Sweet Home rebounds with league win
Boys basketball
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Sweet Home's boys basketball team used a 60-51 loss to Canisius last Tuesday at St. Mary's of Lancaster in the ECIC-MMA Challenge as part of its motivation in defeating Williamsville South, 85-59, last Thursday at home.

"The kids responded well," said Panthers coach Paul Schintzius. "We haven't lost two games in a row in a while so the seniors and juniors on our team took our frustration out on them."

Sweet Home, which lost to Rochester East, 71-54, on Dec. 7, used an aggressive man-to-man defense and scored in transition, jumping out to a 10-0 lead on South in the first minute and a half, and built a 27-14 lead by the end of the first quarter. Fifteen of the 27 points came from senior forward Ali Ramadan and junior forward Donny Watkins.

Watkins finished the first half with 13 points and has 17 overall. Ramadan had 12 points in the first half and 16 overall. Senior point guard Brian Pappagallo scored eight of his 10 points in the first half.

The Panthers were ahead, 45-33, at halftime.

"Sweet Home came out more confident than we were," said South coach Al Monaco. "Once we got settled down, we played very well the rest of the first half."

Sweet Home was ahead, 61-50, with less than two minutes remaining when Jamel Werts and Richard Rush nailed three-pointers within 20 seconds. The Panthers were up 69-51 at the end of the third quarter.

"We had an open look at a three that would have cut it to eight and missed it," said Monaco. "On Sweet Home's next possession, they came down and hit a three. I thought we had a bad defensive breakdown that left them open. We then had another turnover and they hit another three."

Monaco said Sweet Home's pressure defense wore his team down late in the third quarter and early in the fourth.

The Panthers got balanced scoring. Besides Watkins' 17, Ramadan's 16 and Pappagallo's 10, seniors Werts (10 points) and Rush (nine points) and junior Brandon Hudson (seven points) also chipped in for Sweet Home.

"We've always strived for balanced scoring rather than having one kid scoring 26 and a couple others getting three," said Schintzius.

Another reason South lost is because they made only 16 of 55 shots (8 of 30 two-pointers; 8 of 25 threes).

Freshman Joe Licata scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half on 5 of 5 shooting (3 for 3 from threes, 2 of 2 from two-point range). He also grabbed six rebounds.

Phil Stasiak, another freshman, chipped in 13 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Mark Coppola had 13 points, six assists and only two turnovers.

"They hounded him the entire game and he didn't wear down," said Monaco.

Sweet Home was angry heading into the South game after not hitting key shots against Canisius.

"I thought defensively we did a good job shutting them down at some points," said Schintzius. "We struggled to find consistency on offense at key times."

Sweet Home was up, 16-15, after the first quarter and trailed 24-23, at halftime.

Schintzius said a turning point in the game occurred midway through the third quarter. His team scored nine of the first 15 points of the third quarter and led 34-30. But Canisius, led by Anthony Ragusa's 10 points, gave the Crusaders back the advantage, 44-35, by the end of the quarter. Ragusa finished with 19 points.

Canisius also took advantage inside after Ramadan picked up his fourth foul as 6-foot-5 Pat Wilson scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half.

Ramadan finished with 14 points. Werts had 13 points. Watkins chipped in nine points.

"Hopefully, this experience against a good team will harden us as the season goes on and help us when it matters the most," said Schintzius.

Sweet Home (2-2, 1-0), ranked 10th among Western New York large schools, hosted seventh ranked Williamsville East on Tuesday but the result was unavailable before The Bee went to press. They host Iroquois at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

Senior Marcus Johnson will be out five to six weeks with a deep thigh contusion.

South (1-3, 0-2) played at Iroquois on Tuesday but the result was unavailable before The Bee went to press. They play at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at West Seneca East.

"I consider these must win games," said Monaco.

The fourth annual Williamsville South Rotary Tournament is slated for Dec. 27-28 at South. At 6 p.m. on Dec. 27, Williamsville North's varsity team faces Newfane followed at 7:30 p.m. by South versus Fredonia. The finals and consolation are at 6 and 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 28.

North has beaten South in the finals the last three years.

The JV tournament, with the same match-ups, is at 2:30 and 4 p.m. on both days.

After the South varsity game on Dec. 27, the Booster Club is holding a reception at Sorrentino's. All current players and coaches and former players are invited.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com