Class C Braves are three wins from a state championship thanks to a tough February schedule and their beefy front court.
HENRIETTA, N.Y. – They do things a tad differently in Avon.
The Braves didn’t get the memo that boys Class C basketball teams are supposed to have a 6-foot-2 center, a 5-11 power forward and a bunch of 5-foot-9 guards on the court.
And they apparently haven’t figured out that playoff teams are supposed to have a “signature win” on their resume.
Instead of having a victory that the Braves can point to as proof of their legitimacy, they have a signature setback. A 55-43 loss to Bishop Kearney cost Avon its perfect record a month ago, but playing solid basketball against a team that will represent Section V in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class B quarterfinals on Saturday proved that Avon would be a tough out the rest of the way.
The Braves (24-1) have done nothing but win since the Kearney game and are three wins from a state Class C championship. The journey continues Saturday against Randolph of Section VI at SUNY Brockport, with the winner moving on to the semifinals in Glens Falls.
Scheduling Kearney (20-3) as a non-leaguer was part of Rob Fries’ plan for toughening up his team. The coach started dialing up Class B coaches shortly after a 22-1 season ended last winter with a 45-38 loss to Gananda in a post-sectional qualifier for the state tournament.
“I loaded our February schedule up,” he said this week. “I got Dansville (12-8 regular-season record) twice, Livonia (14-6) and Kearney, who I knew would probably beat us. I wanted us to regain our focus and get to where we needed to be playing going into sectionals.”
It worked. Avon muscled its way through sectionals and then defeated a very pesky Harley Allendale-Columbia, 73-61, on Tuesday at Rochester Institute of Technology to reach the state tournament and put to rest the ghosts of seasons past.
“This was a hurdle,” Fries said. “We lost last year on this floor and we talked about that coming over. I don’t think we played our best game here last year and Gananda beat us. They had guys who knocked it down from the outside and it gave us trouble. It was like déjà vu at halftime. But the guys came out in the third quarter and I always say, ‘Every possession is your life. You’ve got to get every rebound and loose ball.’”
Getting every rebound isn’t much of an issue for the Braves, whose starting front court consists of 6-5 John Housel, 6-4 Matt McBride and 6-3 Matt Phillips. The first man off the bench many nights is 6-5 junior Corey Upright, and the four big men account for about 60 percent of the team’s scoring and 70 percent of the rebounding.
With height like that, it’s tough to tell whether Avon can knock down any 18-footers because their next attempt from that distance this season would be just about their first.
“We see a lot of zone, so we work the high post and try throwing it in low,” said McBride, a four-year varsity player. “We don’t need 15-footers. My job is to rebound and play defense. And rebound some more.”
More Basketball: Getting down to the elite eights
The Braves were not the only team to take the court mid-week to pursue places in the state quarterfinals, though their tussle with Harley Allendale-Columbia must have felt like a breeze compared to what some other top boys teams endured:
* Greece Athena dug itself a 20-point hole midway through the third quarter before rallying to defeat Gates Chili in overtime, 68-61, in the Section V qualifier and earn the right to play Niagara Falls – ranked No. 1 in Class AA – in the quarterfinals.
The 21st-ranked Trojans managed to score only 12 first-half points, fell behind by 35-15 and then turned it around behind junior guard Casey Sheehan, who scored all 23 of his points after halftime and finished with seven assists. He made two three-pointers in the final 30 seconds, the latter tying the score at 52 and forcing overtime.
"We realized that we came a long way this season," senior forward R.J. Kalb told the Democrat and Chronicle. "We didn't want to let go of our season."
* Section IX Class B champion Burke Catholic scored the final eight points of OT to squeeze past Lincoln Hall, 67-64, in a first-round NYSPHSAA tournament game. Four Lincoln turnovers and six free throws by guard Matt Cooney rallied Burke back from a 64-59 deficit in the extra period.
* Oyster Bay moved within a game of Glens Falls by winning Long Island Class C bragging rights over Port Jefferson, 60-58.
"I feel amazing. Nothing can take me down from this," Oyster Bay's Bryan Van Cott told Newsday after his jumper with 5.3 seconds won the game.
It was the final game for Port Jefferson coach Keith Buehler, 41, who announced before the season that he was retiring.
* Newburgh Free Academy returned to full strength and to a place in the quarterfinals vs. No. 4 Mount Vernon by dispatching Section IV Class AA rep Vestal, 89-67. Marcus Henderson scored 16 points for Newburgh, which opened the second half on a 17-for-21 shooting bingle to break open a 48-40 game.
Mike McLeod, back from a one-game suspension after a misdemeanor arrest last week for obstructing governmental administration, finished with 16 points.
Mount Vernon eliminated Newburgh from the 2006 and 2007 state tournaments.
* Class A No. 2 Peekskill limped to a shaky, 47-36 victory against Norwich in the first round of the boys tournament but at least got back Daquan Brickhouse.
Daquan Brickhouse, Peekskill
File Photo By Lonnie Webb
Brickhouse suffered a severe ankle injury last week as Peekskill won its fifth consecutive Section I championship. He scored only six points vs. Norwich but did manage to log 30 minutes and hand out eight assists. Five of his points came down the stretch to put the game away.
"We battled them, gave them everything they wanted — took a team that averaged 77 and held them to 47," Norwich coach Mark Abbott told The Press & Sun-Bulletin. "Unfortunately, we're a team that averaged 66 and worked hard to get 36."
* No. 17 Albany CBA put all the pieces together for a 62-49 victory over No. 2 Albany Academy in the Section II Class AA final. CBA, making its seventh straight appearance in the final, won its first championship since 2006 as 6-foot-8 senior Andrew Stire finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds and Kameron Ritter added 14 points.
CBA shot 11-for-21 from the field in the first half and 13-for-15 from the line in the second half. Albany Academy suffered from 7-for-20 shooting from the free-throw line, including 2-for-7 in the first half.
* In Section V’s Class A state qualifier, No. 13 Batavia edged No. 22 Pittsford Sutherland, 56-46, as sophomore Andrew Hoy made three of four three-pointers and scored 17 points at Blue Cross Arena, where he made seven threes in the second half of the sectional final four days earlier..
Girls Basketball: Will this be Sherman’s year?
Sherman KO'd previously unbeaten Clymer on Saturday for its third girls Section VI Class D championship in four years, during which time the Wildcats are 83-11. Sherman had the misfortune of having to take on solid Batavia Notre Dame (2006) and Romulus (2007) teams in past state quarterfinals, but now it’s the Wildcats who enter the elite eight with dangerous balance.
Sherman will put a quartet of four-year starters on the floor Friday against Jasper-Troupsburg at Erie Community College, and both Rachel Ottaway and Bethany Gribble surpassed 1,000 career points late this season.
Still, Sherman will be battling the odds. Section V girls are 43-10 against their Buffalo-area counterparts in the quarterfinals since 1997.
Football: Syracuse University coach talks up New York
In a speech during the Section IV Football Coaches Clinic, new Syracuse University coach Doug Marrone said New York is critical to his recruiting strategy.
"We want to make sure the state is our home ground," he said. "I cannot stand for the life of me people saying how bad New York football is. It's bull — it's bull! And you know what? I am going to prove they're wrong when I get a roster filled with New York kids and we're beating other teams around the country.
"When I start getting 10, 12 kids a year in this state, we'll be a hell of a football team. One thing I know about this state, we have some tough guys in this state."
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.
