ESG - Basketball
Open men's, scholastic women's teams win gold
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter

Williamsville's Will Regan, left, is met by a Hudson Valley player while driving to the hoop during the Western men's scholastic basketball team's 84-83 loss last Friday. Western would end up taking bronze on Sunday, defeating Long Island, 93-51. In that game, Regan had a game-high 24 points to go along with a handful of rebounds and blocks. Photo by Marc A. Deley Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Three of the Western Region's four basketball teams came away from last week's 30th annual Empire State Games with medals for their efforts, led by the open men's and scholastic women's first-place finishes.

Sunday morning's 78-64 victory over Hudson Valley at Iona College gave the open men's team its second gold in three years and avenged Western's 78-72 pool-play loss last Friday to the other team that has played for the gold the last three Games.

Western cruised to a 22-9 lead in the game's first eight minutes and pushed that lead to as high as 18 points on Greg Gamble's basket off a pass from University at Buffalo teammate Byron Mulkey with 7:25 to go in the first half. Hudson Valley then went on a 16-9 run to close out the half and trim Western's lead to just 11 points at the half, 42-31.

"We had a bad game against them the first time, but we came out strong (Sunday) and ready to play," said Gamble, who led Western in the gold-medal game with 22 points. "We lost to this team earlier in the tournament, so to come back and beat them for the gold medal was amazing."

Western kept its cool down the stretch and maintained a healthy lead for the majority of the second half, with Hudson Valley only able to pull within 10 points once in the final two minutes.

Mulkey finished the game with 14 points as the two UB teammates went a combined 9-of-12 from the free throw line in the game.

"It's so hard to play four games in a row like this, but we caught a little bit of a break by playing at noon Saturday, which gave us a little extra rest," open co-coach Rob deGrandpre said. "These guys had to play at eight o'clock last night, so that was a big advantage for us. It's come down to us the last couple of years and they got us last year, so it's nice to return the favor."

Hudson Valley piled on the motivation to win the gold-medal rematch by just edging out Western in Friday's pool-play contest, 78-72. Hudson Valley led just 39-36 at halftime of the hotly-contested affair, then held off Western in the second half to escape with the win.

Gamble and UB teammate Darwin Young each netted 10 points for Western, while Mulkey chipped in with seven.

Western put itself in good position to contend for at least some kind of medal by taking out New York City in Thursday's opening round, 83-76. Western battled back from a one-point halftime deficit as Gamble (20) and Young (12) combined for a little more than a third of the team's offense.

"We took care of New York City that first night, which was the first hurdle we had to clear," deGrandpre said. "After dropping the game Friday night, we just wanted to win Saturday so that we hopefully would get another chance to see Hudson Valley."

Gamble (22) and Mulkey (14, including four three-pointers) then teamed up to record more than half of Western's points in Saturday's 69-67 victory over Central that sealed Western's return to the gold-medal game. Western saw its five-point halftime lead erode late in the second half, but it still managed to hold off Central's rally for the win.

"At times we were inconsistent, but when we needed to make plays, we made the plays," de- Grandpre said.

The scholastic women's team, meanwhile, took the easy route to gold, sweeping its four opponents to defend last year's golden finish. This summer's squad, once again coached by Williamsville East coach Chris Durr, beat Hudson Valley in a rematch of last year's title game, 80-76. Shenise Johnson led the team with 19 points.

Western also defeated Hudson Valley in Friday's pool-play round at Westchester Community College, 91-81. Johnson once again paced Western, this time with 28 points.

Erinne Cunningham led Western with 20 points in its first win of the tournament, a 68-56 conquest of New York City on Thursday, while Alyssa Fenyn was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line in Western's 87-40 pounding of Long Island in Saturday's final game of pool play.

Western's scholastic men's team also claimed a medal at this year's Games, bringing home the bronze with a 93-51 shelling of Long Island Sunday. Williamsville resident Will Regan saved his best game of the tournament for when a medal was on the line, finishing with a game-high 24 points to go along with a handful of rebounds and blocks.

"I started off bad the first three games, so I really didn't have the confidence early on to do what I did," Regan said. "I just ran the offense and got myself into position, and my guys got it to me."

Western dominated at both ends of the court the entire game, setting the tone defensively after an early switch and using the transition game to catch Long Island off guard. While not completely a run and gun style, Western's fast-paced effort pushed the team to an extremely comfortable 45-16 halftime lead.

"We didn't think we could contain them off the dribble so we played zone early, but when they hit a couple of threes early, I said 'the heck with it' and we came out with some man to man," scholastic coach Buddy Brasky said. "That was the difference in the game. That got our guys into the game a little more physically. We got out and ran a little bit off the misses, got an early lead, and it just snowballed from there a little bit."

The game started to degenerated into little more than a shooting drill the closer it got to the end, with each team trading jumpers back and forth. Western never relented, though, and also kept pounding the ball inside to Regan.

"We thought they were one of the best teams in the tournament, so winning by this much was totally unexpected," Brasky said. "We thought they had a good chance to win the gold, so we were surprised when New York City beat them Saturday. We ourselves were one around-the-rim missed layup from going to the gold medal game."

Kenmore resident and St. Joe's cager Phil Scaffidi chipped in with eight points in Western's bronze-medal effort.

Western found itself in a hole right off the tournament's first game as it lost to New York City on Thursday, 71-60, despite trailing by just one at the half. Regan (four) and Scaffidi (two) combined for just six points in the loss.

Western then lost a heartbreaker to Hudson Valley the next night, 84-83, as Scaffidi (13) was one of three players in double figures for Western. Regan chipped in with eight points.

Western finally earned its first win of the tournament Saturday morning with its 66-63 conquest of Central. Western had to survive a flurry of Central offense late in the game to escape with the victory after leading by a large 40-15 margin at the half.

Scaffidi scored five of his eight points for the game from the free throw line, while Regan had just one basket in the win.

"We're thrilled to come home with the bronze medal," Brasky said. "When you come here, the goal is to get a medal, no matter what the color is."

The only Western team to not earn a medal this year was the open women's squad, which fell to New York City in Sunday's bronze game at the Kensico School, 71-67. UB's Stephanie Bennett led Western with 23 points, while fell Bull Rachelle Matthys chipped in with six points. For the tournament, Bennett averaged 17.2 points per game, while Matthys connected for 9.7 points per contest.

e-mail: jnadolinski@beenews.com