1/9 Most Valuable Thoughts: Oriskany/Herkimer Girls Hoops

Oriskany 49, Herkimer 37

It was certainly a tale of two halves in Herkimer on Thursday night. Oriskany had a stronger 2^nd half than Herkimer’s 1^st half, and they took home a nice road W to add to their belt.

The Magicians started off the game ready to defend home court. Chelsea Jory scored on the first possession of the game, and she continued with the hot start throughout the 1^st quarter. She scored 8 of Herkimer’s first 9 points, and although Oriskany played with Herk to start the game, the home team went on an 8-0 run to create separation late in the quarter. After a Jordan Sahl free throw cut Oriskany’s deficit to 2, Herkimer got 4 buckets while holding the Redskins scoreless for over 3 minutes, taking a 19-9 lead in the process. It was 19-10 after 1 – Jory had 10 points for Herkimer, Madison Zizzi 7 for Oriskany. Herkimer shot over 50% at 9/16, Oriskany under 16% at 3/19. In the 2^nd quarter, Herkimer extended the lead to 13 on two different occasions, both on Jory buckets. After the 2^nd occurrence, with the score at 25-12 with 4:28 left in the half, they went on their first of a few long droughts. The Magicians were outscored 10-2 the rest of the half, with only a Hannah DeLude bucket to show for the last 4:28 of the 2^nd quarter. All 10 points for Oriskany were scored by post players – 4 apiece from Sahl & Morgan Wolanin, and a bucket from Lexi Drake – and a toilet bowl special from Wolanin with 4 seconds left in the half cut the deficit down to 5 at 27-22. Oriskany shot only 8/33 in the first half, but Herkimer was unable to fully capitalize due to turning the ball over 17 times in the first 16 minutes.

A pair of Chelsea Jory buckets started the 2^nd half, and Herkimer looked poised to get control once again with their 9 point lead. However, a strategical move made the difference here. Oriskany HC Angela Meiss told her girls to man up on D instead of sitting back in a zone after the 2^nd Jory bucket, and Herkimer only scored 6 points… the whole rest of the game. That’s from 6:50 left in the 3^rd quarter until the final buzzer. 6 points. Get some of that action! After falling behind by 9, Oriskany went on a long 15-0 run to take the lead. Zizzi had 9 points in that run, and a bucket from her put the Redskins up for good at 33-31 with 2:40 left in the 3^rd. The scoreless stretch for Herkimer lasted 6:47, and Hannah DeLude finally put an end to it with a runner in the last 3 seconds of the 3^rd, cutting the deficit to 4 at 37-33. She also scored on the first possession of the 4^th to cut it to 2, and they hung around for a while in a 4^th quarter that was certainly offensively challenged. For the first 4+ minutes, the quarter score was Herkimer 4, Oriskany 3. A Brianna Parks bucket made it 40-37 with 4:14 to go, but Herkimer wouldn’t score again the rest of the night. The Redskins scored the last 9, 6 from Zizzi, and the team shot 7/8 from the free throw line in the 4^th, stretching the final margin to the largest margin of the night for Oriskany.

#ByTheNumbers – 4 big factors in this one. The Madison Zizzi outburst, free throw shooting, turnovers, and a defensive switch. For Oriskany, Zizzi went off. She had 27 points on the night, 18 of them in the 2^nd half where Oriskany outscored Herkimer 27-10. Herkimer didn’t do a good job of running her off the 3 point line, and she answered by hitting 4 treys on the night. Jordan Sahl added 10 for Oriskany, 8 of them coming from the free throw line. Oriskany shot 17/25 from the line on the night, including 12/15 in the 2^nd half. Herkimer shot just 1/6 from the stripe for the game. Chelsea Jory scored about half of the Magicians’ points on the evening, leading her team with 18 points, all of them before Oriskany switched to man-to-man with 7 minutes left in the 3^rd. Before they went man, it was 31-22 in favor of Herkimer. While playing man-to-man, Oriskany won 27-6. Oriskany did a better job taking care of the ball in the 2^nd half. After turning it over 9 times against Herkimer’s extended 3-2 that’s more of a 1-2-2 ¾ court press in the 1^st half, they cut that number down to 6 in the 2^nd half with only 1 of them being a Herkimer steal. Compared to Oriskany’s 15 turnovers, Herkimer coughed it up 33 times.

Neat-o Stat of the Night – Oriskany picked up a double-digit road W, even while shooting colder than the weather outside. They shot 14/58 on the night, and players not named Zizzi or Wolanin shot just 3/37. That’s under 25% as a team, and around 8% on the 2^nd shooting statistic. Their “hot” quarter was the 2^nd, where they went 5/14 as a team. Herkimer made 4 more field goals than Oriskany (18/49 – not blistering themselves), but the other factors in our section above gave the Redskins what it took to get a W.

1/8 Most Valuable Thoughts: Little Falls/West Canada Valley Boys Hoops

Little Falls 79, West Canada Valley 68

Standing room only.

That’s the situation we had in Newport Wednesday night. Great atmosphere, great game. Even though it was on WCV’s home court, Little Falls – especially the students – traveled well enough to make it seem like a neutral site game. The visiting Mounties looked more ready for the moment early, and they carried that momentum all the way to the finish to pick up a huge league W over WCV in a game that had Twitter beef going for months.

The game started off slow, with both teams shaking out the jitters in the first few minutes. Rahmere Greene had the game’s first points nearly 2 minutes in for LF. Bobby Davenport & Jordan Yaworski opened up the WCV scoring over the next minute and a half to give WCV the lead at 4-2. However, Little Falls then settled in, going on a 7-0 run while holding the Indians scoreless for 3 minutes. Another Greene bucket in that run put them up 5-4 – a lead they’d never relinquish. After Ryan Moody broke that 7-0 run, LF scored the next 5, extending the run to 12-2 and pushing their lead to 8. They led by 6, 16-10, after 1 quarter. There were 12 combined turnovers in the first 8 minutes – 7 from WCV – and the Mounties forced the Indians into shooting 33% from the field, letting them hold the lead despite shooting 35% from the field themselves. The 2^nd quarter was a free throw fiesta. 9 combined field goals, 27 combined free throw attempts. With the Little Falls lead trimmed to 4 after a Jordan Yaworski trey, the Mounties went a 7-0 run capped by a Sean Ward bomb to take their first double-digit lead at 31-20 with 4:04 left in the 2^nd. After the teams traded a pair of free throws, WCV went on a 9-1 run to cut their deficit to 3. Yaworski had a quarter that was a little reminiscent of the 4^th quarter he had just a week & a half ago against New York Mills, and he had 5 of the 9 in that run. Little Falls scored the last 4 of the quarter to bump the lead back to 7 at half, one more than the 6 point lead after 1, thus negating the 13 point 2^nd quarter performance from Skip. He had 17 at the half for WCV; Brian Ewanyk led Little Falls with 12.

The number of the 2^nd half was 6. The Indians cut the lead to 6 a total of 6 times in the 2^nd half, but never got closer. It went back and forth early in the 3^rd, with LF pushing the lead back up to 11 twice, just to have WCV knock it back to single digits. A Davenport trey brought it back to 6 for the first time with 5:32 left in the 3^rd – Little Falls responded by going on a 9-2 run to extend to its then-largest lead at 55-42. WCV then  scored 7 of the final 9 third quarter points, the first 4 from Yaworski, to cut the deficit back to 8 after 3 at 57-49. More free throws galore in that quarter – 15 combined, with Little Falls shooting 8/8. The Mounties turned it over 5 times in the 3^rd, but again forced WCV into 30% shooting to combat that. WCV started off the 4^th quarter scratching & clawing its way back, knocking the deficit to 6 on 4 different occasions, the latest being on a Yaworski bucket with 3:50 to go, but Little Falls always had an answer. Most of those answers involved freshman Todd Hubbell. He had 6 points & 2 dimes in the first 5 minutes of the 4^th for Little Falls to keep the cushion. The deciding run started with a Rahmere Greene layup off a Hubbell feed to bump the lead back to 8. The next 2 times down the court resulted in buckets by Hubbell & Brian Ewanyk, stretching the lead to 12 with 2:11 to go. Davenport hit another three to cut it to 10, but a layup by Greene and a steal from him on the ensuing WCV possession sealed the Indians’ fate. Two Theo Wind free throws gave Little Falls its largest lead of the night with 1:06 remaining at 76-62. Alex Williams hit a pair of threes for WCV to quickly knock it back to single digits one last time, but 2 more Wind free throws gave us the double-digit difference for the final score.

#ByTheNumbers – For Little Falls, balance is the name of the game. They had 4 players finish in double figures, and 2 more had 8 on the night. Brian Ewanyk led them with 18 points, and he was on triple-double watch for a while as well. He had 12 of those in the 1^st half, along with 6 boards & 5 dimes in the opening stanzas. He finished with 10 rebounds & 6 dimes. Rahmere Greene, despite sitting out all but 5 minutes of the 1^st half with 2 fouls, had 16 points, 5 boards, and 5 steals. Mitchell Baumeister had 9 of his 14 points from the free throw line, and Todd Hubbell had 6 of his 11 in the 4^th. Theo Wind shot 6/6 from the free throw line and added 8, and Sean Ward hit a pair of 2^nd quarter treys on the way to 8 off the bench. Jordan Yaworski slowed up a little for WCV in the 2^nd half, but still finished with 25 on the night, including 9/11 from the stripe. He had 17 in the first half – 13 in the 2^nd quarter. Bobby Davenport, despite having a rough shooting night, got it going a bit in the 4^th and added 16 for the Indians along with 7 rebounds. Alex Williams also finished in double digits for WCV – 6 of his 12 came in the last minute. This was a game where most team statistics were identical (or just about). Rebounding was only a +1 in favor of WCV at 35-34. Both teams turned the ball over 18 times on the night. Although Little Falls shot at a much higher percentage (48% for the Mounties, closer to 38% for WCV), they each made 24 field goals on the night, 6 of them threes. However, there was one large looming difference… check the stat of the night below.

Neat-o Stat of the Night – Free throws. It’s all about free throws. They say free throws determine games – I’ve always said that’s not always true. I’d prefer to have the better team. Being better normally determines games. However, for the lovers of the free throws determine games saying, look no further. Little Falls won by 11. They had an 11 point advantage at the free throw line. They got to the line and shot over 70% (25/35), including 18/21 shooting in the middle quarters.

1/7 Most Valuable Thoughts: Clinton/Holland Patent Boys Hoops

Holland Patent 68, Clinton 52

Another trip to Holland Patent.

3^rd of the season for me – this one certainly the most sane game of the three, but it didn’t go drama-free. The Golden Knights withstood some 2^nd half adversity and a strong performance by Clinton’s best player to take home a much needed win.

Here, I’ll take some drama away for you. The game’s first bucket was a Ryan Halpin trey 48 seconds in, giving Holland Patent a 3-0 lead: a lead Clinton would never get. After the teams traded buckets throughout most of the 1^st quarter, the Golden Knights went on a 6-0 spurt led by 2 Logan Reinold buckets to take a 13-6 lead. They forced 5 Clinton turnovers in the 1^st, leading to 3 fast-break layups. Neither team was particularly lighting it up, with the squads combining to shoot 33% in the opening quarter, but HP held a 15-10 lead after 8 minutes. Andrew Taft scored the first bucket of the 2^nd quarter for Clinton, but HP went on a 7-1 run following to extend their lead to 9 at 22-13. Stephen McGahey finished the run with a 3 point play, followed by a drive & dime to Matt Harter, who got dimed over and over and over again on this night. Taft kept Clinton in the game offensively through most of the 2^nd, scoring all of their points in that quarter until Malaquias Canery had a steal & layup at the 2:35 mark. Led by the strong 2^nd quarter from Taft, Clinton inched a little closer, cutting it to 6 at half. He led the Warriors with 12 at the break, 10 of them in the 2^nd. Logan Reinold had 14 first half points for the leaders.

The 2^nd half started with a Matt Harter bucket, stretching HP’s lead to 8. However, Clinton scored the next 8 while forcing their opponents to miss 6 straight shots, holding them scoreless for a 3:29 stretch. Malaquias Canery connected 3 straight times, and Andrew Taft split a pair of free throws twice to give us our first and only tie at 34 with 4:07 left in the 3^rd. Harter scored on the ensuing possession for Holland Patent, and they never let go of the lead again. A Reinold layup followed the Harter one, and after Clinton cut it back to two after Andrew Hobika scored at the 2:43 mark, Holland Patent went off. They held Clinton scoreless for the rest of the 3^rd while scoring 11 themselves. Reinold had the first 5, and Harter had the last 6 off of 3 layups in the last 57 seconds. Two of them came thanks to McGahey dimes, one of them signed, sealed, and delivered from Reinold. Clinton froze up in those last 3 minutes, turning it over 4 straight times at one point. They had 7 turnovers in the quarter, and Holland Patent had its largest lead of the game at 13 after 3. It was never closer than that in the 4^th. Matt Hughes & Matt Harter had buckets to start the 4^th to bump the lead up to 17. Even though HP was in control, it never grew past 18, thanks in whole to Canery. He’s the guy that’s done it for Clinton the last 3 years, and we saw why. He got going in the last 6 minutes, scoring 15 of Clinton’s 16 4^th quarter points. They couldn’t stop HP though, who shot 7/11 (63.6%) in the 4^th quarter. They actually shot worse from the line in the 4^th (5/11) than from the field – probably because most of their buckets were layups. Holland Patent’s largest lead was 18, which they secured twice, the last time being after a showtime finish by the lefty Reinold, his last of 24 points on the night which made it 60-42 with 2:49 left and capped a 7-2 spurt.

#ByTheNumbers - Logan Reinold had easily his best game of the 3 HP ones I’ve been to, leading the winners with 24 points and being the catalyst of every major run. Matt Harter had what I can only assume is a career high with 22 points. He made a living finishing around the rim off dishes from his guards and 2^nd chance opportunities. On Clinton’s end, 2 players scored over 80% of their points. Malaquias Canery had over half of them, putting through 27 of his team’s 52 on the night. 21 of those 27 came after intermission, 15 in the 4^th quarter. Big man Andrew Taft had a strong 2^nd quarter, scoring 10 of his 15 in that stanza. The rest of the team could only muster 10 points on the night. Holland Patent recovered from a chilly 1^st quarter to shoot almost 50% from the field at 27/58. Clinton, however, shot under 35% at 21/61, and they turned the ball over 19 times to Holland Patent’s 11.

Neat-o Stat of the Night: This game was not 3-ball friendly. The teams combined to hit the fewest amount of threes in a game that I’ve had at a boys game this season, with just 2 threes each way. Compare the 4 to the average of 10-11 that I see.

1/6 Most Valuable Thoughts: West Canada Valley @ Little Falls Girls Hoops

Little Falls 80, West Canada Valley 46

Well, there’s a statement.

Especially when Little Falls didn’t even play that well, at least by their standards. They turned it on early to get a big lead, turned it off to let WCV back into it, then turned it back on in a major way to storm to a 34 point victory on their home court Monday night.

I came in on Gen Schoff watch last evening, with the senior, 4 year starter, and King of Kings baller sitting on 970 points entering the game. She filled up the stat line early, and the Schoff & Kelli Shep show led Little Falls to its first large lead. They forced WCV into 8 first quarter turnovers with their 2-2-1 press and turned 5 of them into layups. It started off slowly, with there being a scoreless stretch both ways of just under 3 minutes after Little Falls took an early 6-2 lead. However, 4 buckets scored in 45 seconds, 3 from LF, bumped the lead to 12-4 and forced WCV coach Brian Ellis to take 1 of 3 early timeouts he used. Hayley Yager scored 2 of her team-high 18 points after the timeout, but the Mounties then went on a 10-0 run, 5 from Amy Hart, to take a 22-6 lead late in the first. Yager answered with a trey to stop the bleeding, but the lead was at 15, 24-9, after the 1^st. Little Falls started off cold as ice, missing 8 of their first 10, but they finished the quarter making 8 of their last 10 to even it out, led by Shepardson’s 11 points. A 3 point play from Schoff gave Little Falls its largest 1^st half lead at 29-11 with 5:39 left in the 2^nd, but they could muster just 2 more field goals in the 1^st half while WCV crawled back into it. The Indians went on a 10-2 run, including scoring 7 straight while Schoff was on the bench with 2 fouls, to knock it back to 10. Carissa Tasovac, who didn’t score in the 1^st quarter, got going in that timeframe, starting the run with a bucket and ending it with a 3 point play. They did this by dominating the offensive glass – they shot just 5/20 in the quarter, but got 2^nd & 3^rd chances consistently. Chey Rivenburg stopped the bleeding on the Mounties’ side with a seal & bucket with 7.5 seconds left in the half to make the score 33-21, which was the score at half.

WCV kept up the intensity to start the 3^rd, giving Little Falls all it could handle and honestly, more than I thought they could give the Mounties. A Tasovac trey and Morgan Lynch bucket knocked the lead down to 7, the closest it had been since 12-6 late in the 1^st. After Hannah Becker got on the board with a three for Little Falls, Tasovac answered with another one of her own to knock it back down to 7. A quick 9-2 spurt from Little Falls with buckets by all starters but Shepardson briefly brought their lead up to 14 at 45-31, but WCV answered with a 7-2 run of their own. Laken Dawson split a pair of free throws, and Hayley Yager treys were bookends to an Amy Hart basket, and it was a single digit game all over again, WCV trailing just 9 at 47-38 with 2:30 to go.

That’s when it all changed. Little Falls scored 9 of the last 11 in the 3^rd, Schoff with 5 of them, and the Mounties’ lead jumped back to 16 at 56-40 after 3. They scored the first 7 of the 4^th quarter as well with buckets from Sarah Bruins & Schoff, along with a trey from Becker, extending that run from the 3^rd quarter to 16-2. WCV didn’t muster a field goal until Danielle VanName had her only bucket with 4:14 left. At that point, it was well in hand. The Indians were held to 6 4^th quarter points, none in the last 3:22, where LF scored their last 10 thanks to Schoff & Bruins, and got out of this one with a 34 point W. It was much closer than the score shows, but Little Falls showed when it’s time to turn it on, they can turn it on.

#ByTheNumbers - Gen Schoff came up a little short of that 1,000 point threshold, but she doesn’t have much work to do next game. She picked it up after a 1^st half that, by her standards, is a little slow, and finished with 24 points. She added 9 boards, 5 dimes, and 3 blocks. Kelli Shepardson had that monster 1^st quarter and finished with 16 points & 8 rebounds. Those rebounding numbers from your point guard are always nice to have! Hannah Becker scored all 16 of her points after intermission and added 5 steals, and Amy Hart was consistent throughout and finished with 14. Sarah Bruins, making her return after being out for a while with a serious illness, added 8 points & 7 rebounds. Battle like Bruins!

West Canada Valley was led by Hayley Yager, who was looking for her shot and hitting it. She finished with 18 points, half of them from the land where they give you an extra point for making it. Carissa Tasovac didn’t score in the 1^st, but still finished in double digits with 13. All of her points came in the middle quarters, 9 of them in a stretch of 3 minutes in late 2^nd & early 3^rd quarters. They fought hard throughout and hung with the Mounties for nearly 3 quarters.

Neat-o Stat of the Night: It’s all about how you start & how you finish. Little Falls only outscored WCV by 1 in the middle quarters, including dropping the 2^nd by 3. However, they outscored WCV 48-15 in the 1^st & 4^th quarters. It was 24-9 in the 1^st, 24-6 in the 4^th. Start strong, finish strong.