Williamsville East turns ball over against McKinley
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Brian Wallden takes a shot for one of his 38 points in Williamsville East's 72-67 overtime win over South Park last Wednesday in the Section VI Class A-1 prequarterfinals at East. The Flames' season ended with a 63-49 loss in the quarterfinals on Friday against McKinley.

Turnovers have plagued the Williamsville East boys basketball team all year and it continued against McKinley in the Section VI Class A-1 quarterfinals last Friday at McKinley.

East, seeded sixth, committed a season-high 30 turnovers against third-seed McKinley in a 63-49 loss.

Flames coach Dennis Belote said his team committed at least 15 turnovers in the second quarter. McKinley outscored East, 21-6, in the second quarter, to take a 32-22 lead into halftime. East led, 16-11, after the first quarter.

"We blew it in the second quarter," said Belote. "We had a lot of trouble getting the ball up the court. McKinley was putting a lot of pressure on us."

It didn't help that junior point guard Kevin Castine was fighting the flu and could only play 12 minutes in the entire game.

McKinley led, 45-36, after the third quarter and by as many as 14 in the fourth quarter when East cut it down to six with 1:30 remaining.

That's when a game-changing play occurred. East junior Peter Heim drove the baseline and hit a jumper to cut the deficit to four but was called for a charge. McKinley scored on the ensuing possession and went up by eight.

McKinley made 4 of 6 free throws in the final minute to secure the victory.

Brian Wallden led East (12-10) with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Mark Rutecki added 10 points, including a nice dunk over a McKinley player in the fourth quarter, five rebounds and three blocks. Roy Brown added four points, two steals, two rebounds and a block.

It was the third straight year McKinley has eliminated East in the playoffs.

To advance to the A-1 quarterfinals, East held off 11th-seed South Park, 72-67, in overtime last Wednesday at East.

The Flames led South Park after the first three quarters (15-12, first quarter; 26-20 halftime; 46-40, third quarter) but South Park's Roman Brown nailed a floater from just inside the three-point line with four tenths of a second to tie the game at 59-59.

There were three lead changes in overtime. East went up three twice courtesy of a basket by Heim and two free throws by Castine. Wallden and Castine combined for 3 of 4 free throws. Wallden finished OT 5 of 6 from the line and 7 of 10 in the game. Heim scored five.

Wallden finished with 38 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks. Mike Silvestri scored 10. Heim (seven points), Aaron Tichenor and Rutecki (six points each) and Castine (five points, six assists) also contributed.

Wallden finished the season with 502 points, becoming only the fourth player in school history to score over 500 points in a season. Wallden finished fourth all-time in scoring with 1,169 points.

This season, Wallden averaged 22.8 points and 15.3 rebounds, shot 77 percent from the free throw line (105 of 137), led the team in three-pointers made (35), hit 44 percent of his two-point baskets and blocked 42 shots. He also grabbed 336 rebounds and has over 1,000 rebounds for his career.

"He's been an awfully good basketball player for three years," said Belote. "He's going to be sorely missed."

Wallden is one of eight seniors. Other seniors are Tichenor, Brown, Chris Schiumo, Mark Guenther, Adam Burtch, Andrew Steel, and Ryan Ganzenmuller. Belote does return Heim (11.5 points, 3.2 rebounds) and Rutecki (7.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 31 blocks).