Billies bounce back, upset Hamburg, 76-61
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville South showed why they're a resilient basketball team.

The Billies bounced back from a 71-69 overtime loss last Tuesday to Lake Shore with a resounding 76-61 thrashing over Hamburg last Thursday. Both games were played at South.

"I'm not into sayings or anything, but I told them after the Lake Shore game 'there's an old cliché that sports builds character but there's a much truer saying that sports reveals character,'" said South coach Al Monaco. "I was going to see what their character was."

The win over Hamburg was huge for several reasons. The South roster returns only two players from last year and debuts several freshmen who start, while Hamburg has a senior-laden starting five, including 6-10 Blake McLimans. Hamburg also dominated South, 64-38, on Dec. 7 at Hamburg.

"It's really shows how mature these kids are," said Monaco. "To beat a team that you lost to by 26 five weeks ago doesn't happen often in high school. This team never stops amazing me."

The final score was not indicative of how South dominated the Bulldogs. Ahead 17-12 after the first quarter, the Billies hit five three-pointers in the second quarter (two from Mark Coppola and Joe Licata, one from Brian Webb) to jump out to a 45-29 halftime advantage. South hit eight threes in the first half and another four in the second half.

In the second quarter, Coppola and Webb each scored seven points and Licata chipped in eight points.

The closest Hamburg ever got in the second half was 60-48 in the third quarter, but back-to-back threes from Licata and Phil Stasiak bumped the Billies' lead up to 18. Licata hit a three at the third-quarter buzzer to increase South's advantage to 69-49.

In the fourth, South led, 76-53, and was scoreless in the last four minutes.

Stasiak, Licata and Coppola each finished with 17 points.

Licata hit 5 of 6 three-point attempts to give him 41 threes on the season, placing him ninth all-time at South in the category. The single-season record is 90.

Nine of Stasiak's points came off of three threes. As a team, South hit 12 of 27 from behind the arc.

Coppola dished out nine assists, passing the mark of 242 set by 1996 grad Doug LaFountain for fourth all-time at South. Coppola has 104 assists this season and 247 in his career.

Webb added 10 points.

Zach Murray scored all seven of his points in the first quarter. Tim Krempa, who played when Murray got in foul trouble against McLimans, added six points and good defense before fouling out late in the third quarter.

"He gave us exactly what we needed," said Monaco. "It was the best he played this year."

South made 17 of 36 two-point baskets and 6 of 9 free throws. They also had 21 assists.

"That means we were working the ball around," said Monaco.

In the teams' first meeting, South shot 5 of 31 threes and went 14 of 58 from the floor.

McLimans scored 27 and hit two threes to lead Hamburg.

From the way the Billies played against Hamburg, you would think they were that good against Lake Shore. Instead, South put together its worst defensive performance of the season.

"To say it was a bad defensive performance implied that we played defense," said Monaco. "Lake Shore had five kids in double figures, which meant it was a breakdown for us all around defensively."

One of Lake Shore's players in double figures was 6-foot-5 backup center Sean Bellomo, who launched a desperation three with 28 seconds remaining in overtime as the shot clock was expiring. Bellomo's first career three gave Lake Shore a 70-69 lead. Bellomo finished with 23 points.

The Billies took a 69-67 lead with a minute to play after Licata hit a three.

South came down the court, and a three from Webb went off the rim. Lake Shore made 1 of 2 free throws with six seconds left to seal the win. Tom LiSacchi attempted a heavily contested layup and it went off the rim.

South opened the game on fire, hitting four of its first five threes, including three straight by Licata to go ahead, 22-6, with 1:30 to play in the first quarter.

But Lake Shore went on a 9-2 run to end the quarter, to trail 24-15, and made it a game the rest of the way. The Eagles were down, 38-36, at halftime and 47-43, after three quarters.

Lake Shore took the lead late, 62-61, late in the fourth, but Coppola sank a free throw with 14 seconds left to tie the game at 62-62. LiSacchi stole the inbounds but his contested layup attempt laid on the rim then fell off. A three attempt from Stasiak went off the rim.

Licata led South with 25 points, including seven threes. Stasiak added 20. Murray tossed in eight points; Coppola had seven points and nine assists; and LiSacchi tacked on seven points.

South hit 10 of 31 threes and 14 of 27 two-point attempts. They made 11 of 16 free throws.

In the last five games, South has made 40 percent (53 of 132) of its three-point attempts.

South (8-5, 4-3) does not play a game until 7:30 p.m. on Friday when they host Sweet Home. Sweet Home beat South, 85-59, on Dec. 13.