By SPENCER BATES
ALLEGANY — The key word Olean boys basketball coach Tim Kolasinski used when describing his team’s 51-36 win over Allegany-Limestone: execution.
Through 2.5 quarters of play, there was virtually nothing to split the Huskies and Gators. But at the end of the third quarter, the former connected on the game’s first big punch closing the frame with a 7-0 run, the longest the game had seen up to that point.
Now, it would have been one thing to just score the points, but it was the ability of Olean to suppress any sort of A-L response that highlighted the affair.
“We told the guys coming in, anytime they play Allegany-Limestone, it’s going to be a battle,” Kolasinski said. “There was not a lot of scoring in that first half, a lot of really solid defense on both sides, a lot of really physical play. But as we got into that second half … execution, that’s exactly what I would say about our offense at times. I think we showed things that we haven’t showed in any other game this year.”
Offensively, the main reason the Huskies were in the game in the first place was thanks to Dominic Giovine. His 17 points and numerous offensive and defensive rebounds provided the answer to A-L’s Carson Kwiatkowski, who led the Gators with a team-high 19 points.
Allegany-Limestone’s Collin Forrrest (5) pushes through contact for a layup. (Spencer Bates)
His ability to prevent the hosts from getting second-chance opportunities and, on the other end of the floor, secure those exact chances for the guests, were pivotal to their success.
“This is Dom’s first year at Olean, he hadn’t played organized basketball in a couple years,” Kolasinski said. “He’s a great kid, obviously a big athlete, great motor, but very raw. There was a lot of teaching points going on and I even joked with him today at the end of the game. I said, ‘If you don’t be careful, people are going to start thinking you’re a basketball player.’ He has worked to the point where it’s really almost tough to take him off the floor because he’s getting boards at both ends and that’s obviously limiting their second, third chances, and it’s giving us those second and third chances.”
Allegany-Limestone coach Glenn Anderson was relatively OK with his team’s defense on the night, save for the effort he saw on the boards.
“We got to do a better job on the glass,” Anderson said. “I mean, (Giovine) killed us. I don’t know how many offensive rebounds he had, but I’m guessing it’s pretty close to double digits. I don’t know what he averages, but I know it’s not 19. We got to do a much better job than that. Defensively, I thought we were okay outside of giving enough offensive rebounds and easy buckets to him.”
But what didn’t help the A-L offense was its relative inefficiency and struggles seeing the ball through the hoop. More often than not, the Gators found their trips up the floor taking almost no time at all, getting a shot up early in the shot clock.
Anderson noted that he emphasized exactly that point at halftime, and stressed the need to see his players get downhill more often and either get buckets down low or get to the free throw line.
“We took a lot of quick shots,” Anderson said. “That was something we talked about at halftime, stressing getting to the rim, getting to the basket, trying to get to the free throw line. We shot two free throws all night. It’s tough to win games doing that, when you’re not putting pressure on the rim consistently. And when you don’t shoot well from 3, you’re not going to score a lot of points.”
Olean’s Mykel Rivera (33) fights through contact from Allegany-Limestone’s Caleb Strade (35). (Spencer Bates)
Giovine was aided in the scoring front by Mykel Rivera, who scored a team-high 18 points, and in the eyes of Kolasinski, really found his role as a leader in the recent games Olean was without Luca Quinn and Caedyn Tingley.
“We talked about this as a team a couple weeks ago,” Kolasinski said. “We said, ‘What was the difference coming into this year as opposed to last year?’ And one of my juniors, Joe Mest, hit it on the head. He said, ‘expectations.’ These guys know they have expectations on them. (And one of the things) we try to talk about is that you don’t just get better because you got a year older. I think Mykel has really taken the challenge and he has tried, every day in practice, to get better and better, because he knows the player that he is and he knows the player that he wants to be. He’s really showing it on a day-in and day-out basis.”
The win put a bow on the CCAA Div. I season for the Huskies, who locked up a second-place finish in the league with the win. But the result has much larger implications than just a league victory over a crosstown rival. According to Kolasinski, a performance like the one his team put together on the night can provide them with momentum as the postseason looms.
“What we tell the guys is that confidence comes from demonstrated ability,” Kolasinski said. “In other words, if you’ve done it before, then you know that you can do it. There’s things that we’ve talked about a lot this season, things we’ve done sometimes, but we haven’t been consistent. So for the guys to come out tonight … and to do that against a very good team … is really going to give us that demonstrated ability and confidence.”
Allegany-Limestone’s Carson Kwiatkowski (13) avoids Olean’s Dominic Giovine (22) at the rim for a layup. (Spencer Bates)
Olean’s next game will be a non-league affair at home against Williamsville East at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 13.
As for Allegany-Limestone, it will wrap up its CCAA Div. I season in its next game, on the road at Fredonia on Feb. 12. Tip-off there is set for 7:30 p.m.
AT ALLEGANY
Olean (51)
Rivera 4 10-12 18, Giovine 8 1-6 17, Mest 2 0-0 5, Hoffman 2 0-0 4, Quinn 1 0-0 3, Tingley 1 0-0 3, Bohdanowycz 0 1-2 1. Totals: 18 12-20 51
Allegany-Limestone (36)
Kwiatkowski 8 0-0 19, Forrest 3 0-0 7, G. Straub 2 0-0 4, Callen 1 1-2 3, Strade 1 0-0 3. Totals: 15 1-2 36
OL 10 17 34 51
A-L 10 17 27 36Three-point goals: OL 3 (Quinn, Tingley, Mest), A-L 5 (Kwiatkowski 3, Forrest, Strade); Total fouls: OL 11, A-L 15; fouled out: G. Straub (A-L).
