Freeman shows up, nets career high against South
Wood eclipses 1,000 points against Timon
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South's Adrian Wood lays in two of his 16 points against Amherst. Wood would score 20 against Bishop Timon-St. Jude on Friday to give him 1,012 for his career. He is the fourth Billie to go over 1,000 points. Also pictured is Amherst's Pete Caffarelli. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase photos at www.BeeNews.com

Cordell Freeman made sure he didn't miss Amherst Central's home game with Williamsville South last Thursday.

Freeman scored a career-high 44 points, hit a school-record seven three-pointers, grabbed nine rebounds and made four steals in the Tigers' 68-58 victory.

The win puts Amherst in sole first place of ECIC Division II at 6-1. South fell to 6-2.

Freeman opened and closed the game by stealing the ball from South point guard Mark Coppola and slamming it home with right-handed dunks. Freeman scored the first 10 points of the game and had 21 by halftime.

"The last time they beat us I missed the bus (and couldn't play)," said Freeman. "It was a big game and I wanted to come out and do what I had to do to pull our team to victory."

"I think (missing the bus) was part of the motivation but these teams know each other so well," said Amherst coach Mike Chatelle. "I think he really wanted it bad."

Amherst Central's Cordell Freeman drives past Williamsville South's Mark Coppola during first half action last Thursday at Amherst. Freeman scored a career-high 44 points in the Tigers' 68-58 win. The victory also put Amherst in sole possession of first place in ECIC Division II. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase photos at www.BeeNews.com

"He had a great game," said South coach Al Monaco. "You have to give him credit. He was outstanding. No matter what we tried he beat us. I thought we contested a lot of his shots that he put in. He's just a great player."

The 44 points ranks Freeman only behind Chris Gadley's 50 from the 2004-05 season for most points scored in a game for an Amherst player.

"I told the kids it's nice when someone scores like that but other kids are getting him the ball," added Chatelle. "It's a great accomplishment but really is a team win."

With Freeman and a zone defense, Amherst jumped out to a 26-14 first quarter lead. Monaco switched his team's defense to a zone in the second quarter to change up the tempo and it worked. Amherst didn't score until 3:02 left in the half, were outscored, 11-5, but still led, 31-25, at halftime.

South continued its zone defense in the third, holding Amherst scoreless for almost four minutes and took a 33-31 lead after Adrian Wood was fouled by Andre Hakeem. Wood missed the ensuing free throw, tied it at 35-35, but the Billies never recovered.

"After we took the lead, I guarantee for the rest of the quarter we had more turnovers than shots," said Monaco. "We self-destructed in a lot of ways, many times from turnovers they made. They're a good team and took advantage of that."

"We also did not advantage of them not scoring for the first four minutes," Monaco continued. "That was our opportunity. We took a lead and did nothing to create space between us and them. Once we gave up that opportunity, that was it."

South finished with 25 turnovers.

Chatelle told his team at halftime to show the defensive intensity from the first quarter in the second half.

"Their defense should not have forced us to play defense any less," said Chatelle. "I think they took that to heart."

Five other Tigers scored besides Freeman but the highest was six by Chris France. Hale (five points, nine rebounds), Mike Yannity and Troy Martin (three points each) and Hakeem (two points) also chipped in on offense. Will Gowen grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked two shots. Chatelle also liked the minutes from Pete Caffarelli and Matt Krajna.

Wood finished with 16 points but was 1-of-6 from three-point range and 4-of-12 from two-pointers. Frank Pieri added 12 points on 6-of-14 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. Scott Steimer chipped in 10 points.

Amherst, 8-4 overall, played at West Seneca East on Tuesday and travel to Maryvale for a non-league game at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

"The league is pretty competitive so we wanted to control our own destiny," said Chatelle. "It's up to us to practice hard and play hard so hopefully good things will come."

South closed out the week with a 61-47 home loss against Bishop Timon-St. Jude on Friday.

The only good that came from it was Wood scored 20, giving him 1,012 career points. Mike Mitchell ('92, 1,321), Dave Niland ('85, 1,169) and Tony Jones ('97, 1, 104) are the only South players ahead of him. He also hit three three's to give him 49 career treys, placing him 13th all-time.

Wood scored point number 1,001 on a fastbreak layup from Coppola in the first quarter. The game was stopped and Wood was given a gold-painted basketball signed by the entire team.

Wood finished the quarter with nine points as South trailed, 18-11. He added another nine in the second quarter to cut Timon's lead to two, 31-29, by halftime.

The Billies followed with its worst quarter of the season. Timon outscored South, 18-2, before P.J. Coppola (10 points) hit a three at the end of the third.

"That may be the worst, unemotional stretch of basketball we've played all year," said Monaco. "We were just there. That's about it."

Pieri was held to six shots and only scored four points. He also hauled in eight rebounds. Mark Coppola had four points and seven assists, six coming in the first half. Most of his assists were to Wood.

Timon's Steve Bryant hit 6-of-7 three's to finish with 20 points.

South (7-8) played at Lake Shore on Tuesday but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. They host West Seneca West at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

"If we come out and play hard, everything should work out," said Monaco.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com