Barkley Showcase: Jasper-Troupsburg’s 16-0 run of Edison, Ark-Can’s Ford provides 2nd quarter game-changer to headline two more Steuben County wins, take 4-0 lead over Allegany County
ALFRED – For the first time in Barkley Showcase history, Allegany County was represented by a team outside of the area. But with it, it would bring a local connection into the mid-Winter event’s spotlight.
With the first three games of this year’s eighth installment being postponed due to the less-than-ideal conditions outdoors, the illumination shone down upon Belmont native Lenny Smith and his Thomas Edison Spartans of Elmira in their trip to Alfred State College to battle Jasper-Troupsburg to officially open the festivities, Saturday evening.
When he received that phone call to join the Showcase, there was no way Smith was going to turn it down.
“It meant a lot to get that phone call,” the Belmont native said. “We haven’t played a game out this way in the 20 years I’ve been at Edison. To get this opportunity to come here and play on a college court, to get that feel for the college environment with it, this is great for our kids. When I first walked out here as a coach, I got goosebumps. I have so many memories of being in basketball gyms around this area.”
As soon as those goosebumps subsided, it was game time.
A slow moving start to the first quarter settled in between both Edison and Jasper-Troupsburg, with a battle on special teams formulated at first. But soon after, the offense would come. And it was the Wildcats that dug in and delivered.
Lasting nearly the entire first eight minutes, Jasper-Troupsburg went on a run to keep Edison at a standstill, with a hot three-point game from Sawyer Troxel and some great runs to the inside from Landon Zver permitted the Wildcats to pick up a scoreless run of the Spartans, setting the tone with it immediately and never looking back to finish up what was a 52-27 victory in game three out of seven in the Showcase.
“We wanted to come out with some energy, step on the gas and get that lead,” Wildcats coach Louis Zver said. “We thought that was important. We limited them to one shot a lot of the time, which was good for us also. We’ve been really working on the 3-2 defense. We’ve spread the floor quite well with it. If we could force them to shoot outside shots, we would be successful. We moved it well offensively, and we had one guy with 15, one guy with 13, one guy with 12. It’s hard to beat teams when they have well-balanced scoring like that.”
Jasper-Troupsburg (4-7) rode the wave of momentum bright and early in the opening frame, surfing to the tune of 16 consecutive points against Edison behind a pair of triples from Troxel in the parking lot, along with six big points from Zver on the run to further the team’s cause before the Spartans were able to cash in on their first basket right at the buzzer from Dustin Morgan underneath.
The Wildcats remained out in front for the foreseeable future ahead, as they used another well-rounded effort on both ends of the floor to extend their advantage on the Spartans going into the break before wrapping up the victory in style with a 22-6 third quarter run.
“Slow starts have been the story of our season. We’ve had a difficult time battling back. A couple of kids off the bench really stepped up for us. It’s the back end of our season now, and some guys off the bench are starting to see some more minutes. We’ll see if we can use this to get a victory.” said Smith.
Troxel’s early three-point presence for Jasper-Troupsburg earned him Player of the Game honors, knocking down four of them in all for 12 points. Zver says that after missing most of the season due to injury, it was a great sight to have No. 5 back on the hardwood.
“It’s good to get Sawyer back,” he said. “He got hurt in the first four minutes of the first game we played this year, so we haven’t had that extra scorer out there. We graduated five seniors last year, and aside from that, we’re just getting better every day. I think we found something in our 3-2 defense today, and we’ll just look to keep building on that.”
Leading the scoring was Landon Zver, who recorded 15 game-high points. James Ainsworth chipped in with 13 points, while Jackson Hayes had six.
Edison was led by Jaden Bennett and his team-leading nine points.
After a 10th straight win for Steuben County dating back to last season, Genesee Valley/Belfast and Arkport-Canaseraga were next up in the Showcase’s nightcap, with major positioning in the Class C3 Sectional field up for grabs crossing the midway mark of the season.
In the game’s early stages, points were difficult to come by as both teams buckled down on the defensive end to limit the chances each would see on the attack. It would allow Genesee Valley/Belfast to spring out on top, but the lead was disrupted by the Wolves a short time later with a tide-turning moment.
Ibra Ford came to the rescue.
A second quarter surge was conducted by the Arkport-Canaseraga sophomore, as he went forth and scored the first 10 points of the frame — nine of which off three enormous three-pointers to give them a lift into the lead going into halftime. With it, came another opening that Caden Carey would provide in the same swing, posting the majority of his game-high 23 points across the second half to ensure a 10th victory of the season for the Wolves in a 61-42 win over Genesee Valley/Belfast.
“Ibra has that will to win. He’s so motivated. That was the JV backcourt last year that won counties. We knew that bringing them up, they were going to do a lot of damage,” said Wolves coach Max Houy. “Ibra starts sometimes, and he also comes off the bench and gives us that sixth-man boost that we need. He’s so humble, and he does anything we need him to do. There’s no ego to him.”
Before the Wolves ran the table in the second quarter, they would have to work through a first quarter filled with defense and special teams alongside Genesee Valley/Belfast (5-5), starting with a long Kadin Logue three-pointer that allowed the team in black to climb out front first after a series of interchangeables permitted a 10-7 lead going to the second.
The momentum was held by Genesee Valley/Belfast, but Arkport-Canaseraga (10-2) flip-flopped the propulsion in their favor completely behind Ford’s guidance after knocking down back-to-back threes to open the frame before adding another basket down low to begin a run that saw them score eight of the first nine points.
Ford then caught on fire to close out the first half, scoring a grand total of 10 points from within their 18-5 run of Genesee Valley/Belfast to take a 25-15 into the break.
“We played a really good team. They shot the ball very well,” said GV/Belfast co-coach Joe McCumiskey. “It’s hard to beat a team that shoots really well from outside. Our transition defense was not good tonight, and we did not rebound the basketball. That is something that we have to figure out going forward.”
In the second half, the Wolves picked up right where they left off with Caden Carey assuming control of the offense with his Player of the Game performance, posting 15 of his 23 points in the last two quarters — 11 of them in the third quarter alone to keep the hot shooting ablaze with a 41-25 lead going into the fourth quarter, hanging onto it until the end to record the victory.
“It was our pressure on the defensive end and pushing the pace of the game,” said Houy. “We have a lot of speed, a lot of guards and some bigs that can get up the floor. Genesee Valley/Belfast is very athletic, but we were able to just push the pace more than them tonight. We try to pressure and we have all this speed and all the shooting on the offensive end to create our playmaking, but defense wins championships. We try to use all of our guys to create pressure.”
Houy added on the team’s first time playing in the Dan Barkley Showcase, saying “It’s an honor. This is our first time here. It’s for an amazing cause in memory of a fantastic guy. We’re just honored to be here. The kids love playing on a Division-III floor. They love playing for a great cause.”
Following behind Carey and Ford for the Wolves was Devin Moran, who chipped in with 11 points. Tim Vilkhu had nine points. For Genesee Valley/Belfast, Kadin Logue and Ian McKenzie each bucketed a team-high 14 points. Jacob Borden provided six points.
Listed below are the next games for the three local squads that were in action:
Arkport/Canaseraga: vs. Campbell-Savona, Friday 7:15 p.m. (at Arkport)
Genesee Valley/Belfast: vs. Andover/Whitesville, Tuesday 7:30 p.m. (at Belfast)
Jasper-Troupsburg: at Addison, Wednesday 7:15 p.m.
Thomas Edison 2 10 6 9 – 27
Jasper-Troupsburg 16 12 22 2 – 52
EDISON: Landon Allen 1 0-0 2, Riley Cobb 1 0-0 3, Dustin Morgan 3 0-0 6, Marcquis Bradley Jr. 1 0-2 2, Jaden Bennett 3 2-6 9, Talon LaPlante 1 3-4 5. Totals: 10 5-12 27.
JASPER-TROUPSBURG: Braylon Lawson 1 0-1 2, James Ainsworth 6 1-2 13, Sawyer Troxel 4 0-0 12, Jackson Hayes 1 3-8 6, Zach Baker 1 0-0 2, Landon Zver 7 0-0 15, Matthew Foster 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 4-11 52.
3-point goals: Edison 2 (Cobb, Bennett), J-T 5 (Troxel 4, Zver).
Total Fouls: Edison 10, J-T 9. Fouled out: None.
Genesee Valley/Belfast 10 5 10 17 – 42
Arkport-Canaseraga 7 18 16 20 – 61
GV/BELFAST: Kadin Logue 5 3-4 14, Lannden Tilton 0 1-2 1, Matt Cater 0 4-6 4, Ian McKenzie 5 1-1 14, Thayne Cobb 0 0-2 0, Owen Heaney 1 0-0 3, Jacob Borden 3 0-4 6. Totals: 14 9-19 42.
ARKPORT-CANASERAGA: Devin Moran 3 5-5 11, Caden Carey 8 4-7 23, Ibra Ford 4 1-2 12, Alex Vilkhu 1 0-0 2, Kohler Preston 2 0-0 4, Tim Vilkhu 3 3-3 9. Totals: 21 13-17 61.
3-point goals: GVB 5 (McKenzie 3, Logue, Heaney), A-C 6 (Carey 3, Ford 3).
Total Fouls: GVB 16, A-C 14. Fouled out: McCumiskey (GVB).
