By SPENCER BATES
ALLEGANY — Trailing for the grand majority of three quarters only to complete a miraculous comeback attempt was not the way the Salamanca boys basketball team envisioned sealing sole ownership of the CCAA Div. I title.
Nevertheless, that is exactly what happened and according to the Warriors’ head coach Adam Bennett, a punch to the mouth in a heated environment was exactly what his team needed.
“Honestly, in my nine years here, that was one of the most intense games we’ve ever played,” Bennett said. “Give all the credit in the world to Glenn (Anderson). I thought (Allegany-Limestone) came out with a good game plan, they played physical, they were aggressive … that’s the type of basketball that you get in a Regional game. They’ve got a lot of pride and we have so much respect for their program. I thought all five of their guys on the floor at any given time played extremely hard, and they punched us in the mouth. But, you know what? I keep going back to the fact that these are championship-level kids and what I love is that in 32 minutes, there was never any panic. We had plenty of opportunities to do it, and we didn’t.”
Salamanca’s 55-52 win over Allegany-Limestone was far from guaranteed throughout the game’s first 24 minutes and it was clear from the jump that the latter wanted to settle the score after enduring a thrashing in the reverse fixture back on Jan. 9. After some early back-and-forth, it was the Gators that struck a vein of success first with a 14-0 run in the first quarter that consisted of four consecutive made 3-pointers. One of which, drained by Carson Kwiatkowski, saw him become A-L’s new all-time program leader in made 3-pointers.
“We thought he broke his arm,” Anderson said. “We thought we lost him for the season. … But to be able to get him back, and to be able to get him that, I don’t know how much (he cares), but for as hard as he works, I cared a lot to get that for him.”
Allegany-Limestone’s Collin Forrest (5) fights through contact for a layup against Salamanca. Forrest led the Gators with 18 points against the Warriors. (Spencer Bates)
The hosts’ early offensive success came as a result of a number of corrections and well executed set plays according to Anderson. In the first meeting between the sides, Salamanca’s press wreaked havoc on A-L and was the main reason for its downfall. It still had some trouble with turnovers, but none that saw to its ultimate detriment early on.
“It was marginally better,” Anderson said of his team’s ability to break the press. “We still had 20 turnovers. You can’t turn the ball over 20 times and expect to win. But, I mean, we were expecting a lot of our guards.”
The other aspect of the Gators offense which led to its early scoring was its ball movement which, oftentimes resulted in a big bucket from Collin Forrest.
“Our ball movement was so much better,” Anderson said. “I mean, from the last time we played (Salamanca), we know they’re going to double Carson, we know they’re going to bring two guys over and we did a much better job this time of swinging the ball off of that, making one more pass and attacking. That’s what led to Collin’s buckets.”
And after suffering blow after blow on the defensive end it could have been easy for the Warriors to fold, especially playing in an intense environment on the road. But Bennett saw no signs of slowing down. Even after a number of “easy” attempts fell wayward, he saw a resilience from his team, who lost Cory Holleran to a shoulder injury in the first half.
“I thought it was a result of (A-L’s) good defense,” Bennett said of his team’s offensive struggles. “I thought they sped us up. They met us on weak-side cuts, they did a good job of walling up on the inside, they made it tough in there. But we finally settled down. We pride ourselves on trying to play fundamental and fast. We had to play a little faster tonight. The fundamental part ultimately caught up. But I give (A-L) the credit for that. I thought it was really good defense.”
Salamanca’s Avery Brown (20) puts up a shot while falling away after enduring contact down low. (Spencer Bates)
But this was nothing the Warriors didn’t expect from the Gators, who managed to disrupt the game plan they entered the affair with effectively.
But where Bennett credits his players is in their ability to learn and implement adjustments on the go.
“When you go through the course of a 20-game season with the schedule that we play, teams are going to force you to win in different ways. … I think tonight, (A-L) packed it in, but they took our pressure game away. I thought the zone slowed the game down a little bit. They wanted to try to make it a half-court game. … But when it mattered most, we found it. We just pride ourselves on being so well-conditioned and playing so hard and so tough. I’m just really proud of them, because if you want to go through a playoff run, if you want to get to where we want to get to, you have to be able to win in different ways and you have to be able to adjust on the fly. Our guys adjusted tonight and did a good job with it and it paid off in the end.”
Those adjustments led to, at first, a slow crawl back into the game, before an eventual eruption of two-way basketball in the fourth quarter, in which Salamanca allowed just one field goal and won by a 20-5 margin.
“We didn’t do a ton of things differently,” Anderson said of his team’s low-scoring fourth quarter. “I think we got worn out a little bit in that fourth quarter. … But that’s a (Salamanca) group that’s been through a lot. Bennett does a great job. They got a couple buckets off quick-hitters that they needed late and, quite honestly, we missed opportunities … late in the fourth to extend that lead.”
The win was not only important to Bennett because it secured the Warriors’ third straight league title, but also because it put on display the true colors of the team. The way in which they showed up in the big moments, grew together when things were at their most dire and crossed the line together is what stood out to him as his side rejoiced in the immediate aftermath.
“It was a microcosm of our players and how hard they work,” Bennett said. “We’ve been blessed with great players. They care, they work really hard, there’s never a day that we have to tell them to go harder and I think that’s because of the culture that the guys before them built. So, that league championship is a result of the work that they put in. They didn’t get caught up in the noise. I don’t know how many people would have expected what they’re doing, but they did and … we’ve never stopped working hard. We’re not perfect, sometimes it’s ugly, but we find ways.”
Allegany-Limestone’s Carson Kwiatkowski (13) draws contact while putting up a floater. (Spencer Bates)
Now, the next accolade on the table for the Warriors is an undefeated league season. A goal they can take one step closer to completing on Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. when they host Falconer for their penultimate CCAA Div. I game.
As for the Gators, they will look to respond in their Feb. 11 game against Olean at home. Tip-off for that game is set for 7:30 p.m. as well.
AT ALLEGANY
Salamanca (55)
Isaac 8 6-9 24, Brown 3 2-2 8, Holleran 2 2-2 7, Herrick 2 3-4 7, Crouse 2 0-0 5, Bradley 1 2-4 4. Totals: 18 15-21 55
Allegany-Limestone (52)
Forrest 6 4-5 18, Callen 4 2-2 12, Kwiatkowski 3 1-2 10, Straub 2 3-4 7, Strade 2 0-0 5. Totals: 17 10-13 52
Sala. 11 24 35 55
A-L 18 33 47 52Three-point goals: Sala. 4 (Isaac 2, Crouse, Holleran), A-L 8 (Kwiatkowski 3, Forrest 2, Callen 2, Strade); Total fouls: Sala. 13, A-L 18; fouled out: Strade (A-L).
