(South's Dakota Wiley heads in for two at St. Francis)
Last week, St. Francis & Williamsville South had very different experiences on the court. The Red Raiders scored their biggest win in years, going into Park and knocking off the state's top ranked team in Class A. Meanwhile the Billies tasted defeat at the hands of league rival Amherst, causing them to have to share a place at the top of the standings in ECIC II. It set up a nonleague matchup on Tuesday night between the #2 & #3 large schools in WNY, with both sharing similar qualities of having shooters, moving the ball, and playing with a high level of intensity.
Greg Dolan would be the biggest difference to the game's outcome in the end, as the junior guard scored a game-high 28 points on 11 of 15 shooting, grabbed 14 rebounds, dished six assists, and had a pair of steals, leading the Billies to a 67-53 road win at St. Francis. Williamsville South improves to 10-2 on the season, while the Red Raiders slip to 10-4.
"We were definitely looking to bounce back & bring the energy," Dolan said. "We came out and did that today."
When the game tipped, both teams were bringing the energy, and lots of it. A fun and high scoring opening quarter saw four ties and six lead changes. After one team would score, there was barely enough time to record the points before the ball was falling through the nets at the other end. In all, 11 players scored in the game's opening eight minutes and five 3-pointers went in, with Dolan leading all scorer's early as he opened with eight of his game-high total.
"It was probably a fun game for both teams to play because neither of us have big guys," Williamsville South coach Gabe Michael said.
From the start of the second frame, it was South who was finding all the enjoyment. A 12-0 run quickly pushed a 21-20 Billies' lead to 33-20 less than three minutes into the quarter. Dakota Wiley scored six of his 17 points during that stretch, while Cody Sanford (9 points) connected from downtown. After a 3-pointer from St. Francis' Devon Darrell briefly stopped the bleeding, Dolan came right back with his own bomb to help South close the half with a 7-2 push and take a 40-25 lead into halftime. The Red Raiders managed just two field goals in the quarter and were outscored 19-5.
"We have this bad habit of a two to four minute span where it just doesn't seem we're all there and we either let teams come back or take control," St. Francis coach Brian Ferris said. "It's frustrating...we've got to fix it going forward."
After overcoming a 19-point halftime deficit less than a week earlier at Park, the Red Raiders certainly knew they had it in them. When they came out flying to start the second half, it looked like all they needed was another intermission.
Bo Sireika took control and got to the basket twice for St. Francis. Minutes later, Julian Cunningham buried a trifecta. After a South bucket, Sireika took his turn from beyond the arc and knocked down a '3'. Dolan answered that 3-pointer with one of his own, but after a pair of free throws by Frannies' Roburt Welch, Sireika scored again. Suddenly, a 16-7 run had more than cut South's in half, as the Billies advantage was now just 47-41 with 2:33 left in the third quarter.
That was as close as the Red Raiders would get the rest of the way, something Dolan personally saw to.
"We play such good teams and this was one of them," said Michael. "If you let that game get within two or one and Sireika or Cunningham start feeling great it's a different game, so I was happy with how we handled playing with a lead tonight."
First, Dolan found Wiley with a great pass to set up a score. Then in the final minute of the frame, Dolan seemed to make the defense pause in transition and used a burst of speed to shoot to the basket between defenders. As St. Francis looked to get the last shot, Dolan picked the ball handler and headed the other way for another score. South had used a 6-0 run to go back up by double figures, 53-41.
"I think their pressure got us winded by the end of the quarter," said Ferris. "Dolan gets those two wide open layups and it goes from seven to 11 and we're right back where we were at halftime after all that hard work we'd put in to start the half."
Two minutes into the final frame, the Billies extended to their largest lead of the game, 59-43, with scores from Sanford, Anthony Lombardo, and Mark Worthy.
"They played harder than us," Ferris said. "I pride myself on getting my team to play hard, so that was a huge credit to South."
A big difference over the last three quarters was rebounding. South seemed to get to every crucial miss before the Red Raiders, particularly on the offensive glass. Dolan's 14 boards accounted for half of his team's total.
"We worked on boxing out better and getting all five guys rebounding," said Dolan. "Once we touched that up, our whole offense & defense looked better."
Michael, who was very pleased with how his group defended throughout, pointed to that as another reason for the edge on the glass.
"We really kept them on the perimeter and made them take tough shots," Michael said. "When we've got them taking long, tough shots, it's easier to rebound."
Wiley had four rebounds in the win, while Sanford dished three assists to go with two steals. Sophomore Devin Degree had four blocked shots for South.
Sireika led the Red Raiders with a team-high 16 points, Cunningham finished with 14 points, and Welch added 12 points in the loss.
St. Francis hosts the 'Game of the Week' on Friday night against Timon, while Williamsville South travels to Rochester on Saturday to face UPrep, ranked #5 in NYS Class AA.
Will South 21 - 19 - 13 - 14 = 67
St. Francis 20 - 5 - 16 - 12 = 53
Point Totals
Will South: Greg Dolan 28, Dakota Wiley 17, Cody Sanford 9, Adam Braniecki 5, Chris Nelson 3, Mark Worthy 3, Anthony Lombardo 2
St. Francis: Bo Sireika 16, Julian Cunningham 14, Roburt Welch 12, Devon Darrell 5, Sean Taggart 3, Lucas Theisen 3
- centercourt
South looked very good last night it is tough for anyone locally to beat them in that up and down type of game. Dolan was outstanding, Wiley rebounded from a down night at Amherst and Sanford is becoming more aggressive offensively. The latter two will be important for their long term plans because they will need complementary offense to Dolan to go with their solid defense in order to win at Buff State and beyond.
After South's win last night Park will be back to number one this week as they only have one local loss and some very good wins, all the others have at least two. Then the next question is who is #2. The Timon vs St Francis and WS vs UPrep should help give some perspective.
Posted by: PJB | Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 04:39 PM