12/10 Most Valuable Thoughts: Poland/Oriskany Boys Hoops

Poland 78, Oriskany 73

I’ve already come to realize at this point that when you go to an Oriskany game, expect it to be all over the place. Expect them to look like they’re out of the game, then expect them to seize momentum and take control of the game. Expect them to lose their grip of the game once they get it – expect them to get it back. Most importantly, expect Ryan Schmadel to go off. That’s exactly what happened on this night as well, but Poland was able to hold on behind a particularly strong performance from one of their own.

Oriskany started off the game scoring 5 quick ones – a Schmadel bucket followed by a Dom Silvestri trey put them up 5-0 1 minute in. Poland quickly settled in, going on a 9-0/14-1/19-3 run through the next 3+ minutes. Bryce Wenzel’s only bucket put the Tornadoes up 7-5 with 6:15 to go and finished a spurt of 7 points in 45 seconds. Poland would never relinquish this lead, although it got dicey. Behind 7 early points from Dustin DuBrule and 6 from Mark Hennings, Poland took a double-digit lead at 19-8 with 3:35 to go in the 1^st. Hennings continued to go off for Poland, finishing the 1^st quarter with 13 points, helping Poland gain a 28-17 edge after 8 minutes. Who scored 12 of Oriskany’s 17?.. Ryan Schmadel. Hennings started off the 2^nd quarter scoring again to bump the lead to 13, but behind 5 points apiece from Schmadel & Silvestri, Oriskany went on a 13-0 run to tie it at 30. Michael Wilk scored & added a free throw for a 3 point play the hard way, and an administrative tech put Schmadel at the line, where he split a pair to tie it. Poland bumped the lead back up to 5 late in the 1^st half before Schmadel scored again, bringing the score to 41-38 at the end of the 1^st half. At this point, Schmadel’s total was 21. Poland was led by Mark Hennings’ 17.

Poland came out of the locker room ready to go on both ends, while the Redskins came out stale. Oriskany only scored twice in the first 5 minutes of the 3^rd, while Poland started to get going. Ross Agen, in foul trouble all 1^st half, scored 7 points in the first 2:45 of the 3^rd. A Hennings bucket following an Agen 3 point play brought the lead back up to 13 at 53-40, completing a 12-2 run. After Schmadel stopped the bleeding momentarily with a bucket, Hennings & DuBrule hit treys a minute apart to give Poland its largest lead at 59-42 with 3:17 left in the 3^rd. Poland didn’t score the rest of the quarter, but Oriskany couldn’t capitalize much, scoring 4 points the rest of the way to bring the score to 59-46 after 3 in favor of the visiting Tornadoes. However, the 4^th quarter brought a lot more excitement. Schmadel started off canning a 3 and a pair of free throws in the first 30 seconds of the 4^th to bring it back to single digits momentarily. Poland responded, with Hennings scoring 5 quick ones of his own in return, and they brought the lead back up to 13 with a pair of Dubrule free throws with 5:40 left. Oriskany (Schmadel) scored the next 6 and 8 of the next 10 to bring the deficit down to 7 with 3:24 left. After Hennings scored his final bucket – point 32 of his night – Poland had its last 10 point lead at 72-62 with 2:39 remaining. The next 2 times down the court, Marcus Smithling & Schmadel hit threes to cut the deficit to 4, which is the closest it had been since late in the 2^nd quarter. Those were the final 3 of Schmadel’s 17 4^th quarter points & 42 for the game. Oriskany played the foul game the rest of the way, and after Cameron Tabor split a pair of free throws, Smithling came down and hit another 3 to cut the deficit to 2. They fouled Tabor with 1:09 left, who hit a pair of free throws to make it a 2 possession game. However, Poland proceeded to foul Smithling, who hit a pair of free throws to knock it back to 2. Dubrule was fouled, and he split a pair to bring it up to 76-73 in favor of Poland with :33.8 left. However, late game execution haunted the Redskins yet again, and Cameron Tabor came up with the ball for Poland. He was fouled & sank his final 2 free throws of the night to complete the scoring with :17.7 left.

#NumbersDontLie - Mark Hennings had a monster game for Poland. Not every day you come across a 30+ point triple-double! 32 points, 11 boards, 10 assists, and 6 steals. Dustin Dubrule added 20, including 3 treys and 9/11 shooting from the free throw line. Ross Agen scored 10 in very limited action due to foul trouble – 2 in the 1^st, 3 midway through the 2^nd, a very questionable 4^th midway through the 3^rd, and his 5^th midway through the 4^th. Poland shot 21/32 from the line as a team, including 13/20 in the 4^th quarter. They scored their last 6 from the line, shooting 6/8 in that span of the last 1:39. On Oriskany’s end, Ryan Schmadel hit 40 for the 2^nd time in 3 games this season, going 15/18 from the line and scoring 17 4^th quarter points en route to a 42 point performance. Dom Silvestri added 12, 10 of those coming in the 1^st half. Michael Wilk came off the bench to add a season-high 11. Oriskany outscored Poland 48-32 in the 2^nd & 4^th quarters, but they were outscored by Poland 46-25 in the 1^st & 3^rd.

Neat-o Stat of the Night – In 3 games, Oriskany has scored 75 4^th quarter points. Ryan Schmadel has scored 40 of them, which included 17 of his team’s 27 in this contest.