By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
ALLEGANY, NY – Seeing the Rebels for the second time in a month, the Portville boy’s basketball team failed to exact revenge, instead losing 75-34 to Cuba-Rushford in the opening day of the annual Joe DeCerbo Holiday Showcase.
These two squads met at the start of the season, back on Friday, Dec. 5 when the Panthers hosted the Rebels to open their campaign. In their first glimpse of action, C-R rolled through Portville, cruising to a 76-36 hostile territory win.
“(Cuba) has a lot of size so they scored a lot of points against us in the paint in our last game. We came into today trying to pack the paint and kind of limit those and make them beat us from the outside,” said Portville head coach Dylan Burton. “That was kind of what we started with.”
In the three weeks since, the Panthers have still searched for their identity on the court, picking up two more losses in the next three games. Portville’s weight has mostly been shouldered by senior veteran Aidan DeFazio, who helped the Panthers burst out to an early lead. After forcing a Rebel miss and consecutive turnovers, DeFazio led the charge with an offensive rebound score and a contested triple that connected to put the Panthers up 5-0. However, their narrow advantage quickly began to fade from there.
Implementing a full-court-press, the Rebels immediately seized control of the court. Along with stunting the Panthers’ advance, panicked ballhandlers surrendered constant turnovers which were turned into fastbreak points on the other end. Along with their defense, C-R’s effort under the glass produced several successful second-chance opportunities as they poured on 12 unanswered points.
“We did well getting the ball to our guards in the beginning, but then, trying to get it through the next level of defense, (Cuba) was strong and came from behind a lot,” said Burton. “They were able to poke the ball free and take away the middle of the zone and push us to the outside and cause turnovers.”
Although Kaleb Foster ended their drought, Portville’s streaky offense limped into the second quarter, facing an eight-point deficit. However, the gap on the scoreboard would be ripped even wider in the second.
Continuing to dominate inside and outside, on offense and defense, the Rebels kicked off the next quarter of play with six unanswered points which only ballooned as they relentlessly pushed the pace. Using long outlet passes that converted rebounds into points in only seconds, coupled with continued staunch pass-stripping defense and red hot shooting from long range, C-R unleashed a 21-0 barrage that built their lead to 29. Portville eventually broke their silence with a triple from Zach Green, but was met with three 3-pointers from Cuba immediately after to close the third.
With just eight minutes remaining, the Panthers waved the white flag. Swapping in their reserves, Portville relented, accepting their fourth loss of the season.
DeFazio ended with a team-high 17 points for the Panthers, while Payton Carter finished with six points.
The Panthers will return to the showcase on Sunday, when they take on Otto-Eldred. That game is slated for a 12:45 start.
“The focus going forward for us is just effort. Today we kind of came off the bus asleep still and didn’t really put in that effort from the beginning,” said Burton. “It’s unacceptable. We had that conversation in the locker room. Tomorrow, showing up tomorrow, the big thing is just coming ready to play.”
AT ALLEGANY
Cuba-Rushford (75)
Brown 10 0-0 22, Deck 4 0-0 11, Roe 5 0-0 10, Joy 4 1-2 10, Searle 3 2-4 10, Getz 3 0-0 6, Haskins 1 0-0 3, Hendryx 1 1-1 3. Totals: 3 4-7 75
Portville (34)
DeFazio 7 0-0 17, Cater 2 0-2 6, Foster 1 0-0 3, Green 1 0-0 3, Knittle 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 0-4 34
Cuba-Rushford 19 49 67 75
Portville 11 14 26 34
Three-point goals: C-R (9) Deck 3, Brown 2, Searle 2, Joy, Haskin , PV (7) DeFazio 3, Carter 2, Foster, Green; Total fouls: C-R 7, PV 8; Fouled out: None
