By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — The No. 7 seed Salamanca boys basketball team (11-10) secured victory in its Section 6 Class B1 Pre-Quarterfinal matchup against No. 10 seed JFK (4-17).
However, the Warriors’ 65-49 win on Feb. 20 was not secured by playing the way that they would have preferred. According to head coach Adam Bennett, that came as a result of over-eagerness, overthinking and a lack of trust.
“We’re not a young team, but we’re an inexperienced team when it comes to everything that we’ve done this year,” Bennett said. “For most of our guys, that was their first minute in a playoff game and I thought that was disappointing. We talk all the time about just trusting the reps and letting it rip. … We have guys that want to do this so bad, they want to win so bad that they overthink. When that happens, we’re slower off the ball. … But, we found a way. Payton (Bradley), I thought, stepped up in the second half. Carlton (Farmer) hit some good shots. It was just one of those nights where they weren’t going to go away, but we have to find a different level. And that was the challenge that we gave them.”
The Warriors had a considerable amount of turnovers, but a significant portion of those were not caused by any pressure from the Bears’ defense. They were live ball turnovers that came on the back of wayward passes away from the basket. And every time they got a hand on a panicked pass, it meant fast break points the other way for the visitors.
“Those are the worst turnovers, because not only are we turning the ball over, (the other team is getting) run outs and we’re fouling,” Bennett said. “I think it’s about wanting to make a play, but not just trusting the reps. We talked a lot about pass fakes against their zone and trying to move the defense. We didn’t see a lot of that. … We try to rely on our fundamentals. We work a lot on our fundamentals. And we got to get back to that.”
Salamanca’s Dominick Hill (4) puts up a 3-pointer against JFK. Hill scored five points for the Warriors in their win over the Bears. (Spencer Bates)
But even when the Salamanca offense was able to get the better of JFK, there were struggles finishing around the rim. As for this, Bennett admitted his players were getting too far ahead of themselves. Before the ball was in the hoop his players’ minds were already on what was going to happen next. And there is a fine line between being proactive and finishing the job.
“Our eyes weren’t right,” Bennett said. “On layups, our eyes aren’t on the corner of the box. Payton (Bradley) had a few early where, with his little baby hook, he’s hooking it before his head’s turning around. We wanted to dictate the speed of this game. But, especially offensively, there’s such a thing as playing a little too fast. We have to be quick, but not in a hurry. We have to be fundamental with it.”
Those mistakes on the offensive end then led to struggles on defense. Points in transition went in the favor of JFK, who also got the benefit of a number of instances where Salamanca faltered on defensive rotations. This led to the hosts conceding a number of open shot attempts.
What frustrated Bennett on the defensive front was that, again, they got away from their identity and failed to communicate in crucial moments.
“When we communicate, we’re a really good defense,” Bennett said.”But again, sometimes you get so much into your own head. It’s not for a lack of effort. … I just said to the guys, at the end of the day, this has got to be like a practice. We practice on this floor every day, and when we practice and we’re in that gym, you can hear us down the hall. You can hear us in the other wing of the school, talking and communicating. When we get to that, where we’re not thinking and just trusting where we are, then we can play free.”
But for all the things that didn’t go smoothly, there were some considerable improvements made following the first half.
Payton Bradley lived in the paint and recorded a game-high 24 points. Carlton Farmer nailed four 3-pointers for 12 points and Payton Maybee found some space on the interior that saw him finish with 10 points to his name.
Salamanca’s Payton Maybee (14) rises up for a mid-range floater against JFK. Maybee scored 10 points for the Warriors in their win over the Bears. (Spencer Bates)
After the team’s last game of the regular season, a hard-fought win over Southwestern, Bennett said he wanted his team to get addicted to that feeling of victory. But following the win against JFK, he had to remind them that feeling does not come easily, especially when they don’t use what they’ve focused on all season to get to where they are.
“What changes, other than it’s a pre-quarterfinal playoff game?” Bennett asked. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the title of the game is or what point of the season it is. It’s our five against their five. So, I want to get addicted to that feeling of playing as hard as we possibly can and trusting in our teammates and the coaches and everything that we work on every day. Win or lose, as long as we do that, I’m fine. So, we won the game. We won it by double figures, but we felt like we could have played a lot better, and teaching lessons out of a win is the best thing ever.”
With the win, Salamanca moves on to face No. 2 seed Olmsted (13-7) in the Section 6 Class B1 Quarterfinals. That game is set for 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 at Olmsted High School.
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AT SALAMANCA
JFK (49)
Jowziak 5 0-2 14, Diaz 2 8-8 13, Daq. Ford 4 2-6 10, Krotz 3 1-2 10, Das. Ford 1 0-0 2. Totals: 15 11-18 49
Salamanca (65)
Bradley 11 2-4 24, Farmer 4 0-0 12, Maybee 5 0-0 10, Taylor 4 1-2 9, Hill 2 1-2 5, Ghani 1 1-2 3, Seeley 1 0-0 2. Totals: 28 5-10 65
JFK 9 23 34 49
Sala. 19 31 46 65
Three-point goals: JFK 8 (Jowziak 4, Krotz 3, Diaz), Sala. 4 (Farmer 4); Total fouls: JFK 15, Sala. 18; Fouled out: Ghani (Sala.).
