(Elliot Bowen was dominant in the post once again for Ellicottville)
In the same week the first small school poll and state rankings came out, Ellicottville faced a pair of opponents that occupied space in both. The Eagles, voted #10 in the small school poll by myself and opening at #6 in NYS Class D, hosted Chautauqua Lake on Monday night, before traveling to Gowanda on Tuesday. In heart-breaking fashion, the Eagles fell to Chautauqua Lake, voted #9 among small schools and ranked #3 in NYS Class C, after missing a pair at the stripe to win the game in a one-point loss. Without a day to practice, it was off to Gowanda - a NYS Class B honorable mention and defending CCAA I East champ, who I voted #7 among small schools. Despite the quick turnaround and the daunting task of jumping up two classes against a quality opponent, the Eagles left Gowanda with their biggest win of the season and the validation that they belong in the conversation of WNY's top small schools.
Ellicottville quickly built a lead and then never trailed, to earn a 61-53 nonleague win on the road. The Eagles improve to 4-1 on the season, while Gowanda falls to 2-1.
"It's a huge win for us," Ellicottville coach Dave McCann said. "They're all nice to get, but coming off the game we had last night which was an absolute battle, I was curious to see how we would respond...I thought the kids responded great."
Elliot Bowen, an All-Centercourt Honorable Mention selection as a sophomore, continued his strong play. The junior scored a game-high 30 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and connected on eight of 11 from the charity stripe. In the fourth quarter, he scored 10 of his points and even broke the press for a score, allowing his team to maintain its lead throughout. Austin Grinols added 17 points, eight rebounds, and six assists for the Eagles in the victory and was key to Bowen's success as he repeatedly delivered perfect passes into the post, despite the Panthers' best efforts to deny them.
"We knew that we would need more than one guy to defend Elliot," said Gowanda coach Andy Bobseine. "We tried to front him and get weakside help, but he was still finding ways to get the ball."
By the midway point of the opening quarter, the Eagles had soared out to a 13-2 advantage, with Grinols scoring seven points in the first four minutes. Ellicottville showed no signs of tired legs in the early going. Conversely, Gowanda seemed to lack defensive energy out of the gates and struggled to get going.
"We were kind of lackadaisical on defense and didn't make the proper rotations," said Bobseine.
As Ellicottville mounted its first quarter lead, the Panthers lacked patience with their offense and hurried some early shots. Also disrupting the Gowanda attack was Eagles' junior Griffin Chudy (five points, nine assists, & eight boards), who drew the difficult assignment of defending Nate Brawdy, a natural scorer who is smooth with the ball and averaged 23.1 ppg as a sophomore.
"Chudy did an amazing job," said Bobseine. "It made it tough trying to set up our offense and our sets weren't as fluid."
After one quarter, Ellicottville led by nine points. The Eagles' lead reached as many as 13 points early in the second quarter, following a three-point play by Bowen and a 3-pointer from sophomore Steven Rowland. Despite Gowanda's Jarmani Benton scoring 11 of his team-high 20 points in the first half, Ellicottville extended its lead to 33-22 at the break, while limiting Brawdy to just five points in the first 16 minutes.
"Griff's a trooper and he's going to give you everything he's got for as long as he's got it," McCann said of Chudy's defensive efforts. "He doesn't back down to any competition."
Gowanda looked like a different team coming out of halftime, with a noticable increase in intensity that led to some easy buckets and sparked the offense. Dakota Perdue and Matthew Dodolak scored buckets for the Panthers to start the third quarter, followed by a '3' from Brawdy. An 11-3 run cut the Ellicottville lead to three points, 36-33, midway through the quarter as Brawdy heated up, netting nine of his 17 points in the frame. However a pair of 3-pointers from Grinols and the stanza's final bucket from Bowen sent Ellicottville into the fourth quarter with a 45-39 advantage.
Chudy and Bowen combined to push the Eagle lead back to nine, 51-42, three minutes into the last quarter. But Perdue found his sweet spot a few feet away from the basket and swished three soft jumpers over the Ellicottville defense to make it a four-point game, 53-49, with under two minutes to play. Ultimately, the Eagles defended well in the last two minutes and got on the boards to close the game out and overcome some late misses from the charity stripe.
"We definitely were showing some wear at the end, but we hung in there and gutted one out," McCann said.
Ellicottville 19 - 14 - 12 - 16 = 61
Gowanda 10 - 12 - 17 - 14 = 53
Point Totals
Ellicottville: Elliot Bowen 30, Austin Grinols 17, Griffin Chudy 5, Deric Leiper 4, Steven Rowland 3, Mitchell Sexton 2
Gowanda: Jamari Benton 20, Nate Brawdy 17, Dakota Perdue 10, Matthew Dodolak 4, Matt Kruszka 2
-centercourt
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