CURTAINS DOWN: Fillmore boys grounded by Section VI champ Panama, as Panthers utilize dynamic 1st half cessation to keep Eagles at bay with 86-69 win in Class D Far West
HENRIETTA — Since day one, the first three numbers of our well-known numeral system appeared on a whiteboard inside the Fillmore locker room.
Three. Two. One.
It’s a simple combination when you see it at first glance, but for Eagles head coach Randy Crouch, it held so much more meaning than that. With the infusing of a forward slash to provide an alacritous division to its first two numbers, it then became a date.
That being March 21. The day the State Semifinals in Binghamton begins.
It has been the ultimate goal for the Eagles, on top of capturing their long-awaited Section V title for the first time in 15 years last weekend at the big house in Downtown Rochester. With the victory over the Wildcats of Jasper-Troupsburg in the Class D Finals now in the bag, they moved one giant step closer towards representing Western New York from within a campaign that will undoubtedly go down as one of the program’s most dominant and indelible seasons in recent memory.
Regardless of any end result awaiting at the end of the tunnel.
The path towards ultimate grandeur in the Empire State officially reached one of its final checkpoints — the Class D Far West Regional, back up north in the Flower City’s outskirts, at Rush-Henrietta on a Spring-esque Saturday afternoon. Obstructing their view from a potential appearance in the State Final Four were the Section VI, Class D champion Panama Panthers.
A team that also has held no bounds throughout their journey, all behind the long-standing guidance of five senior starters on the floor.
The task at hand was one of large stature, and at times, there was going to be adversity to overcome. But like they have all season, it’s never been a challenge the Eagles have shied away from. They displayed that right from the start inside the home of the Royal Comets, as both Panama and Fillmore lived and died by the three-ball, sending shockwaves throughout the gymnasium early on.
When the final numbers were tallied, both teams combined to produce 19 total three-pointers from beyond the arc. In the first eight minutes alone, the Panthers and Eagles yielded 10 of them, with the Section V champions emerging with the razor-thin advantage in their possession going forward following the clamorous fireworks display from long range.
In the second quarter however, amidst another back-and-forth exchange, a leader emerged from the smog. That being Panama’s Bryce Hinsdale, who was simply unstoppable.
With 23 of the team’s points early on, the Panthers senior erupted with a barbaric first half of basketball, as he supplemented a six-pack of three-pointers — three of them coming in crucial fashion in the final eight minute period before halftime to help subsequently turn the tide for the Section VI champions, as they went on to holster all the momentum behind their massive half-ending jaunt of the Eagles that continued to hold steady until the very end of battle to become Far West Regional Champions, concluding Fillmore’s incredible 2024-25 season in the same swing with an 86-69 victory.
“There were a couple of things that concerned me about them, and I felt like our pathway to winning was hindered because No. 1 (Bryce Hinsdale) and No. 2 (Jordan Mescall) could shoot it,” said Eagles coach Randy Crouch. “We had to make sure neither one of those guys got going. The second key was to not let No. 11 (Carter Brink) really get out and tear us apart. He was so quick and I felt like Jonah (Bialek) did a really good job on him for the most part. I knew we weren't going to stop them completely, but my hope at the end of the night was to hold them to 2-of-10 or 3-of-10 shooting from three, and really prevent one of them from going off and doing damage.”
Crouch continued, noting “We had some breakdowns where we didn't help the helper and Panama found the big man at the back door, and that's on me. We didn't work a lot on that going into this game and we did a better job of that in the second half. The difference was Hinsdale, he had six threes in the first half and had 23 points. If you take four of those threes out of the equation, we're going into halftime up by 15. I felt like we had the better of the play despite that.”
An all-out three-point blitz detonated across the first eight minute segment on the hardwood for both teams to start the final hurdle towards the State Tournament. Out of the contest’s first five makes, four of them were from long range — three stemming from the Eagles, with two of those shots coming off back-to-back drives stamped by Jameson Rhett and Cam Mucher to help produce one phenomenal start with an 11-3 lead of the Panthers from the get-go.
In return, Panama responded with the first of two three-point barrages from Bryce Hinsdale in the first half, as he helped set up shop behind the coagulation of a 9-1 run off his pair of initial threes to come back and perform one of many deadlocks within the opening stanza. When it was all said and done, the Eagles assembled one final response for the Panthers with less than a minute remaining to springboard back ahead with a narrow two-point lead entering the second quarter.
Despite little breathing room surrounding them, Fillmore made the most of it with another fast start, blossoming their advantage to as high as eight points with another application of a three-point presence, as Jameson Rhett went on to bucket two more triples — his third and fourth of the half off back-to-back drives, along with some added help from Mucher down low, to branch out towards a 36-28 lead of the Panthers.
But the momentum soon began to shift in Panama’s favor after a drawn charge by Hinsdale against Mucher deep in the Fillmore zone, as the monstrous defensive play allowed the Panthers to jumpstart a half-ending run — a 19-8 jaunt to be exact following the eight-point lead belonging to the Eagles, with Hinsdale and Carter Brink combining to register five more three-pointers to close out a 47-44 halftime lead.
One they never lost sight of again.
From the third quarter on, the Panthers turned their attention to their game down low, as the floor opened up for Carter Brink to work, as he scored 10 big points out of the team’s 19 total for the frame, pushing their advantage into double digit territory where it would ultimately remain for good.
“Jameson hit four threes in the first half and then he got hurt a little bit in the second half, and that shook him a little bit. He wasn't quite the same in the second half, and ultimately, Panama wore us down soon after,” Crouch said. “They were much bigger and physical, and they utilized a deeper bench. Their depth was better than ours. We were trying to find matchups and we thought about how we can dig into the bench and match up with them. But that ultimately was something we really, really struggled with.”
In the face of defeat, the Eagles saw Cam Mucher assemble one last phenomenal performance to lead the offense, as he finished with a game-high 26 points. Jonah Bialek concluded with 17 points of his own, while Rhett’s four three-pointers totaled 12 points. Isaiah Sisson had seven points.
In a moment of reflection, Crouch says he’s never been more proud of his team for seizing the moment, despite the outcome at a stage the program has not reached since the implementation of the 35-second shot clock back in 1995.
“I'm super proud of the guys,” he said. “Sometimes you have to seize the moment while you're at this point, and everyone's saying that we'll be even better next year. I know what it took to get here this year, and now we move back up into the Cs next year. The path gets a lot harder, and not that we can't do it, you build this crescendo and you want to see it all the way to the end. I know they're devastated now, but we'll go back to work here and see how we can respond going forward.”
Fillmore’s impeccable season on the hardwood has reached its conclusion, as Allegany County’s last team standing this winter wraps up their 2024-25 campaign with a record of 20-4 overall to pair alongside their first Section V title since 2010. The team will remain mostly unaffected going into next winter with the exception of one vital piece — the team’s lone senior, JD Bialek, who will get set to walk across the stage in just a few month’s time.
“Losing JD is huge. Now, we have to find someone that can fill that role,” Crouch said. “He's so smart and he has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. But one of the comforting things is that knowing that the guys are already asking when the next time we're getting together is. Knowing this group has tasted it, knows what we can be, and is hungry and thirsty for more, that's what you want as a coach. I was a lot more upset last year than this year, because I know we left it all out there. Last year was really disappointing, because we had more to give in an end that we didn't anticipate. We checked all the boxes we should have this year, and lost to a better team today. There's absolutely no shame in that.”
We at WellsvilleSports.com would like to extend our utmost congratulations to Coach Crouch and the Eagles of Fillmore on a tremendous season this winter.
Panama 23 24 19 20 – 86
Fillmore 25 19 15 10 – 69
PANAMA: Alex Barmore 4 2-5 10, Bryce Hinsdale 8 3-6 25, Jordan Mescall 1 1-2 4, Carter Brink 9 4-6 24, Andrew Spiesman 1 1-1 3, Tate Catanese 9 0-1 18, Isaiah Burkholder 1 0-0 2. Totals: 33 11-21 86.
FILLMORE: Jordan Bialek 1 0-0 3, Isaiah Sisson 3 1-2 7, Jonah Bialek 4 5-7 17, Tyler Voss 1 0-0 2, Jameson Rhett 4 0-0 12, Cam Mucher 10 3-5 26, JD Bialek 1 0-0 2. Totals: 24 9-14 69.
3-point goals: Panama 9 (Hinsdale 6, Brink 2, Mescall), Fillmore 10 (Rhett 4, Mucher 3, Jon. Bialek 2, Jor. Bialek).
Total Fouls: Panama 12, Fillmore 17. Fouled out: None.
