Wallden powers East hoops over South
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Brian Wallden scored 36 points, grabbed 22 rebounds and blocked five shots in Williamsville East's 71-53 home win over Williamsville South last Thursday. Also pictured is South's P.J. Coppola. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase photos at www.BeeNews.com

Too much Brian Wallden combined with a lack of defensive effort by Williamsville South led Williamsville East to a 71-53 home win last Thursday.

Wallden finished with 36 points, outrebounded the entire South team, 22-21, and blocked five shots.

"We moved the ball well and got the ball inside to Wallden and they couldn't handle him," said East coach Dennis Belote.

Wallden scored 17 of his 36 in the first half as the Flames opened an 18-17 first quarter advantage to 30-29 by halftime. He scored nine points in the third and added another 10 in the fourth.

East scored the first four points of the second half and would take a 56-39 advantage at the end of the third.

"They played with more intensity," said South coach Al Monaco. "I was real disappointed with our defensive effort. East played very well but we seemed a step slow on everything."

Williamsville South's Mark Coppola attempts a layup in fourth quarter action. South is 8-3 in ECIC Division II. East is 7-3. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase photos at www.BeeNews.com

While Wallden dominated inside, East's perimeter game excelled as well, shooting nine three-pointers, including one from Wallden. Many of East's threes were uncontested, Monaco said.

"Them hitting nine three's means we weren't getting the job done in any area," Monaco said.

South (9-9, 8-3) shot just 1 of 12 threes and 12 of 42 from two-point range.

Frank Pieri led South with 16 points and five rebounds. East's Andy Heim (five points, 12 assists) held South's Adrian Wood to 10 points and five rebounds. Spencer McIntyre also chipped in 10 points for the Billies.

East senior Adam Kausch (six points, two threes) kept denying South point guard Mark Coppola the ball and held the freshman to a season-low two assists. Senior Nick Kanutsu (three three's) also defended Coppola.

"He slowed us down," said Monaco of Kausch. "By the time Mark got the ball, we lost our fastbreak opportunity."

East took care of the ball only committing 10 turnovers.

Justin Andreozzi, another East senior, hit two threes and had eight points.

"It was senior night and I started all seniors except for Wallden and they really came through," said Belote.

The loss was crushing for South. The Billies not only fell into a second place tie with East in ECIC Division II but it cost them a possible share of the division title with Amherst.

"It's inexcusable," said Monaco. "The last month we've played without emotion and confidence. I don't know what's happened but we better start playing as well as we're capable of."

East's other game last week was a 62-55 home loss on Saturday to St. Francis. East shrunk the deficit to two with a minute remaining in the fourth quarter but St. Francis' Chris Hoak (21 points) sank a floating baseline jumper to extend the Red Raider lead to four.

"It was a good well-played game," said Belote. "They missed very few shots. The three-pointer kind of killed us even though made five. If we could have made more late, they wouldn't have packed it in on Wallden."

Wallden finished with 24 points, 18 in the first half, grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked eight shots.

Andreozzi added 11 points and eight rebounds. Heim scored nine to go with five assists.

East (10-7, 7-3) hosts Lake Shore on Wednesday then travels to Amherst on Thursday. Both games are at 7:30 p.m. East closes out its regular season on Feb. 20 hosting Bishop Timon-St. Jude.

The East JV had better luck against St. Francis, winning 57-55.

Amherst Central

Playing three games in four nights last week was no problem for the Tigers, who improved to 9-1 in ECIC Division II and 12-5 overall.

Amherst won at Tonawanda, 65-29, in a non-leaguer on Feb. 6 then followed up with back-to-back league wins over West Seneca East, 73-45, and Iroquois, 73-50, Thursday and Friday, respectively.

"Playing three games in four nights is pretty tough," said Amherst coach Mike Chatelle. "I was worried about Friday especially playing back to back league games, but I was pleased with the way we finished."

Amherst was in control of each of the three games. The Tigers built a 40-10 first half lead on Tonawanda, outscored West Seneca East, 27-7, in the fourth to open a 46-38 advantage, and were up 38-23 at halftime and 56-41 after three quarters over Iroquois.

Cordell Freeman and Chris France were the team's main scorers.

Freeman had 24 of his 28 points against Tonawanda in the first half. Freeman and France scored 15 of Amherst's 27 fourth quarter points, including the first five points off steals against West Seneca East. France finished with a career-high 28 points and five steals, Freeman had a double double (28 points, 12 rebounds) against the Trojans. The duo also combined for six three's and 46 points against Iroquois (France 23 points, four threes; Freeman 21 points, two threes).

Viron Hale had six points and five rebounds against West Seneca East and did a great job of creating a lot of second shots against Iroquois, finishing with 11 rebounds and three points.

Amherst shot nine 43 percent (23 of 65) and made nine threes against Iroquois. Will Gowen (14 points) hit two three's and grabbed five rebounds. Andre Hakeem added eight points. Sam Schepart also hit a three.

The Tigers have already clinched a tie for the ECIC Division II title but can win it outright with a home win over Lake Shore. The game was held Tuesday before The Bee went to press. Win or lose, Amherst closes out its regular season on Thursday against Williamsville East.