By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — It was always going to look different.
A program does not simply graduate the talent and skill that the Salamanca boys basketball team did over the last two years and not feel the strain.
Head coach Adam Bennett even said before the season that there was “no doubt” this is a different team. But while the faces on the roster may be different, the key for the Warriors entering the year was to continue to uphold the standards set over seasons past.
“Our challenge to our players before the game was when people came to the game, were they going to see the same Salamanca basketball? And they did,” Bennett said.
Salamanca dropped its season and home-opener to Class AA Frontier by a 57-52 margin, but the tally in the loss column does not carry much weight considering this largely fresh-faced team is only just starting to learn what it takes to compete at the varsity level. In fact, the Warriors competed at a significantly high level and did some things that have Bennett excited for what they can be capable of. But what he loves even more is that just because they played well, his team remains far from satisfied.
“Our locker room is angry because they’re not used to losing games,” Bennett said. “And I love every part of that. That shows me how much they care. Now the challenge is, we got to come in and work really hard tomorrow.”
The start for the Warriors was extremely positive. Aside from the occasional bucket they conceded, they hardly missed a beat. Payton Bradley, fittingly as the only significant returner to the team from last year, got the scoring started. In conjunction with Dominick Hill and Brendon Ghani, the Warriors’ first-half lead balloon to as much as 13-points.
Bradley wound up scoring a game-high 24 points with Hill and Ghani netting 14 and seven points, respectively.
But for as good as the start was, Salamanca wound up fading — with the first signs coming at the end of the first half when a five-point swing from Frontier was capped with a steal and score that cut the hosts’ lead to just four points.
The Falcons’ momentum continued out of the break with a 9-2 run which saw the Warriors concede the lead for the first time all night. For Bennett, it will be of the utmost importance for his team to find a way to take the energy they started out with and extend it over the course of an entire game.
“We’re long on rotations right now,” Bennett said. “We’re not clean and crisp off the ball, and so we’re wasting a lot of energy through longer cuts, poor rotations and stuff like that. … We just have to get tighter and honestly, that will happen with more reps. These are guys that have never played in a game like this before. So for their first game, there was a lot of good but a lot that we can fix.”
Salamanca’s Dominick Hill (4) looks to drive past his defender. Hill scored 14 points against the Falcons. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
Down the stretch, the Warriors offense struggled to find a rhythm, Bradley and Hill were responsible for all but three of the team’s 22 second-half points. That being said, they were without Carlton Farmer, who will be looked towards as another source of points. But the lack of offense wasn’t what caught the attention of Bennett, instead it was the lack of defense.
“As much as we need to score, I think the hallmark of our program has been taking the other team’s best scorers away,” Bennett said. “We didn’t do a good enough job there, and we definitely have to improve in that regard.”
Ultimately, the game goes down as a loss for Salamanca. But in all reality, it didn’t lose as much as it gained. With an all-but brand new squad, pushing a solid program two classes ahead to the brink gives them crucial experience that will only aid in their efforts as the season goes along.
“We got better tonight,” Bennett said. “Now, we have to be hungry. We got another (Class) A school coming in here on Saturday. … (Playing quality teams) helps us improve and get better, and that’s what I’m proud of with these guys. We didn’t go and schedule soft at the beginning of the year … and we came out, with no scrimmage, against a really good team, and I thought for the majority of the game they handled it well.”
Salamanca will have the chance to put what it gathered to the test, and to continue learning, next on Dec. 6 when it hosts Depew at 1:30 p.m.
AT SALAMANCA
Frontier (57)
Bishop-Marrist 6 6-9 23, Cox 6 0-1 15, Wieczynski 2 0-0 6, Dunz 1 2-2 5, Chido 2 0-2 4, Hassett 1 0-0 2, Echeverria 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 8-14 57
Salamanca (52)
Bradley 10 1-2 24, Hill 4 6-6 14, Ghani 3 1-2 7, Elliott 1 0-0 3, Maybee 0 2-2 2. Totals: 19 10-12 52
Frontier 10 26 45 57
Salamanca 17 30 40 52
Three-point goals: Front. (Bishop-Marrist 5, Cox 3, Wieczynski 2, Dunz), Sala. (Bradley 3, Elliott); Total fouls: Front. 14 , Sala. 19 ; Fouled out: Dunz (Front.), Ghani (Sala.).
