St. Francis and Lancaster were both winners on the first day of the Buffalo Hoop Group Tournament at St. Francis High School, setting up a meeting between the two WNY large schools on Monday night at 7:30 pm, with the tournament championship on the line. The Red Raiders defeated Hutch-Tech on Saturday, while Lancaster bested Tapestry in the game prior, to set up the matchups for day two of the BHG Tournament. Tapestry will take on Hutch-Tech at 6 pm on Monday in the consolation game.
St. Francis 73, Hutch-Tech 44
Bo Sireika scored 20 of his game-high 22 points in the first half, as the Red Raiders used a big second quarter to build a 16-point lead on the visiting Engineers before halftime. Both teams started hot, as the squads traded a variety of drives, jumpers, and shots from the perimeter in the game's first eight minutes, and lit up the scoreboard for a combined 41 points in the first quarter, with St. Francis leading by three heading to the second stanza.
The Red Raiders continued to scorch the net in the game's second frame, while switching defenses and putting the clamps on defensively. Hutch-Tech was held to just 25 points over the final three quarters against the man defense of Frannies, after putting up 19 points in the opening quarter.
"We came out in a matchup zone that we play and Orchard Park had just beat that up on us, so I think that lingered on - the guys weren't really confident," St. Francis coach Brian Ferris said. "So we went to man and played some solid half court man-to-man defense and that changed the game for us."
Roburt Welch picked up the scoring in the second half for the Red Raiders, netting nine of his 14 points after the break. Freshman point guard Julian Cunningham added 11 points in the game for St. Francis, who will have a chance to hand Lancaster its first loss of the season when the two play in the BHG Tournament Championship game on Monday at 7:30 pm.
"I told these guys, it's our tournament, we want to win it, and we've got to be excited about the chance to knock off a top ten team," said Ferris.
Point Totals
St. Francis: Bo Sireika 22, Roburt Welch 14, Julian Cunningham 11, Josh Palmer 6, Sean Taggart 4, Cody Smith 2
Hutch-Tech: Anthony Whitfield 11, Jayden Mitchell 10, Alvin Marks 9, Lemoyne Hill 7, Jordan Ceasar 5
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Lancaster 64, Tapestry 60
The Legends saw four players score in double figures as they got off to an 8-2 start and never trailed, to remain undefeated, improving to 7-0 on the season. Alex Konst picked Lancaster up in the early going, scoring his team's first eight points in a very low-scoring first half, that ended with the Legends in front, 19-16. The pace and scoring picked up considerably in the third quarter, and it favored Lancaster, as it won the 3rd quarter, 20-12, giving them the necessary cushion to hang on down the stretch and thwart off Tapestry's attempt at a late-game rally.
Vito Fulciniti scored a quick eight points, including a pair of treys, to start the fourth quarter and helped push the Legends' lead to 52-37. Alex Damiani was solid throughout the game for Lancaster, with some strong work in the paint and a team-high 19 point performance. Collin Murray added 12 points in the game for the Legends, and connected on eight consecutive free throws for his team, including four attempts that were awarded via technical fouls.
JaQuoine Fogan was stellar in defeat for the Thunderhawks, a top ten small school in WNY, scoring a game-high 26 points.
Point Totals:
Lancaster: Alex Damiani 19, Alex Konst 14, Collin Murray 12, Vito Fulciniti 11, Sean Gill 6, Noah Speyer 2
Tapestry: JaQuoine Fogan 26, Paitwan Jenifer 13, Davonte Cunningham 11, Christian Russell 8, Allen McDuffie 2
Buffalo Hoop Group Inc. is the premier leader in travel basketball, as well as sports and education training in WNY. Affiliated with USA Basketball youth development, CEO Antwan Anderson of Buffalo Hoop Group and assistant varsity basketball coach at St. Francis High School is the only licensed certified coach by USA Basketball in the WNY area. Buffalo Hoop Group is looking forward to bringing a high level of basketball back to the area of WNY. With tournaments already scheduled next year in Las Vegas, Orlando, Atlanta, & NYC. Contact Antwan Anderson for more information at (716) 436-2211 or [email protected]
-centercourt
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