By SPENCER BATES
ALLEGANY — The Otto-Eldred boys basketball team, staving off a late push from Allegany-Limestone nabbed a 50-43 victory in its first game at the 50th Annual Joe DeCerbo Holiday Showcase.
But for as much as they were the one being chased late on, the Terrors were the ones doing the chasing early. It was the Gators that controlled the affair from the jump, finding fluidity on the offensive end and defensively, forcing O-E deep into the shot clock.
A stark difference for A-L, which has had its struggles in those areas to begin the season.
However, while the Gators had a good flow to the game, putting the ball in the basket came as a challenge. For as good as they had been over the opening two frames, they led just 20-17 at the break — a margin not wide enough to make up for the mistakes made down the stretch.
As the latter half wore on, O-E grew in confidence. Coach Rob Wight’s squad managed the shot clock, pushed the ball in transition and were a threat from beyond the arc.
“Being able to run the floor is nice,” Wight said. “Our kids were worried about (the shot clock) more than I think they should have been, but they learned very quickly … that the best way to beat a good defense is beat it down the floor. They did a much better job of that tonight.”
A-L found itself trending the opposite way. Over the second half, it became much more stagnant on the offensive end with miscommunications leading to turnovers. On defense, they were put in a bit of a blender and bailed out the Terrors with chances at the charity stripe.
“One of our biggest problems right now is consistency in shooting and just being able to score the ball,” Anderson said. “Right now it’s tough for us to manufacture offense. … But I feel like every game we played so far this year, our first quarter has been pretty good, and then, for some reason, we’re falling off. We’re trying to figure out what that is.”
One of the main sources of offensive consistency that A-L does have at this point in the season is Ryan Callen.
Whenever the Gators found themselves in the midst of a barren run of offense, it was Callen that dug them out with a tough bucket. He finished with a game-high 17 points and if he keeps putting up those kinds of numbers, Anderson admitted he will have no choice but to keep calling his number.
“I think 17 from Ryan is probably right around what we expect,” Anderson said. “We’ve got to get some more contributions from other places. Maybe we have to generate more offense for Ryan, more open, easier looks for Ryan. We got to look at the film and take a look and see what we can figure out.”
Allegany-Limestone’s Ryan Callen (3) hounds Otto-Eldred’s Mason Rees (1) on defense. Callen scored a game-high 17 for the Gators in their loss. (Hunter O. Lyle)
The Terrors took advantage of the Gators second-half struggles and surged ahead, never relinquishing control of the game after a 12-0 third-quarter run put them up 31-23.
Still, the scoring was not as consistent as Wight would have liked. The 12-0 run was immediately followed by an 8-3 run by the Gators which brought them right back into contention. As of now, much like it is for A-L, it is a question of consistency for O-E.
“I’d love to find it,” Wight joked about the lack of consistency. “I think 17 points in the third quarter and 33 in the second half is great for us. It really came down to execution. In the first half, we were setting screens and trying to execute but we weren’t setting screens the right way, finding the right guys, doing the little X’s and O’s. I think in the second half we got a good lesson. Allegany plays a very tough man-to-man defense and I think we learned a little bit more about ourselves tonight, about what it takes to score against a good defense.”
The Gators still had a route to victory late, but free throws put the game out of reach for the Terrors.
O-E will play its second and final game of the DeCerbo Showcase against Portville on Dec. 28 at 12:45 p.m.
As for A-L, it will look to bounce back against Bradford at 6 p.m. on Dec. 28 in its final game of the Showcase.
——
AT ALLEGANY
Otto-Eldred (50)
Blendinger 6 3-4 15, Rees 4 2-2 13, Sherry 4 4-7 13, Sheeler 1 1-2 4, R. Schenfield 1 1-2 3, M. Schenfield 0 2-4 2. Totals: 16 13-21 50
Allegany-Limestone (43)
Callen 6 4-6 17, O’Brien 4 0-0 8, Margeson 2 2-2 8, Perry 1 2-4 4, Amore 1 1-2 3, Wilczewski 1 1-2 3. Totals: 15 10-16 43
O-E 10 17 34 50
A-L 13 20 31 43
Three-point goals: O-E 5 (Rees 3, Sheeler, Sherry), A-L 3 (Callen 2, Margeson); Total fouls: O-E 16, A-L 20; Fouled out: Perry (A-L), Wilczewski (A-L).
