Barkley Showcase: Despite 50-point night from Prattsburgh’s Putnam, Jaguars avenge Christmas loss to Vikings with a paramount 80-76 victory

Written By Chris Brooks

ALFRED — It was safe to say that after the Christmas 22-point loss to the Vikings of Prattsburgh inside their building, it had left a sour aftertaste in the mouths of Genesee Valley. But they had another chance to avenge that loss later on in the season, at that point.

First, they had to weave their way around five teams — Bolivar-Richburg, North Rose-Wolcott, Arkport/Canaseraga, Perry and Campbell-Savona.

In the group, four of the games were in the win column, including their most recent matchup against the Panthers, which saw them score nearly 90 points for the second time in three games to build momentum going into their grudge match with Prattsburgh at the Dan Barkley Showcase.

It was quite evident entering the night on Saturday at Alfred State College, that the entire team wanted this game more than anything else in the world.

“We wanted to come in and deliver a knockout punch,” said Jaguars coach Lintz Bliven. “We’ve lacked energy all year long. That’s how bad they wanted this. Their noses bent the first time around in Prattsburgh, and we came into this game with the attitude to do anything by all means necessary to get a win. We were going to lock horns with them all the way to the end, and if it happens, it happens. We were going to give it our best shot.”

And they did.

Genesee Valley put together four strong showings of basketball across the board in the Showcase’s main event, as they outscored Prattsburgh in the first three quarters to keep the lead at the half, and after the third quarter. But in the remaining eight minutes, it ended up being a tilt down to the wire.

With Mason Putnam assembling another one of his career nights for the Vikings on offense, the Jaguars did everything they could to keep his supporting cast behind him away from the basket. Genesee Valley was successful with it for most of the night, but it would result in a 50-point performance from Putnam to singlehandedly keep Prattsburgh in it until the very last buzzer.

When the fog subsided, Genesee Valley broke at 73-all tie with under two minutes left with some big help at the charity stripe, sinking five out of a possible 11 at the line to prove it was just enough to squeeze by on, as they successfully went on to avenge their early-season loss to Prattsburgh with an 80-76 victory in front of a packed Orvis Activities Center crowd on hand.

“I’m very much excited about this,” Bliven said. “The kids have wanted this since Prattsburgh thumped us at their place back after Christmas. We were up by 11 or 12 going into the fourth, and we weren’t going to count that Mason Putnam kid out whatsoever. He’s an amazing player, and he just doesn’t miss. We knew we weren’t going to stop him. We had to stop everyone else in the second half.”

The Jaguars (10-3) were tested early on in the opening stages of the finale, as Prattsburgh escaped on an early 10-0 run after Cody Schneider put away the first four points underneath, with Putnam and Chris Hively connecting on back-to-back threes for the Vikings just over two minutes in. After a timeout, Genesee Valley responded with seven unanswered of their own to take the 11-10 lead behind Evan Windus, who provided five of those points that including a go-ahead three-pointer.

Prattsburgh tied the game up at 11 before a back-and-forth exchanging of baskets occurred up until the last minute of the quarter, when the Jaguars wrapped up shop with the last five points on Windus’ three-point play at the line, and then a Schneider swipe-and-go to the basket for a 22-17 lead at the end of one.

Genesee Valley began to play more closely knit defense in the second quarter and into halftime, as they saw a lead grow to as much as seven on offense, but in return, witnessed a lead get cut down to four with Hively and Putnam continuing their three-point attack with under halfway to go in the half. The Jaguars would go on to close out the first half behind more baskets from both Schneider and Windus, and Brock Ellsessor along the way to earn an eight-point lead at the half.

For his efforts, Schneider was awarded the Player of the Game at the game’s conclusion, finishing with a team-high 30 points for Genesee Valley.

“Everyone really stepped up to make all of this happen,” said Bliven. “Cody was Cody. I love that kid, and I wish I could keep him and coach him forever. Evan stepped up. I could put both of those guys up against anyone else in the state, and I wouldn’t even think twice about it. Trevor (Clark) stepped up, and Brock did a great job defensively. He wasn’t too keen on it initially because we took some of his offense away, but his main job was to pester them as much as he could.”

In the third quarter, it was a rough beginning for the Jaguars. But every cloud has its silver lining. Toward the tail end it, turned out to be an electric finish, having to work through an early 13-4 Prattsburgh run that saw them take a 45-44 lead behind a Kris Johnson trey to put them ahead.

Back-and-forth baskets eventually guide the game toward a few more ties past the midway mark, until Genesee Valley broke it open in the last two minutes to shut down Prattsburgh, en route to a double digit lead behind a 12-0 run, as Trevor Clark paid massive dividends with a nifty two off a crossover, and later, a three to assist in a 13-point, 67-54 lead going to the fourth — the largest lead by either side in the game.

The scoreless run would reach 14 straight at one point in the beginning of the fourth quarter but things would soon quiet down for the Jaguars, and heat up for the Vikings with Putnam beginning to flare up once again from outside, adding two more threes, the latter of which narrowed the deficit to four before he tied the game at the line at 73 with the biggest and-one of the night with 2:54 left to go.

In all, a 14-2 run was made by Prattsburgh to jump back into the clash.

Free throws became the name of the game in the last minute or so of regulation, as Prattsburgh started playing the foul game after Genesee Valley found their way back on top again, converting five of the last 11 points at the stripe to secure an edgy avenging of the Vikings.

For Bliven, he hopes this game will be the one that turns his season’s tide.

“I talked to Coach (Brian) Putnam after the game, and I asked him if he wanted to meet one more time. He said he’d do what they could. It would be a fitting way to end the year,” he said. “We hope that this game can turn our season around. Not that we’ve had a bad season by any means, but the bigger schools that we’ve played against already, we should have beaten. Tonight, we had 32 minutes worth of energy, and they believed in what we were trying to get them to do with our defensive scheme. Coach (Tyler) Landries was the master behind that, and he has been excellent with the kids this year.”

Following Schneider in the Jaguars scorebook was his senior teammate in Windus, who tallied 25 points. Brock Ellsessor finished with 13 points of his own, while Clark finished with nine. Riley Gordon had the final three points on a basket outside the arc.

Genesee Valley will now take nearly a week away from action before hopping back on the floor in Andover this upcoming Friday for their annual Lions Club Tournament, where they will begin the night at 6 p.m. with a first round matchup against the Alfred-Almond Eagles.

“We have the Andover tournament coming up next weekend, and then the rest of the games are all league games,” Bliven said. “All of those games are very winnable games. It’s hard to tell where we will end up seeding at, whether it’s first or 12th, I don’t care. This year, we are getting ready to make that run in Sectionals.”

Prattsburgh            17 17 20 22 – 76

Genesee Valley      22 20 25 13 – 80

PRATTSBURGH: Kris Johnson 5 0-0 11, Mason Putnam 16 11-14 50, James Crowder 2 0-0 5, Ammon Anderson 0 2-4 2, Chris Hively 3 0-1 8. Totals: 26 13-19 76.
GENESEE VALLEY: Trevor Clark 4 0-0 9, Evan Windus 9 5-10 25, Brock Ellsessor 5 2-2 13, Riley Gordon 1 0-2 3, Cody Schneider 12 4-6 30. Totals: 31 11-20 80.

3-point goals: Prattsburgh 11 (Putnam 7, Hively 2, Johnson, Crowder), GV 6 (Schneider 2, Clark, Windus, Ellsessor, Gordon).
Total Fouls: Prattsburgh 19, GV 19. Fouled out: Crowder (PRA), Anderson (PRA), Windus (GV).

Chris Brooks
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