By SPENCER BATES
ALLEGANY — The Salamanca boys basketball program has been defined by physicality and relentless effort for years.
It has the successful postseason runs to prove it is a system that works.
But against Warren on Dec. 27, those keystones were nowhere to be seen.
In its first of two games at the 50th Annual Joe DeCerbo Holiday Showcase, the Warriors fell 88-33 to a Dragons squad that wasted no time in flexing its efficiency from the floor.
Salamanca conceded 27 points to its four in the first quarter alone, and unfortunately for them, Warren’s pace would keep up for the entirety of the game.
“Anything that I felt has defined our culture over the last 10 years, we did not do well today,” Salamanca coach Adam Bennett said. “It’s no excuse but we’ve had the flu going through our team. We’re down to nine guys, and I didn’t have us ready. We’ve really backed off in practice to try to get guys where they need to be and unfortunately the result of that was we weren’t playing at the pace or with the intensity that we normally play with in every aspect of the game. … This group has demonstrated that we could be really good, but we can also struggle. So, it’s about the work that we put in every day, and that starts with me.”
Turnovers were a major point of concern for the Warriors. Countless times, exacerbated by their offense taking too long to get set up, the Dragons got themselves into passing lanes and exchanged those thefts for points on the other end.
“We couldn’t get into stuff and give (Warren) a lot of credit for that,” Bennett said. “We panicked. We picked up our dribble well beyond the perimeter. We have pressure releases against that stuff and we didn’t do any of them. It was a lot of dribbling today and that’s certainly not something that we like to do a lot of.”
Warren’s offense was lightning quick in comparison. Its ball movement caused chaos on the defensive end for Salamanca. Rotations were too slow or got caught up in screens which led to open looks.
But even when the Dragons did miss a shot, which was extremely rare, their presence on the boards led to countless second-chance opportunities.
“The most frustrating thing, out of everything that happened in this game, was that the lack of rebounding was really eye opening,” Bennett said. “We’ve out-rebounded every team that we have played, and we got pummeled on the boards tonight. On the offensive end it’s like we weren’t even going for rebound. … We just didn’t box out, we didn’t get bodies. They’re big, but so are we. … That’s an effort thing. Rebounding is how bad you want the ball. We got to get back to making that a priority and doing the tough, physical things that have defined us over the last few years.”
Salamanca’s Payton Maybee (14) puts up a layup against Warren. (Hunter O. Lyle)
The defeat was lopsided, but for Bennett, there is still a significant silver lining. Visions of his team’s one-sided loss to Warren in the DeCerbo Showcase two seasons ago came flooding back. The Warriors were defeated handedly in that game, but that loss helped shape the team for what was an eventual New York State Final Four run.
The hope for Bennett is that this loss has the same kind of effect and his players will grow from this moment instead of allowing it to sink them.
“We’d like to think we’re one of the better defensive teams in the section, that we rebound the ball well, and when we don’t do that, we have no chance,” Bennett said. “Every year, including the years that we’ve gone to Glens Falls, we have moments like this. … The charge to the team is we got to dig down deep. Culture doesn’t just stay from year to year. Each team has to pick and choose and define what their identity is, what their culture is, and this is the moment for this team to try to do that.”
Salamanca will take on Cuba-Rushford in its second and final game of the Showcase on Dec. 28 at 2:30 p.m.
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AT ALLEGANY
Warren (88)
Crissey 7 0-0 17, Thrift 6 2-2 14, McMeans 3 3-3 12, Chase 4 0-0 11, Manning 5 0-0 11, Eaton 3 0-0 9, Wood 3 1-1 8, Spiegel 1 0-0 2. Totals: 32 6-6 88
Salamanca (33)
Bradley 5 0-4 13, Hill 3 2-2 8, Maybee 3 2-6 8, Ghani 1 0-0 2, Farmer 0 2-2 2. Totals: 12 6-14 33
Warr. 27 40 67 88
Sala. 4 12 24 33
Three-point goals: Warr. 14 (Crissey 3, Chase 3, McMeans 3, Eaton 3, Manning, Wood), Sala. 3 (Bradley 3); Total fouls: Warr. 14, Sala. 9; Fouled out: None.
