Landon Franics leads charge as O-E outscores Huskies 30-8 in third quarter
By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
ALLEGANY, NY – In a tale of two halves, the Otto-Eldred boys’ basketball team washed away one of their worst game-opening performances with a eruption in the second half, defeating Olean 64-43.
Coming into the fourth game of the annual Joe DeCerbo Memorial Showcase, the Terrors and the Huskies had experienced very different seasons through five games. While O-E sat at 5-0, beating their challengers by an average score of 69-31, Olean had slumped to 1-4, the four losses coming consecutively.
“We talk a lot about finishing plays, making winning plays, not making losing plays. What it comes down to, with the exception of our first game of the year, we’ve played in really close games,” said Olean head coach Tim Kolasinski. “It’s really simple. We just have to clean a few things up. We’re right there and it’s tough because the guys want to get on the right side of the result but there’s no magic potion.”
Although having dramatically different numbers on their respective records, you wouldn’t have guessed it through the opening minutes of play.
Defense led the charge for both squads, starting with the Terrors forcing handfuls of turnovers in the first few minutes of the game. However, despite coming away with steals, O-E’s offense sputtered out of the gates. Leaning on their usual tactic of drowning teams with deep jumpers, they missed shot after shot. Even when punching through the paint for close looks at the rim, nothing dropped for the Terrors. Recording their longest scoring drought all season, O-E was withheld from the scoreboard for over five minutes.
“It was the holiday break. Not that we weren’t in the gym but we had a game snow-out on a Friday night, so we haven’t played in ten days. That’s part of it,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Derrick Francis. “We were competing on defense, we just weren’t making buckets.”
Meanwhile, the Huskies managed to tack on infrequent scores. Joe Mest opened the game with a drive to the rim, followed by a made jumper from Mykel Rivera two minutes later. Besides that, the rim didn’t favor Olean much more than O-E. Going into the second quarter, Olean held a 9-6 advantage.
The Terrors opened up the second with what would have been a momentum-building play. After a missed shot, Shene Thomas ripped down an offensive rebound before shaking off a defender on his way to an and-one opportunity. After converting the three-point play, O-E looked emboldened. However, Olean reciprocated on their next trip down the court, with Luca Quinn scoring the layup and free throw. Rather than the Terrors, Olean would use this as a springboard moment.
With O-E still missing the majority of their shots, the Huskies took advantage of the lull, sparking a 11-2 run that put them firmly in the driver seat. Following the and-one, they would knock down a pair of 3-pointers before Lorenzo Racana and Quinn would each score two more, putting Olean up 20-13 with two minutes remaining.
Seemingly scratching their heads in the midst of one of their worst first halves, the Terrors managed to catch a break late in the quarter. Following their first made 3-pointer – Manning Splain connected from deep just under the two-minute mark – O-E found life. Despite Olean retaliating with a Caedyn Tingley triple, the Terrors would end the first half on a 10-5 run, cutting the deficit on the scoreboard to just two points.
“I felt like in the first half in general, defensively we seemed to do a pretty good job of guarding the paint and forcing some tough looks and we did a really good job on the defensive boards,” said Kolasinski. “Offensively, we shared the ball. We got it moving and felt like we spaced things out and were able to take advantage of going to the rim a little bit.”
When push comes to shove, it’s always good to have someone who can push back harder. For the Terrors, that someone was Landon Francis. After scoring an uncharacteristically low two points in the first 16 minutes of play, he would take it upon himself to put O-E back in front.
Olean’s Luca Quinn gets smothered by two Terror defenders during the Huskies’ loss in the opening day of the Joe DeCerbo Memorial Showcase. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Starting the third quarter, the Terrors forced an Olean turnover before Landon Francis would earn a trip to the free throw line to tie the game. Following a Huskies miss, he would again force his way into the paint, coming away with another two points, another trip to the charity stripe and the Terrors’ first lead of the game. Knocking down a 3-pointer on the very next trip down the floor, it was apparent that there was blood in the water.
Over the next three minutes, O-E’s offense would explode. Hitting shots both inside and out, their initial 10-0 run would snowball into a 22-2 stretch that all but ended the game. The Huskies seemed helpless as nothing seemed to turn the tide. Shots refused to fall, passes became lazy and resulted in turnovers and their staunch defense just wasn’t enough to deter O-E’s jumpshots. At the end of the third quarter, the Terrors had outscored Olean 30-8, now sitting upon a 20-point advantage.
With the game already decided, the fourth quarter was just for show. Both teams, having accepted the outcome, went through the motions as the final eight minutes of play drained. Despite holding the Terrors in the first half, Olean couldn’t buck the trend, instead suffering their fifth consecutive loss of the season.
“I think that when we go back and look at this, we’re going to look at the first half and see what we can be. Then we’re going to look at that third quarter specifically and see how we can work on stemming the tide when things start getting away from us,” said Kolasinski. “That’s something that comes with experience. We have a little bit of experience back but Otto-Eldred has a lot of experience. That’s why they didn’t blink coming out of halftime.”
In the post-game honors, Tingley’s team-high 10 points earned him Olean’s Player of the Game award while Mest received the Sportsmanship award, scoring eight points in the loss.
For O-E, Thomas earned the Terrors’ Player of the Game honor, ending the game with 23 points. Splain, who scored 18 points, received the Sportsmanship award. Landon Francis was the third Terror to end in double-digit figures, tallying 16.
“This was Shene’s first (DeCerbo) start in four years because he finally got out of bed for a shootaround,” said Derrick Francis joked after the game. “When he’s the best player on the court, we don’t get beat.”
AT ALLEGANY
Otto-Eldred (64)
Thomas 8 5-7 23, Splain 6 2-2 18, Francis 4 7-10 16, Schenfield 3 0-2 7. Totals: 21 14-21 64
Olean (43)
Tingley 4 0-0 10, Quinn 3 3-3 9, Hoffman 4 0-0 8, Mest 3 0-0 8, Rivera 3 1-2 8. Totals: 17 4-5 43
Otto-Eldred 6 23 53 64
Olean 9 25 33 43
Three-point goals: O-E (8) Splain 4, Thomas 2, Francis, Schenfield, OL (5) Tingley 2, Mest 2, Rivera; Total fouls: O-E 12, OL 24; fouled out: Hoffman (OL).
