Boys basketball
Confident Sweet Home hitting championship stride
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Sweet Home's run to the New York State Class A finals last year was sparked by a road win at Frontier in the middle of the regular season.

Fast forward a year later and the Panthers are hitting their stride in similar fashion.

Sweet Home outscored Frontier, 25-12, in the third quarter to open a 26-25 halftime lead en route to a 68-45 road win last Tuesday.

"It was eerily similar walking through that locker room at halftime," said Sweet Home coach Paul Schintzius. "We have so many guys on the team from last year so I looked at them and said, 'Do you remember a year ago? We were in a similar situation and we made the decision to play together unselfishly and communicate. It's up to you just like last year to do it again.'"

Schintzius said he personally challenged his top scorer, Terrell Rankin, to decide what kind of game the rest of the Frontier contest would be.

"I said to him, 'what's it going to be? Do you want to hope to win another 26-25 type of game or exert your will on them and he said to the team, 'come on guys. Let's play harder on defense and communicate out there,'" said Schintzius. "Then the rest of the team chimed in."

Sweet Home hit five three-pointers in the third, two from Earl Jackson and another two from Eric Schnirel. Point guard Steven Roberts added seven points in the quarter.

"We opened up a close game with our defensive intensity feeding our offensive intensity," said Schintzius. "We made a concerted effort to pressure the ball. We forced a couple turnovers right away and momentum got on our side."

Sweet Home also had great balanced scoring. Jackson, Roberts and Rankin each scored 14 each. Schnirel added 13. Glenroy Carr had nine.

An extremely confident Sweet Home team then marched into Clarence last Friday and used a stifling man-to-man defense to blow out the Red Devils, 83-33. Sweet Home led, 26-8, after the first quarter, 48-16, at halftime, and 68-29, after three quarters.

"It was really a team effort where defensively, our ball pressure and communication and rotation was so good I don't even think Clarence got any open looks at all in the first half," said Schintzius. "It was like we had them bottled up beyond belief."

"It was the first time all year that the entire time played with confidence in a game," he added.

Getting a huge lead early ensured Schintzius the opportunity to play several players who wouldn't normally see the floor much.

"We tried to keep one or two starters with two or three role players and when they came out, we put in two other reserves," said Schintzius.

Eleven players scored led by Rankin's 29. He had 13 in the first quarter. Carr chipped in 12. Jackson scored 10.

It was also the first time all season Sweet Home got a total team effort for the entire game.

"We've had tendencies this season where we have blown people out in the first half and had leads whittle away in the second half," said Schintzius.

Sweet Home, winners of its last six, plays at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Jamestown. The winner has a good shot of winning ECIC Division I. Sweet Home won the first meeting in December.

Sweet Home is 7-1 in league play, Jamestown has two league losses. The Panthers are 10-3 overall.

"They're going to be sky-high and jacked so we're going to have to match their intensity, especially early in the game and hopefully maintain it throughout," said Schintzius.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com