Ellicottville Boys Basketball Advances
Ellicottville Boys Advance to Basketball Semifinals
#1 Seed Eagles Tame Sherman Wildcats in Overtime
Photos / Rich Rumfola
It’s possible that even the legendary hunchback Quasimodo never won anything as ugly as the Ellicottville Eagles’ 38-32 overtime victory over the visiting Sherman Wildcats in the opening salvo of high school hoops playoffs on Friday, Feb. 26 at Ellicottville Central School.
The important thing to remember is that although their on-court play in this quarterfinal matchup was not particularly pretty, this was no beauty contest and at the end of the day, the Eagles played effectively enough for the #1 seed in this year’s Class D playoffs to eke out a win and advance to a semifinal showdown versus #4 seed Panama, Monday, Feb. 27 at Jamestown Community College.
Immediately following the opening tip off, physical play that referees maybe should have reined in a little sooner began to manifest itself into foul trouble for the homesteading Eagles, as most of the team’s starting front court ended up on the bench with two early fouls in the first quarter.
“We came out really slow and stale, and it took us awhile to get our heads into the game,” admitted Eagles point guard Caedon Wyatt. “We were giving up too many possessions - giving up way too many chances to score.”
As the two teams traded baskets and hard fouls during the early stages of the game, Eagles scorers fell silent over the final 5:29 of the second quarter and the #7 seeded visitors went on a 7-0 run to end the first half with a 19-14 lead.
“Early on, we weren’t rebounding,” said Ellicottville Coach Dave McCann. “When you give a team two, three or four chances to shoot at the basket in the same possession, your defense gets tired and you kind of lose a little bit of steam and I felt that was happening a little too much in the first half.”
It wasn’t necessarily that the Eagles shot that poorly; the lack of points was due more to the fact that no offensive rhythm was going to develop with the chippy, aggressive play happening on both sides of the ball, and their early foul trouble meant that two of the Eagles team leaders, center Gavin Dietrich and forward Owen Chudy had to spend loads of time sitting on the bench to avoid further penalties.
If you consider that Chudy and Dietrich are 1-2 on the points scored list for Ellicottville and they also hold the top-two positions in rebounding and blocked shots, you can start to imagine the extent to which the football-style game affected the high-flying Eagles… by having this pair sitting on the sideline.
Despite the time he spent off the floor, Chudy still ended the game tied with senior guard Gian Nuzzo for the team lead with 8 points - and on a night when the team only scored 38, that means Nuzzo and Chudy accounted for 42% of the team’s total points!
As for Dietrich, the 6’-5” center had his night cut short with an ankle injury soon after his pair of jump shots on back-to-back possessions cut the Wildcats’ lead to 26-20 as time was running out on the third quarter. With a number of starters into and out of the game, McCann had plenty of opportunity to put his substitutes out on the floor and find out what his bench was capable of in a “win-or-go-home” atmosphere.
Probably the biggest shoes for any of McCann’s subs to fill came for senior guard Brad John, who replaced the team’s floor general and best defender, Caedon Wyatt, when Wyatt fouled out of the game with a minute to go in regulation time. Having crossed oceans of time watching this one from the sidelines, John entered the contest for the most meaningful five minutes of the season and scored his first bucket of the game in overtime to give his team a lead they would never give back.
“Brad’s had a tough couple weeks offensively for us and he’s wearing it pretty heavy on his shoulders,” McCann explained. “Tonight he got that big layup in overtime that gave us the lead - that really energized us - I couldn’t be happier for Brad; he works hard and it’s great to see him finally get that success.”
John added a pair of free throws later in the overtime period to extend the Eagles’ lead to two possessions and defensively, the Eagles never missed a beat with John playing in place of the starter, Wyatt.
“I always, always, trust my teammates and trust the process,” John said after the game. “So when Caedon fouled out - he’s one of our best defenders - I knew that I had to step up and be a leader and do whatever I could to help my team succeed.”
Sophomore guard Carter Smith also stepped up big-time in this one, with the game of his young career. It seemed as though the youngster aged in front of your eyes with his lights-out defensive play - including four steals and four rebounds. Smith’s performance was easily equal to that of anyone else on the floor in this contest - he also chipped in with seven points.
The Eagles played such a smothering, aggressive defense in the late stages of the game, it seemed as though the Wildcats wouldn’t have been able to buy a bucket at Kentucky Fried Chicken. In the fourth quarter and four-minute overtime period combined, Sherman only managed a total of 6 points - four free throws and a layup - and that’s it!
Senior Braylon Wyatt guarded their three-point shooter in the second half and through the overtime and although they came out nailing three’s in the first half, it was like Wyatt locked that kid in a closet after halftime and didn’t let him out ’til it was all said and done.
Center Zac Clark proved to be an integral part of Coach McCann’s defense down the stretch, as the 6’-4” senior hauled in 6 rebounds off the bench and took a charging foul at one of the crucial moments in overtime.
Along with rock-solid defensive play and his team-high 8 points scored, it can’t go without being noticed the masterful job Nuzzo did of charming the entire officiating staff into seeing things from the Nuzzo perspective. It was almost as if he politely suggested to the referees that they should call fouls against Sherman players, at which point they promptly obliged, and at the most crucial point in the contest! Bravo, Giancarlo!
With the win, the #1 seed Ellicottville Eagles advanced to the Class D semifinal round on Monday, Feb. 27 against the #4 seed Panama Panthers.