0-0 7, Hill 1 0-0 3. Totals: 23 7-13 60
Falc. 11 29 52 58
Sala. 11 22 36 60Three-point goals: Falc. 9 (Brainard 3, R. Markham 2, Bailey 2, Z. Markham 2), Sala. 7 (Herrick 2, Hill, Isaac, Crouse, Brown, Holleran); Total fouls: Falc. 19, Sala. 14; fouled out: Holleran (Sala.), Max. Parmentier (Falc.).
