South boys hoops plays better in Hamburg loss
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South played like two different teams last week.

The Billies slept-walked a 66-49 non-league loss at Depew on Dec. 5 then rebounded with a much better effort in its ECIC Division II league opener on Thursday, a 56-51 defeat at home to Hamburg.

South coach Al Monaco said his team was never in the Depew game. The Wildcats led 21-2 at the end of the first quarter and 34-11 by halftime.

“That’s a tough gym to play on,” said Monaco. “We’re not a physical team and on that court, everything gets crammed in. But I don’t think we had recovered yet from that 65-foot shot that beat us on Saturday (loss to Maryvale in triple OT). I think it hurt our confidence.”

Depew led 49-28 by the end of the third quarter.

Scott Steimer and Frank Pieri led South with 11 points each. Pieri also grabbed nine rebounds.

Adrian Wood was held scoreless in the first half and finished with eight points and eight rebounds. Wood only took nine shots in the game.

South had 23 turnovers in the game and shot 17-for-51 from two-point range and 2-of-14 three-pointers.

Monaco said his team got their heads on straight versus Hamburg, jumping out to a 12-6 first quarter lead.

The Billies were ahead 27-13 with three minutes left in the first half when Steimer, Spencer McIntyre and Mark Coppola each picked up two fouls. Afraid Wood would pick up his third foul, Monaco sat him and Hamburg made a run to cut the deficit to 28-22 at halftime.

“It really changed momentum, including a basket from them at the buzzer,” said Monaco.

In the first four and a half minutes of the third, South scored two points from the floor but tightened its defense. Hamburg tied it at 30-30 with 3½ left in the quarter and were up 36-35 by the end of the quarter.

The fourth quarter see-sawed. Pat Pidgeon came off the bench to score 11 points, including 3-of-4 three-pointers, his last giving South a 49-48 lead with 1:30 to play. After a Hamburg basket, two P.J. Coppola free throws put South ahead 51-50 with 59 seconds remaining. Twenty-one seconds later, the Bulldogs’ Matt Singer hit his only basket of the game, a 10-foot jump shot, to put Hamburg up 52-51.

Wood and Pidgeon missed a layup and three-pointer, respectively, in the last 12 seconds. South then had to foul and Hamburg hit all four of its free throw attempts.

Wood led South with 16 points and scored seven in the first quarter. Pieri added 14 points and nine rebounds.

South made 13-of-38 two-point baskets and 4-of-21 three’s.

South (0-4) hosted Amherst Tuesday but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. They host Lake Shore at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

“Other than the Depew game, we’ve been competitive in every game,” said Monaco. “You could easily flip our record to 3-1. If we keep working hard, we’ll be all right.”

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com