By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
ALLEGANY, NY – Having just 6.3 seconds left on the clock, the Salamanca boys’ basketball team was up against a wall. After a second half surge from Wellsville erased the Warriors lead, they now found themselves down one point and needing a miracle to pull out a win.
Forced to intentionally foul, Tyler Vogel stepped to the free throw line for the Lions. He had led Wellsville’s charge in the second half, accumulating a game-high 25 points. However, the Lions leading scorer blanked on both free throws, giving Salamanca the ball and another chance. But after pulling down a rebound, a full-court pass to Maddox Isaac landed out of bounds and now with just one second remaining, there was little hope for the Warriors.
After a Wellsville timeout, the suspense was palpable. As the Lions inbounded the ball, Salamanca’s Avery Brown streaked through the passing lane, intercepting the pass just beyond the 3-point line. In a literal split second, Brown heaved up a shot that arched towards the rim, only to bounce off back iron.
Despite nearly pulling off the impossible, the Warriors’ final game of the Joe DeCerbo Holiday Showcase came with a heartbreaking loss, 66-65.
“I thought we played really hard to give ourselves a chance at the end but the game wasn’t about the end, it was about our lack of defense in the third,” said Salamanca head coach Adam Bennett. “It’s a good lesson. It’s a one-point loss, non-league game against a quality opponent and we have to learn from it and get better.”
Flash back to the first quarter and the Warriors came with energy straight off the tip – literally. After the initial touch, Brown collected the ball and scored two steps later. On their next possession, Maddox Isaac ripped down an offensive rebound for two second chance points. However, in the ensuing two minutes, Wellsville responded with a run of their own, sparking a 11-2 scoring stretch that came with a mixed bag of inside drives and perimeter shooting.
Despite a slight gut punch early, Salamanca didn’t blink. Rather, they honed in their aggression on both sides of the ball. Pushing the pace on offense with long outlet passes and coast-to-coast sprints on one end while implementing a vigorous full-court-press that produced consistent steals on the other, the Warriors put themselves firmly in the driver seat, taking back the lead following a Corey Holleran steal and Brown run out.
Unlike earlier, Salamanca refused to let off the throttle, scoring in total 14 unanswered points before the end of the quarter. After the first eight minutes of play, they had built a 22-11 lead.
“These guys are experienced so (the back-and-forth early) is nothing new. They’ve played in a ton of big games and at that point you lean on experience,” said Salamanca head coach Adam Bennett. “We were just trying to execute to the best of our ability.”
Although they came out hot in the first, the Warriors seemingly lost their groove in the second. Despite still being able to find sporadic scoring to maintain their lead, Salamanca’s offense became clunky and sloppy, producing turnovers and forced shots late in the shot clock.
Wellsville, on the other hand, began setting up shop in the paint. Between cutting bigs and solid box outs for offensive rebounds, the Lions tacked on points on the majority of their possessions from scores at point blank range. However, their effectiveness on offense failed to translate to defense and heading into halftime, Salamanca still led by double-digits.
Emboldened by their success down low in the previous quarter, Wellsville made a concerted effort to pick up where they left off. Continuing to find ways to the rim by way of post ups, pick-and-rolls or out-maneuvering the Warriors for rebounds, the Lions continued to dominate inside. While Salamanca was able to keep up on the scoreboard initially, it was clear who had the momentum.
Corey Holleran cuts to the basket for a floater during the Warriors’ loss to Wellsville in the final game of the Joe DeCerbo Holiday Showcase. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Late in the period, a flurry of Wellsville points that included two 3-pointers and a steal-and-score finished the comeback. With just over two minutes remaining, the game was knotted at 45. While the Warriors would escape the quarter with the lead thanks to a made 3-pointer from Brown and four points from Jacob Herrick, they knew the fourth quarter would be a challenge.
“We didn’t play well in the second half defensively. Our identity for the last several years has been defense and rebounding and our defense in the third quarter was very poor,” said Bennett. “They were able to get to the basket whenever they wanted and we pride ourselves on not allowing that to happen.”
Both teams would come out firing in the final quarter of play. In a game of runs, each squad would find a hot streak only to have the other retaliate in the minutes that followed. The Lions continued to use a two-man game in the halfcourt to find looks inside while the Warriors’ leaned on their speed and agility to create opportunities for mid-range jumpers and athletic drives to the rim.
Just before the final minute, an 8-4 run by the Lions gave them the lead, albeit, by a single point. A Warrior’s turnover immediately after would stretch the deficit to four, forcing Salamanca to burn 40 seconds off the clock in an effort to bring it back to a one-possession game – Herrick sank a layup to make it to 66-65 with 22 seconds left. After an unsuccessful Wellsville full-court heave that turned the ball back to Salamanca, the Warriors missed a would-be game-winning layup. Now, with 6.3 seconds left, the game hung in the balance.
Despite getting two lucky breaks, Salamanca suffered their first loss of the season and first loss since the NYPHSAA State semifinals.
Scoring a team-high 20 points, Brown earned the Warriors’ Player of the Game honors. Herrick ended with 19 points while Corey Holleran finished with 10. Peyton Bradley won the Sportsmanship award for Salamanca, also scoring seven points in the loss.
“We’ve shown spurts of being a really good team. We’ve got three wins over quality opponents, we’re 2-0 in the league and we have played at times very good defense,” said Bennett. “We did not today and so the challenge for these guys is we have to get back to work and make sure we become better defensively before we get back on the court.
We always talk about how we want to be playing our best basketball in February and March and we have a long way to go,” said Bennett. “So we have to keep working and getting better every day.”
AT ALLEGANY
Wellsville (66)
Vogel 9 6-9 25, Green 6 0-0 12, Grover 5 0-0 11, Howard 5 0-2 10, Cowburn 2 0-0 5, Germain-Tardieu 1 0-0 3. Totals: 28 6-13 66
Salamanca (65)
Brown 9 1-2 20, Herrick 7 5-5 19, Holleran 5 0-2 10, Bradley 3 1-2 7, Isaac 2 1-2 6, Crouse 0 3-4 3. Totals: 26 11-17 65
Wellsville 11 25 51 66
Salamanca 22 35 52 65
Three-point goals: WL (4) Cowburn, Grover, Vogel, Germain-Tardieu, SA (2) Isaac, Brown; Total fouls: WL 17, SA 15; fouled out: None.
