There's a small private school tucked in the City of Olean, called Archbishop Walsh. While many casual fans in the Buffalo area haven't seen them play because the school is located so far south, by now, everyone has at least heard of the Eagles. They've been the #2 ranked small school in WNY for most of the season, and after winning three games in three days, they are division champions of the Monsignor Martin's Class B for the first time since 2003.
Walsh won all four quarters at St. Mary's, earning a 66-42 victory. The win gives the Eagles the number one seed in the upcoming Manhattan Cup playoffs.
The Eagles took a bit to get going, as St. Mary's honored its seniors prior to the start of the game and took the court with noticeably more energy. After winning the opening quarter, 11-9, the Eagles gave up the first bucket of the second quarter, tying the game at 11-11, and prompting a timeout.
"We looked like we were running in slow motion in the beginning of the game," said Walsh coach Andy Moore.
An 11-3 run ensued, with Adam Moore scoring six of the eight points, to push the Walsh lead to 22-14. Moore and Christian Churakos combined for seven unanswered points late in the half as the Eagles took a double figure lead to halftime, 31-21. The Eagles started playing smarter basketball, and began looking like the Walsh team that I marvel at each time I watch them. I call them deliberately deliberate.
"That's our thing - ball movement," said Moore. "You look at us during warm-ups and we're not much to look at. I tell everybody 'we're small, but we're slow - we're just going to try to out-slow you, move the ball, and play smart."
The Lancers managed to hang around for much of the third quarter, and were within nine points late in the frame, before Walsh finished the quarter on an 8-3 run to take a 50-36 advantage. Tavien Kemp began the final stanza with a traditional three-point play and went on to score nine of his 15 points over the final eight minutes, as the Eagles poured it on, outscoring St. Mary's 16-6 and allowing just two field goals.
Churakos led the way with a game-high 20 points for the Eagles, including a pair of 3-pointers, but most of his damage came from the interior.
"Churakos had a great game," said St. Mary's coach Paul Rath. "He owned the paint on us."
Moore finished the game with 16 points, and went over 1,000 points for his career in the process. Being one of the Moore brothers comes with a lot of expectations in WNY high school basketball circles. His oldest brother Zack was a 1,000 point scorer at Olean, while brothers Sam & Alex also starred for the Huskies, with Sam winning a state championship and earning MVP honors in 2008. For Adam, becoming just the second 1,000 point scorer among his siblings elevates his status at future family outings.
"It's good bragging rights to have," Moore said.
The Eagles will begin postseason play on Thursday night at Villa Maria College, where they will face the winner of Cardinal O 'Hara versus Nichols in the Manhattan Cup Class B play-in game. Coach Moore pointed out that any team in the Monsignor Martin is capable of beating another on any given night and hopes for the same commitment to slow & smart basketball the team has won with all season, in the playoffs.
"We're not a dominant team, we're not going to just show up and beat people," Moore said.
If we can't call the Eagles dominant after going unbeaten in the Class B division, knocking off Timon & St. Joe's, and being a state ranked Class B team all season, then I'll settled for impressive. Extremely impressive.
Point Totals:
Walsh: Christian Churakos 20, Adam Moore 16, Tavien Kemp 15, Noah Watson 8, Latrell Butler-Kemp 5, Charlie Kafka 2
St. Mary's: Kayson Hill 9, Daquan Hunt 9, Eric Brown 7, Matt Ciezski 6, Brady O'Brien 6, Christian Szablewski 5
-centercourt
I am not sure people out there realize there are 43 kids in the high school at Archbishop Walsh. Quite an accomplishment, boys. Great job, Coach Moore!
Posted by: Leslie Watson | Sunday, February 21, 2016 at 07:41 PM
I've noticed no Takal Molson in the box scores the past couple of games. Is he injured?
Posted by: StateChamps2003 | Monday, February 22, 2016 at 10:20 AM
Takal Molson was not part of the Senior Night festivities before the Walsh Game.
Was not even listed in the program.
He was not on the bench.
Is he still with St Mary's?
Posted by: 1on1 | Monday, February 22, 2016 at 11:06 AM