By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
ALLEGANY, NY – After a dramatic comeback on Friday, the Otto-Eldred boys’ basketball team closed out the Joe DeCerbo Memorial Showcase undefeated, blowing out Cuba-Rushford 77-46.
A day prior, the Terrors’ were uncharacteristically slow to start, scoring just six points in the opening quarter. On Saturday, however, they made sure that wouldn’t happen again. After allowing two baskets early, the Terrors shut down the Rebels for the next five and a half minutes with high traps and rampant pressure on ball handlers. On offense, they got to work early, sinking handfuls of 3-pointers as well as dominating the paint and offensive glass. Following a 15-0 run, O-E had built a 11-point advantage after the initial eight minutes of play.
“We’re older than them. (C-R’s) going to be a really good program coming up, but honestly, it was a lot like what we faced four years ago when Allegany-Limestone locked us up and we didn’t have anything for them,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Derrick Francis. “That’s what I thought we could do to them and we executed well.”
Despite finding results from their jump shooters, the Terrors insisted on forcing the ball down low throughout the second quarter. Putting the ball in their athletic forwards’ hands, Shene Thomas attacked the basket for tough fought scores that resulted in extra points at the line. Holding C-R at bay with persistent pressure, the Terrors ran up 10 unanswered points, stretching the lead to 21 with just under four minutes remaining.
“I wanted to score against (Cuba’s) height. They’re athletic and taller than us and it showed a lot tonight that we won the boards,” said Francis.
Although they were able to stop the drought with a couple of trips to the free throw line, the Rebels weren’t able to sink a field goal until the two minute mark as turnovers piled up – C-R totaled five giveaways in the second quarter. Scoring just six points before half, the Rebels found themselves down 31-18 after two quarters.
“Our defense comes down to communicating. We have kids that talk,” said Derrick Francis. “We can talk, we can get after it and when you get after it, good things happen.”
Davey Schenfield capitalizes on a point-blank opportunity during the Terrors win on Saturday. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Despite a visibly renewed energy on defense, the Rebels couldn’t slow – let alone stop – the Terrors. Using crisp ball movement, pesky hands on defense and a barrage of shots both inside and out, O-E was in full form. Opening with a 9-0 run, their scoring stretch would only be momentarily disrupted before mounting another run, this time 12-2.
For C-R, they seemingly abandoned any attempts to venture into the paint, instead relying on their shooters to chip away at the lead. They did not and with one quarter to go, faced a mountainous 26-point deficit.
With the game already out of reach, the final eight minutes bled from the clock without much fight. O-E continued to press the issue, expanding their lead with a flurry of offense before swapping to their reserves with two minutes left. After another dominating win, they improved their undefeated stretch to seven consecutive wins.
Landon Francis and Manning Splain each scored 25 points in the win, with Splain earning O-E’s Player of the Game award. Thomas scored 17 while Hunter App recorded six, also earning the Sportsmanship honors.
For the Rebels, Carter Brown tallied 22 points in the loss, earning his team’s Player of the Game award while Dean Frank won the Sportsmanship award.
“We’re still learning here. This team is different than last year. I think there’s a lot of things that we’re better at, as we should be,” said Derrick Francis. “There’s things that we miss obviously, but other than that, we never look back. We want to finish the story and keep going. That’s how you build programs.”
AT ALLEGANY
Otto-Eldred (77)
Splain 10 3-3 25, Francis 5 11-11 25, Thomas 7 3-4 17, D. App 2 0-0 6, D. Schenfield 1 1-2 3, Obenrader 1 0-0 3. Totals: 26 18-20 77
Cuba-Rushford (46)
Brown 7 6-7 22, Ricketts 1 4-6 6, Roe 2 1-2 5, Breckenridge 2 0-0 5, Getz 1 0-0 3, Sleggs 0 3-4 3, Deck 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 14-19 46
Otto-Eldred 18 31 52 77
Cuba-Rushford 7 18 26 40
Three-point goals: O-E (9) Francis 4, Splain 2, App 2, Obenrader, C-R (4) Brown 2, Getz, Breckenridge; Total fouls: O-E 17, C-R 17; fouled out: Breckenridge (C-R).
