By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
PORTVILLE, NY – After erasing their shortcomings in the first three quarters with a surge in the fourth, the Portville boys’ basketball team’s comeback fell flat in overtime, losing to Silver Creek 64-56.
After losing to the Panthers in their first matchup on Friday, Jan. 24, the Knights came ready to play for the second showing. Off the tip, Silver Creek pulled the rug out from under Portville with a rapid fire offense centered around Brady Eick. Finding the ball as a recipient of drive-and-dishes, Eick knocked down four consecutive 3-pointers as they quickly assembled a massive lead. The Panthers, on the other hand, struggled to find their footing.
Between missed layups, missed free throws and an inability to keep Silver Creek off the offensive glass, Portville found themselves down double-digits early. Scoring their first field goal midway through the period – a pick-and-roll score from Chase Armstrong – the Panthers looked up at a 20-5 lead after the first eight minutes.
“We knew he was a good shooter. We talked about it in the locker room but we just didn’t get out on him early,” said Portville head coach Tom Yanetsko. “I just told the guys to have faith in themselves, to work hard and it’ll come.”
Weathering a gut punch early, Portville began to bounce back in the second quarter. Despite allowing a Knight score in the opening minute, the Panthers would hold them virtually scoreless for the next few. In the meantime, Portville would finally take strides to polish off their early blemishes. With Aidan DeFazio knocking down a pair of triples and Armstrong and Reese Benson contributing within the perimeter, Portville sparked 10 unanswered points to cut the lead down to single digits.
However, after a four minute drought, the Knights finally broke the seal with two made shots from the free throw line. From there, Silver Creek grabbed a hold of the momentum with back-to-back steals and a 12-3 run to finish out the half, rebuilding their lead to 14.
“We’ve (struggled with consistency) all year. We go on runs and then the kids have mental errors,” said Yanetsko. “We’ve gotten better with it but I attribute that to them being young, getting excited, getting frustrated with themselves. But I’d take this group anywhere right now. They work hard.”
Chase Armstrong shoots from within the arc during Portville’s loss to the Knights on Tuesday. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Portville showed glimpses of their earlier run in the third quarter, but couldn’t string successful possessions together for the majority of the third quarter. With Silver Creek focusing on their work inside with head-down drives replacing their barrages of 3-pointers, the gap on the scoreboard began to swell. With the pressure mounting, the Panthers began forcing shots up from beyond the arc but to no avail.
Despite narrowly outscoring the Knights 14-11, Portville still faced a double-digit deficit heading into the final quarter of play.
In the early moments of the fourth, it seemed as if Portville’s comeback hopes were a lost cause. To start the period, Silver Creek once again got hot from outside, hitting back-to-back triples to grow the lead to 15 within the first minute and a half. Even when the Panthers did manage to tack on points, the Knights responded on the next trip down the court.
However, with just a few minutes wiped off the clock, the Panthers found their long-awaited momentum change. Starting with an Armstrong offensive rebound and subsequent Peyton Carter triple, Portville launched another hot streak. Executing on both sides of the ball as well as both sides of the 3-point line, the Panthers slowly chipped away at the deficit while keeping Silver Creek scoreless.
A made, and very contested, mid-range jumper from DeFazio cut the lead to two points before Armstrong tied the game with an up-and-under post maneuver. With just 18 seconds left on the clock, all Portville had to do was defend one more possession. After forcing a miss, they had ridden their wave to overtime.
“We had the momentum after tying it up. I went into the huddle and told them, ‘it’s up to you guys now. Play with your heart, give it all you got,’” said Yanetsko. “If it doesn’t go our way, it doesn’t go our way but you can never say we didn’t try our best.”
Coming down the stretch, the Panthers’ old errors reemerged. Split trips to the line, blown box out under the boards and turnovers piled up as the Knights slowly edged out a three-point lead halfway through the extra period. As the lead grew to five, Portville grew desperate and as the final minute cracked, they were forced to intentionally foul. Despite a late reassurance, the Panthers’ comeback efforts were ended at the free throw line.
DeFazio led the Panthers with 18 points followed by Armstrong with 17.
“It’s a tough loss but we learned a lot tonight. We didn’t make our foul shots, our foul shooting was terrible and we had too many turnovers,” said Yanetsko, whose team shot 47 percent from the charity stripe in the loss. “It’s a tough loss. The guys are really shaken in the locker room right now.”
AT PORTVILLE
Silver Creek (64)
Eick 30 9 4-4 30, White 6 3-7 16, Hoelzle 4 1-6 5, Brennan 1 2-4 4, Delony 1 0-0 3, Arnold 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 10-21 64
Portville (56)
DeFazio 6 5-10 18, Armstrong 7 1-2 17, Benson 3 0-0 6, B. Carter 2 0-0 5, P. Carter 1 0-2 2, Green 1 2-4 4, Edwards 1 0-0 2 Totals: 21 8-18 56
Silver Creek 20 34 45 53 64
Portville 5 20 34 53 56
Three-point goals: SC (10) Eick 8, Delony, White, PV (6) DeFazio 3, Armstrong 2, B. Carter; Total fouls: SC 17, PV 15; fouled out: Delony, White (SC)
