By HUNTER O. LYLE
ALLEGANY, NY – As teams in Section VI ramp up for their second round of league play, some are eager to showcase their progress and improvement while others bear down and try to find some way to move the needle.
For the Olean and Allegany-Limestone boy’s basketball teams, in Division I of the Chautauqua Cattaraugus Athletic Association, their positions on opposite sides of the spectrum was no clearer than the Huskies 75-38 wire-to-wire win in hostile territory.
Initially meeting at the very beginning of the season, Olean walked away from round one with a 55-40 win at home and, in the month since, have not looked back. In the time since, the Huskies took victories in six of their next nine games, including a stretch of four in a row. The Gators, who have been dealing with the double-edged sword of a youthful roster, found just one win in their next seven contests.
“We really do not talk about in terms of winning. We talk in terms of playing well and we say that winning will take care of itself. For instance, we don’t allude to that we’re on a streak or that we have an opportunity to start a streak,” said Olean head coach Tim Kolasinski. “We just think that, game to game, if we just do what we’re supposed to do then the score will take care of itself. Obviously, we want to get those wins and those streaks but the biggest thing for us is the next game.”
Facing off once again six weeks later, the gap between the two teams was obvious from the start. Out of the gates, Olean began asserting themselves on both sides of the ball, using a full-court-press to disrupt any A-L rhythm on defense while looking for shots from deep to build an early lead.
Early and often, those shots from beyond the arc fell, including two from Joe Mest in the opening minutes. Along with their efficient shooting, Olean’s crisp passing and playmaking unlocked fast breaks in the open court and lanes to the basket in the half court. After the dust of the first three and a half minutes settled, the Huskies had amassed a 13-3 advantage.
“This was a strange week with Monday being an off day and then Tuesday being a snow day, no practice obviously. I told the guys that I even felt a little uneasy coming in here,” said Kolasinski. “Not that we hadn’t had a good week of practice, but I just felt that we needed to come out with a lot of energy and intensity. I think they absolutely listened to that and absolutely accomplished that.”
Meanwhile, the Gators’ own offense struggled to get off the ground. Facing oppressive pressure the entire length of the floor, A-L routinely gave up turnovers which then added to Olean’s lead. As shots failed to hit their mark, the Gators eventually resorted to their physicality as they leaned into contact in an effort to chip away at the deficit from the free throw line. Ultimately going 5-for-7 at the charity stripe in the first quarter, they looked up at a 24-11 margin after eight minutes of play.
The tide began to turn in the opening minutes of the second, albeit, slightly at best. While A-L tied on a tourniquet, the Huskies took their turn with turnover turmoil. Despite coming away with several defensive stops, including a sky-high swat from Connor Hogle on the Gators’ first possession, Olean gave the ball away three times in their first four touches. Luckily for them, A-L’s offense couldn’t take advantage of their opponents’ mistakes.
Turning their attention to jump shots, both inside and out, the Gators crashed up against an iron-tight seal around the rim. Although they were able to keep the Huskies off the scoreboard momentarily and find open and clean looks at the basket, their shots refused to fall.
As the half began to wind down, Olean managed to stop the bleeding and hold onto the ball, but made shots were still hard to come by. However, their relentless attack of the offensive glass gave way to second or third efforts. Unable to stop the Huskies from controlling the boards, A-L watched as the gap on the scoreboard ballooned to 17 as they headed back into the locker room.
After the intermission, the Huskies swiftly went to work at putting the game away for good. Continuing to emphasize ball and player movement, Olean’s offense outpaced the defense for uncontested looks at the rim. Taylor Teachman personally led the effort, tacking on six unanswered points to begin the second half. While A-L found a momentary burst from back-to-back 3-pointers from Tayden Margeson early in the quarter, their defense failed to find an answer for the Huskies, giving way to their momentum evaporating sooner rather than later.
Resuming their full-court-press, Olean dismantled the Gators’ rhythm by injecting hands in the passing lanes before turning several steals into points in transition. Coupled with their continued effort on the glass and attention to detail in their half-court sets, Olean ended the third quarter on top of a 18-point advantage.
Having a sizable, if not impenetrable, lead, the Huskies began to ease off the gas. Replacing their high-octane attack with a patient and conservative pace, they happily watched as the clock emptied. After a few minutes of preservation, Olean began substituting in their reserves, a move replicated on the Gators’ sidelines as the outcome was all but sealed.
Four Huskies carried the brunt of the work for Olean. Hitting four 3-pointers along the way, Mest led the Huskies in scoring with 21 points, followed by Teachman with 15, Mykel Rivera with 14 and Hogle with 12.
“It really makes me feel good to have four guys in double-digits, not just to have double-digits, but to show that, as a team, you can’t really focus on one guy, or even two guys,” said Kolasinski. “I think that’s going to be imperative to how far we can go this season. I think it can be accomplished when we play like tonight.”
For the Gators, Ryan Callen carried the torch with 13 points while Margeson ended with 12.
With just a handful of games left in the regular season, both squads are far from being ready to lay off the gas. Although they are still striving for constant improvement, the finish line for the Huskies and Gators lay in two different directions.
“Youth has been the story for us all year. We’re starting a freshman, two sophomores, a junior and a senior and everyone coming off the bench is an underclassmen with no varsity experience,” said Allegany-Limestone head coach Glenn Anderson. “We’re trying to get better in a league that’s really tough, where you don’t get a chance to feel like you’re improving even though you really are. I really think we’re seeing things in practice, things are starting to click and it’s just a matter of time before it starts showing up in games.”
AT ALLEGANY
Olean (75)
Mest 7 0-0 21, Teachman 7 1-1 15, Rivera 4 6-7 14, Hogle 6 0-0 12, Guenther 2 0-0 6, Bohdanowycz 2 1-2 5, Ruggles 1 0-0 2. Totals: 29 8-10 75
Allegany-Limestone (38)
Callen 6 1-3 13, Margeson 4 1-2 12, O’Brien 2 4-5 8, Owen 1 0-0 2, Wilczewski 0 1-2 1, Brady 0 1-2 1, Questa 0 1-2 1. Totals: 13 9-18 38
Olean 24 37 52 75
Allegany-Limestone 11 20 34 38
Three-point goals: OL (6) Mest 4, Guenther 2, A-L (3) Mageson 3; Total fouls: OL 16, A-L 8; Fouled out: None.
