Vogel’s MVP performance allows Lions to capture IAABO crown over Ark-Can, outlast Carey’s career-high night for Wolves; B-R’s Barkley smashes school record in double-OT defeat to Finney
WELLSVILLE — You could use a wide variety of adjectives to describe the final day of this year’s installment of the Allegany County IAABO Tournament in Wellsville, Saturday afternoon. Frantic, dramatic, electrifying are just some of the words from our English language to put the Consolation and Championship games of the annual winter tournament into perspective.
Especially at the 12th hour of the time cycle, where Bolivar-Richburg and C.G. Finney commenced the proceedings in a Consolation round battle that will go down as perhaps one of the greatest performances in the tournament’s chronicled history.
Bolivar-Richburg’s Landon Barkley and C.G. Finney’s Ethan Krog displayed an incredible duel for the ages, as they both went the extra mile with their respective team on their shoulders from start to finish in a game that saw not one, but two overtime periods take place — times where they were needed more than ever.
Shot after shot and drive after drive, the two senior sharpshooters combined to record 85 of the game’s 141 total points, which included a stark-raving mad hayday from three-point range too, with both congealing together 17 triples out of 25 total for the game. After the Falcons went on to ultimately force double overtime right at the end of the first extra session, Barkley and Krog went on to put together one final encore performance for the crowd in attendance.
When it was all said and done, Krog emerged victorious, as he knocked down nine of the team’s 10 total points in double overtime, including a barrage of three-pointers down the stretch to seal the victory for the Falcons, as C.G. Finney went on to outlast Barkley and his school-record breaking performance for the Wolverines with a 74-67 win.
“I’ve been incredibly blessed to have some great kids over the years with Aydin (Sisson) last year, and now Landon this year. They simply do not make better kids than that,” Wolverines coach Justin Thomas said. “Everything that he has gone through all week, he still gave his maximum effort despite being sick all week. To put on a performance like he did today, it’s a testament to who he is as a person. It was exciting to watch, and he should be in store for some great accolades this year as a guy that is so deserving of it.”
As for how the two teams got to that double-overtime threshold? A back-and-forth exchange across the first half between both squads helped set the stage for what would become a 28-22 halftime lead for the Wolverines (3-3) over the Falcons. In the second half, more of the same settled in once again, with the Wolverines remaining out front behind two key baskets from Brayden Zilker on back-to-back drives before the Falcons knocked down a buzzer-beating triple to carve the deficit back down to a single point going into the last eight minutes.
In the fourth quarter, both teams were provided an opportunity to make a break, with the Falcons feeding off their buzzer-beating shot by continuing a scoreless run that consisted of 13 straight points, incepting with that basket, as Krog took the lead for the offense behind two big buckets from downtown to score a 50-41 lead of Bolivar-Richburg in the first three minutes.
The Wolverines shook out of their funk as time progressed however, as they fired right back 12 straight points themselves — all from long range, as Barkley and Julian Weekley joined forces to knock down four straight three-pointers from downtown to light the path back in front of the Falcons with a 53-50 advantage in hand.
With under a minute left to play in regulation time, C.G. Finney navigated their way back out in front going down the stretch, with plenty of fouling and timeouts being taken to occupy the last moments.
At the 12-second mark, following the conversion of one shot out of two chances at the charity stripe to score a 59-56 Falcons lead, the Wolverines were graced with one final chance to create level playing ground. With it, Barkley was given the ball to do what he had done best all day long — knock the three-ball down. As ice coursed through his veins, Barkley went on to sink his game-tying shot through the twine just before time expired, forcing a 59-59 deadlock and the first of two overtime periods.
The duel between Barkley and Krog carried into the final two sessions of basketball they were offered in the afternoon, with Krog taking matters into his own hands to get the Falcons back from behind and into the lead following a massive turnover directly underneath the Bolivar-Richburg net landed in his hands, driving to the rim for the game-tying score to force a second overtime.
Krog would go on to aid the Falcons offense one more time with the orchestration of a 10-3 double-overtime run while Bolivar-Richburg entered foul trouble down the stretch, as they went on to provide the game’s final word with their eventual Consolation game victory.
“The boys responded in a big way,” Thomas said. “We got off to a much better start than yesterday, which certainly helped us out. A rough close to the first half and the beginning of the second half is what really did us in. When we get everyone back and healthy and put all four of these quarters together, it will be interesting to see what we can do. I’m looking forward to seeing how much more these guys can grow. We’ve come a long way since the start of the season. We’ve given maximum effort against two high quality teams this weekend.”
Krog finished with a game-high 44 points for the Falcons. As for Barkley, he countered with 41 points of his own — 30 of those points off 10 three-pointers, which has established a brand new school record for Bolivar-Richburg, as he surpassed Adam Jones and his previous record of seven, for the most in a single game. Barkley also pulled down 10 rebounds and chipped in five assists and four steals to complete his historic performance.
Following behind was Zilker, who had 10 points of his own to add alongside eight rebounds and a pair of steals, while Waide Karnuth grabbed 10 rebounds to further the special teams cause.
To finish off the afternoon, Arkport-Canaseraga and Wellsville, off two close decisions from the previous night, came together for a close quarters engagement of their own for the Allegany County IAABO Tournament crown. For much of the battle, the Lions remained in control, but the Wolves never backed down one bit under the leadership of Caden Carey, who did everything in his power to keep his team within striking distance straight down to the wire.
Despite an incredible 38-point effort from Carey — a career-high, it was Wellsville that remained vigilant on defense to keep Arkport-Canaseraga at bay behind several key blocks and steals, along with some outstanding work at the free throw line, to come away as Allegany County IAABO Champions behind an MVP performance from Ty Vogel in what was a 60-55 victory.
“Arkport-Canaseraga was really tough tonight. I felt we did a good job of shutting down one of their shooters in (Devin) Moran, but Carey was really tough to slow down,” Lions coach Tom Muska said. “It was an odd thing. Normally a 16-foot fadeaway off the dribble is the shot we as a defense want them to take. But that’s his favorite shot, and in a way, we let him get too comfortable. But our guys hung in there and came together for a great team effort. The Seniors did a good job of closing out another win late.”
Right from the start, the Lions (3-2) came out swinging behind the guidance of Vogel, who wound up scoring the team’s first seven points to lay down the foundation immediately. With their defensive pressure continuing to keep the Wolves on their feet, Trent Green was the next Lion to add his contribution into the mix, sinking a triple from the top of the key to help finish up a 14-10 first quarter lead.
Wellsville’s lead would blossom to as much as 10 points during the second quarter, with Vogel and his tremendous first half efforts charging the way forward again following two more triples from inside the wing, setting up an eventual 30-23 halftime lead.
With the momentum now firmly in their possession, the floodgates began to open for the hosts in white and orange behind a hefty effort from the offense that jump-started an early 10-3 run. Because of it, the Wolves made the full transition to a full-court press on defense, allowing them to cash in on a couple of crucial turnovers to cut the deficit down to six, but a buzzer-beating shot from Vogel inside pushed the Wellsville lead back out to 10 heading into the last eight minutes.
Arkport-Canaseraga went all in on a fourth quarter of epic proportions, posting a 21-point frame that saw them knock down a large deficit of 12 points to just five during their two-minute drill against the Lions, with Caden Carey continuing to drive to the rim in the midst of Wellsville’s defensive pressure, along with a big shot from outside.
The foul game would proceed to commence in the last minute of play, with the Wolves knocking down one more triple off the hand of Devin Moran to pull within a possession, but they eventually would run out of time, as two big free throws from Aiden Cowburn with under two seconds remaining allowed the Lions to lock up shop and capture this year’s IAABO crown.
Vogel led all Wellsville scorers on his way towards MVP honors in the tournament, as he posted a team-high 22 points. Following up was Trent Green, who scored 15 points of his own. JJ Howard finished with eight points.
“We have a lot of multi-sport athletes and sometimes, it’s not until Christmas when you get the right feel for the basketball again,” Muska said. “Tyler is starting to get his feel back again and when his shot is on, he is a hard kid to try and slow down. It was definitely good preparation for us going forward. It always feels nice to leave a tournament with a new shirt. Hopefully, we can take this good energy into Corning and make some shots early, because we will need it.”
For the Wolves, Moran concluded with eight points behind Carey, while Fred Blumenthal had four points.
Listed below are the next games for all three local teams on their respective dockets after the weekend:
Wellsville: at Corning, Monday at 7 p.m.
Arkport-Canaseraga: at Hammondsport, Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.
Bolivar-Richburg: vs. Genesee Valley/Belfast, Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Consolation
Bolivar-Richburg 13 15 13 18 5 3 – 67
C.G. Finney 10 12 18 19 5 10 – 74
BOLIVAR-RICHBURG: Julian Weekley 2 0-0 6, Maddox Davison 2 1-2 5, Landon Barkley 12 7-9 41, Brayden Zilker 4 0-0 10, Waide Karnuth 1 0-0 2, Mason Baldwin 1 0-0 3. Totals: 22 8-13 67.
FINNEY: Pablo Molleja 2 2-4 7, Olin Pickens 2 0-2 4, JuJu Hunley 0 1-2 1, Ethan Krog 14 9-11 44, Braelen Broome 5 6-6 18. Totals: 23 18-25 74.
3-point goals: B-R 15 (Barkley 10, Weekley 2, Zilker 2, Baldwin), Finney 10 (Krog 7, Broome 2, Molleja).
Total Fouls: B-R 19, Finney 11. Fouled out: Davison (B-R), Zilker (B-R), Karnuth (B-R).
Championship
Arkport-Canaseraga 10 13 11 21 – 55
Wellsville 14 16 14 16 – 60
ARKPORT-CANASERAGA: Devin Moran 3 0-0 8, Caden Carey 14 9-9 38, Alex Vilkhu 0 3-3 3, Kohler Preston 0 2-2 2, Fred Blumenthal 1 2-4 4. Totals: 18 16-18 55.
WELLSVILLE: Aiden Cowburn 1 2-2 4, Karson Grover 3 0-0 6, JJ Howard 3 2-4 8, Ty Vogel 9 1-2 22, Nick Germain-Tardieu 0 1-2 1, Trent Green 6 2-4 15, Derek Coleman 2 0-0 4. Totals: 24 8-14 60.
3-point goals: A-C 3 (Moran 2, Carey), Wellsville 4 (Vogel 3, Green).
Total Fouls: A-C 12, Wellsville 18. Fouled out: None.
