Behind Cole’s career night, Fillmore rebounds from OT loss to pick up 73-51 win over Cuba-Rushford

Fillmore senior Luke Cole (11) celebrates with his team on the sidelines after finishing the night with a career-high 33 points in the team’s 73-51 win over Cuba-Rushford on Friday. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Cuba-Rushford senior Ethan Brooks (4) floats his way to the basket, as Fillmore senior Hayden Rust, right, looks to challenge during Friday’s road contest in Fillmore. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Fillmore junior Dylan Valentine (10) drives past the defense of Cuba-Rushford senior Andrew Clement (21) on his way to the basket during Friday’s home contest. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Cuba-Rushford senior Grady McCumiskey, left, looks to work around the defense of Fillmore senior Levi Webb, right, during Friday’s road contest in Fillmore. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

FILLMORE – If there was an adjective to describe the scene at Fillmore's 61-60 overtime loss to the hands of Genesee Valley back on Wednesday, “heartbreaker” would certainly fit the bill.

Even though the result was not what the Eagles were expecting, it did bring out big things from their senior captain Luke Cole, who finished with 25 team-leading points, including four of the team's six three-pointers.

After the game, his coach Randy Crouch issued a challenge to be a little more selfish with the ball, starting with Friday's game back home against Cuba-Rushford.

“I've been challenging him to be much more aggressive,” he said. “He's such a great kid, and he's so team oriented. His teammates come first, and I've been yelling at him for passing too many shots. Against Genesee Valley, we were up by 15 midway in the second half, and he got a little too passive. I chirped at him a little bit, and I told him that we need him to help us finish these games.”

The team was put into a similar position once more against the Rebels. But this time, Cole took his coach's advice to heart.

From start to finish, the Fillmore senior dominated the floor, completing the night having missed only two shots from the field, sinking six three-point goals to put forth toward a career-high 33 point performance to lead the Eagles to a bounce back win over Cuba-Rushford by a 73-51 count, inside The Rock.

“Luke Cole was amazing tonight. He was 11-of-13 from the field, perfect from threes. You can't predict that, you can't plan for that,” said Crouch. “He wasn't passing up shots, and around him, we talked about how to use clock in the late game and still get great shots. I was proud that we learned from that in the game against Genesee Valley. That was the big deal for us.”

The six three-pointers by Cole was only the beginning for Fillmore (3-1). In the entire 32 minute contest, the Eagles recorded six more as a group – 12 of them in all. It was a statistic that the Rebels could not find a solution for as the game went on.

“Fillmore hit every shot they took. It's frustrating when we try to mix up 2-3, 3-2, man-to-man, trying anything to stop them,” Rebels coach Bryce Ryan said. “It seemed like wherever they caught it, it was nothing but net. They made the tough shots. We just have to get tighter with our help-side defense, and I think we'll be alright.”

In the first quarter, a fast and ferocious start ensued for the hosts in white and green, taking advantage of what they could to gain a 12-point lead going into the second quarter. Soon after, the lead shrunk to as little as three toward the late stages of the frame, with Cuba-Rushford (1-3) hitting their next four baskets in a row, including a deep Andrew Clement trey to cut the deficit to 26-23.

But Fillmore went back to the three-point game to branch their lead back out one more time before the end of half, going up by five.

Fresh out of the locker room, the Rebels offense began to start clicking.

After what was a back-and-forth paced opening, Grady McCumiskey caught fire by finding the basket four straight times to account for nine consecutive points to trim Fillmore's advantage to a single point — a narrow 46-45 lead. He would wind up with a team-high 15 points.

In regards to what went right in that third quarter, Ryan says they managed to work with a bigger floor.

“I think we went a little more spread out, and that gave us a size advantage to work with. Dan (Emerson), and Grady (McCumiskey), if they caught it low block, or if we spread them out, they would have more success. We did that, and they had that success attacking the basket. When they helped, they dumped it off for a lay-up. But then we had to think of something else, and it just didn't click.”

Almost immediately after McCumiskey got the Rebels to within one, Fillmore went back to doing what they did best. The offense ultimately extended their advantage back out with six straight points to go up, 56-47 into the final eight minutes.

At that point, that's when the Eagles and their captain put the bow on the game.

After wrapping up a 10-2 run in the last 2:30 of the third quarter, Cole, on back-to-back possessions, dropped a pair of early fourth quarter daggers from way downtown to give Fillmore a huge 20-2 run in just over six minutes combined, and a 10-point lead to work with.

“We talk about shooting threes, but the balance between threes that are created, and threes that are first-touched. If you look at most of Luke's threes, they were created for him,” said Crouch. “We're going to shoot them for sure. I have one guy over six foot, and he's a point guard. Tobias and Levi (Webb) knocked down some threes, some kids off the bench knocked some down. They all have the green light, but we're emphasizing creating and not first-touched.”

Ryan added on the fourth quarter, “I think they apply constant ball pressure, and I think fatigue set in a little bit. Our rotation isn't as deep as theirs is. They come at you, come at you, come at you, and they apply that pressure. Eventually, it will make or break a team. We got a couple leak-outs, where we got some points in transition, but in the second half, their rotations were tighter and we couldn't open anything up. Credit to them, their defense is phenomenal.”

In all, the game ended with Cole being mobbed by his teammates on the Fillmore sidelines, as the Eagles held Cuba-Rushford to just four points in the fourth quarter.

Will Valentine helped the Eagles cause with 12 points, while Tobias Webb chipped in with 10. On the flip side, Dan Emerson collected 14 points all inside the paint, while Trent Chamberlain had 11 to add for the Rebels, who return home to the Wighthouse to take on Canisteo-Greenwood, Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.

As for Fillmore, they too will hit the road on Monday for a meeting with the Franklinville Panthers at 7:30 p.m. For Crouch, it's a return to a basketball court he had not stepped foot on in over 20 years.

“We've tried to beef up our schedule, and we don't know much about Franklinville,” the first-year Eagles coach said. “I know Cuba has played them already this year, and they snuck out of there with a win. I'm excited to go to a gym I haven't been into in over 20 years as a player here in Fillmore. We'll roll the ball out there, and see what we can do with it.”

Cuba-Rushford    14 18 15   4 – 51

Fillmore                  26 11 19 17 – 73

CUBA-RUSHFORD: Ethan Brooks 1 0-0 2, Joey Jablonski 2 0-0 4, Trent Chamberlain 5 1-5 11, Andrew Clement 2 0-0 5, Grady McCumiskey 6 2-2 15, Dan Emerson 7 0-3 14. Totals: 23 3-10 51.
FILLMORE: Dylan Valentine 2 0-0 4, Luke Cole 11 5-6 33, Levi Webb 2 0-0 5, Isaiah Voss 1 0-0 3, Tobias Webb 3 2-2 10, Colby Wolfer 2 0-0 6, Will Valentine 5 2-2 12. Totals: 26 9-10 73.
3-point goals: C-R 2 (Clement, McCumiskey), Fillmore 12 (Cole 6, T. Webb 2, Wolfer 2, L. Webb, Voss).
Total Fouls: C-R 11, Fillmore 11. Fouled out: None.