After playing together over the last four seasons, Olean has developed into a legitimate state contender. Three members of this year's Huskies team, Luke Hennessey, Nick Schmidt, and Sam Eckstrom, have been four-year starters together, while Cornell commit Wil Bathurst is starting for a third year at Olean. The sting of a heartbreaking loss against Batavia in the regionals last year has them hungrier than ever. A pair of road losses suffered during their grueling independent schedule this season has them more focused than ever. And their time spent together in an excellent program run by head coach Jeff Anastasia has the Huskies more cohesive than ever. That combination was on full display at St. Mary's last night, as Olean put on a clinic for fans of high-level basketball.
The Huskies got a game-high 30 points from Eckstrom, six 3-pointers from Schmidt, a highlight reel alley-oop dunk finished off by Bathurst, and another well orchestrated game from floor general Hennessey, as they ran away from host St. Mary's, 79-51. The win backed up Olean's #1 ranking in the small school poll. The Lancers, who were coming off of a victory at Nichols the day before, entered the contest as the third ranked small school in WNY.
Despite having less than fresh legs, St. Mary's looked good in the early going as they got 12 points from senior Tyler English in the first eight minutes, while scoring 21 as a team during the opening quarter. Unfortunately for the Lancers, Olean was incredibly efficient in its own end to start the game, and scored a wopping 28 first quarter points. Eckstrom scored 12 of those first quarter points using his array of post moves and soft touch finishes.
Olean opened the second quarter on an 11-0 run, stretching its lead to 39-21. The Huskies got scoring from seven different players during the stanza, and limited St. Mary's to just seven points in the process as they built a commanding 49-28 halftime lead. Just before the intermission, Schmidt lobbed a pass beautifully for Bathurst, who came towards the rim from the right corner and elevated up to flush a two-handed slam with ease to put an exclamation point on a near perfect first half for Olean.
St. Mary's outscored the Huskies by three points in the third quarter and attempted to hang around, before the Huskies officially put things out of reach with another 11-0 run to begin the fourth quarter. Schmidt sank back-to-back 3-pointers during the final push, with the second one a catch-and-shoot in transition from NBA range.
Schmidt finished with 21 points, while Bathurst added 12 points.
English led St. Mary's with 17 points and Matt Wrobel added 13 points in the loss.
Click here to watch postgame interviews with Hennessey, Schmidt, Bathurst, & coach Anastasia.
-centercourt
Olean is about six students away from being an "A" and East is just the opposite about 4 from being a "C" school. Big fan of the underdog EAST! I would also love to know where Canisius roster comes from to see what schools are being affected. Just wondering? Being from a small school numbers mean everything.
Posted by: From the North | Wednesday, January 22, 2014 at 02:06 PM