Quinn, Huskies pull out clutch win against Hillbillies

By HUNTER O. LYLE

lyleoleanstar@gmail.com

OLEAN, NY – Everything came down to the final minute.

After beating Fredonia by 24 in their first matchup, the Olean boys’ basketball team now had their backs against the wall in the second showing. Fighting back-and-forth through four quarters, the entire game boiled down to the final 20 seconds.

The Hillbillies, who were down by one, had the ball and a chance to settle themselves with a timely timeout. All the Huskies had to do was defend for just under the length of a shot clock. But Fredonia was surging, especially from beyond the arc. Leaving even just a few inches of breathing room could be disastrous.

With the game potentially on the line, Luca Quinn stepped to the sidelines to defend the inbound pass. Perhaps it was the pressure of the moment or just a simple miscommunication, but regardless, a bad Fredonia pass to empty space in the backcourt gave Quinn a chance to solidify the win with a steal and subsequent score.

After 32 hard-pressed minutes, the Huskies had come out on top, beating Fredonia 63-59.

While this game had come down to the wire, the first matchup wasn’t nearly as close. Just under a month ago, the Huskies traveled to face the Hillbillies in hostile territory. Once there, Olean torched the home team, winning 71-47 in what would kick off a six-game win streak for the Huskies. However, Olean head coach Tim Kolasinksi knew it was closer to a fluke than a statement victory.

“It was just a case of us coming out and hitting on all cylinders that night. Even with a little bit of foul trouble it didn’t really slow us down and I think we took them by surprise a little bit,” said Kolasinksi. “We definitely weren’t going to take them by surprise tonight.”

His prediction proved to be right in the early goings. In the first quarter, both teams looked to plant their respective flag in the paint. For Olean, that meant crashing the offensive boards over and over again for second chance points. From their bigs to their guards, everyone chipped in towards cleaning the glass – in total, Olean would grab five offensive rebounds which produced eight points in the first quarter.

Dominic Giovine connects on a shot in close during Olean’s ninth win of the season. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle

For the Hillbillies, their inside scoring instead came from head-down drives through traffic, fighting for every inch that put them closer to the rim. Although they were able to get looks in close, their strategy proved to be less effective and efficient than Olean’s and after the first eight minutes, the Huskies held a 20-14 lead on the scoreboard.

Fredonia’s offense would kick itself into gear in the second quarter, starting with a 6-2 run to open the period. Although Olean was able to counter with scores of their own, the Hillbillies responded to every basket, battling tick-for-tack with neither team gaining more than a two-point lead.

While Fredonia initially continued to probe into the paint, the Hillbillies began looking for points from long distance in the final three minutes. Cashing in on two long-range shots late, Fredonia tied the game at 31 with just over a minute to go. However, Olean closed out the half strong with four unanswered points, including a buzzer beating layup from Dominic Giovine. At the break, Olean led 35-31.

“(Fredonia) is a team that switches defenses fairly often. In the first half, they played a little bit of 2-3, some 3-2, even a little bit of 1-3-1 and actually threw in some box-and-one. I was really happy to see our guys execute,” said Kolasinski of his team’s first-half performance. “We wanted to go out and not get slowed down mentally by the changing defenses. Sometimes we’re not in the perfect offense or perfect play, but we don’t stop playing through our principals and I thought guys did that tonight.”

To open the second half, it would be Olean’s turn to go on a run. Starting with an inside score from Mykel Rivera, the Huskies would draw their lead out to eight with a 6-2 run in the first two minutes. However, while Olean would hold the momentum early, Fredonia would grab a hold of it late.

Their hot shooting hands had yet to cool off and after weathering the early storm, the Hillbillies responded with a barrage of jumpers. Looking to score from long range, they knocked down three triples as they mounted a 13-5 run that tied the game with just over three minutes left in the quarter. Maintaining their new-found footing with stellar defense, Fredonia would take their first lead of the game since 2-0 with a steal and score with just 40 seconds left.

With just eight minutes left, the Hillbillies clung to a 50-48 lead.

“We knew that they had one really good shooter and a couple other guys that can make shots and it seemed like everybody was hitting shots for a while there,” said Kolasinski. “We kind of (entered the fourth quarter with) the philosophy of if we keep playing hard, eventually, hopefully, they’ll cool off a little bit.”

As the pressure mounted, both teams cooled off late. Points were hard to come by but when they arrived, they were instantly answered on the other end of the court. At the four-minute mark, the game was still knotted and while they would continue to score tick-for-tack, another 3-pointer from Fredonia gave them a two-point lead with 1:30 remaining.

Rivera would sink a shot from the post before Quinn went 1-for-2 at the free throw line, giving Olean a one-point edge with 20 seconds left. They had the lead but no one had the momentum. One clutch steal would change that and give the Huskies their eighth win in the past nine games.

Four Huskies ended in double-digit scoring during the win. Rivera would lead the way with 18 points while Giovine followed closely behind with 15. Quinn and Joe Mest contributed 12 points each.

Looking ahead, Olean has four games left on their schedule. First, they will host Southwestern on Friday, Feb. 7 before traveling to Allegany-Limestone four days later – both league matchups. Then, they will face Williamsville East on Thursday, Feb. 13 before ending their season on the road against Pioneer the following Thursday.

“This sounds very cliche but I really believe in taking things one step at a time. I just want to focus on ‘are we getting a little bit better every day in practice? Is that showing a little bit in the next game?’ That’s always going to be our goal,” said Kolansinski. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that obviously we want to secure a few more league wins and give ourselves the best positioning that we possibly can.”