Tuesday Roundup: Lions volleyball marches their way to County Finals with straight-set win over B-R; Tigers, Wolverines hoops each net victories

Wellsville’s Isaiah Scott, middle, provides a kill for the offense as Bolivar-Richburg’s Jaydon McDonald (5) and Chase Murray (14) defend during Tuesday night’s County semifinal in Wellsville. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg’s TJ Duschene (12) goes up for the return against the Wellsville defense of Isaiah Scott (5) and Walker Waldon (11) during Tuesday night’s County semifinal in Wellsville. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg’s Chase Murray (14) looks to return the ball to Wellsville against the defense of Lions attacker Jake Schrlau (16) during Tuesday night’s County semifinal in Wellsville. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Wellsville’s Matt Bittel, middle, sets the ball for his teammates during Tuesday night’s County semifinal against Bolivar-Richburg. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

WELLSVILLE — The Wellsville Lions have been away from action for over a week, courtesy of a first-round bye that they secured after picking up the number one seed in the Allegany County Playoffs. Since then, it was a matter of playing the waiting game until they could get back onto the floor Tuesday night. Their opponent? — Bolivar-Richburg.

Their trip into the semifinal round set up an opportunity to reach the Finals for a third consecutive season. The Lions collected a run in each set of action to set up shop for what developed into a straight-set victory of the Wolverines in front of their home crowd, as they marched their way back into the County Finals later this week with a 25-16, 25-21, 25-20 win to end Bolivar-Richburg’s season.

In the first set, Isaiah Scott served up eight straight points from the service line to get Wellsville (10-1) off and running. The dominant run continued past the midway mark of the opening set, building upon it with a 15-5 lead. But Bolivar-Richburg fought their way back to put the pressure on the Lions at the tail end of the set, but they would ultimately fall to a 10-6 set-ending run to trail by a set entering the next.

Bolivar-Richburg (6-7) would come up with a fast start themselves in the second set, as they accounted for the first five points behind a pair of blocks for points by Hunter Murray at the net, but the service provided by Scott on the other side of the net would put Wellsville on the board. The game would find its way toward a 9-9 tie before the Lions made another mid-set run, this one in the form of a 7-1 jaunt to take the 16-10 lead.

The Wolverines began another rally after capitalizing on a few Wellsville miscues on defense. It allowed them to close the deficit to a pair of points at the very end of the set, but the Lions were able to lock down the set victory to push the visitors to the brink.

Both teams would go back and forth to begin the final set of the evening, with Wellsville gaining the initial one-point edge. But then, a massive 10-1 run that broke the floodgates open for the Lions to set them apart from the Wolverines. But the fight was not over for the team in black and red, as they cashed in off more miscues by the Lions defense to account for the next six points consecutively in return on offense.

At the end of it, the Wolverines closed the gap to within three, but the hosts in orange and black would find their way to victory lane with the last two points to secure the victory, and put a halt on the late rally applied by the visitors.

Waldon led the Wellsville offense with a game-high 10 kills to go with four digs and four blocks. On defense, Scott was powered with 11 game-high digs to go with seven kills. Setter Matt Bittel dished out 21 assists at the net to help the cause.

Next week, the Lions will host the Allegany County League Championship, where they will host either No. 6 Genesee Valley or No. 2 Cuba-Rushford in a battle for the crown. The Jaguars and Rebels will do battle this evening at Cuba-Rushford, at 6 p.m.

As for the Wolverines, their season officially comes to an end as they wrap up with a record of 6-7 overall.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Scio 55, Cuba-Rushford 41

SCIO — The Tigers provided a spectacular showing of defense last week when they last met with Cuba-Rushford on their home floor. After a loss to the hands of Fillmore just 24 hours ago, they managed to bounce back in a big way over the road inside the Wighthouse on Tuesday behind another solid showing of defense to take care of the host Rebels with a 55-41 victory.

Right from the start, it was a first quarter battle that saw the Tigers (12-3) build a three-point lead. But the defense buckled down in the next eight minute period, as Scio jammed Cuba-Rushford to just five points worth of offense to end the first half with a double digit lead, one that would remain in their favor for the rest of the game.

“Scio played great defense,” said Rebels coach Bryce Ryan. “We didn’t shoot the ball well, or come out with the focus we needed to execute. We have to get back to practice and create some habits so that we cane have some better shots against a 2-3 defense that they had against us.”

Cam Loucks and Brendan Graves dominated the Tigers offense from both the field, and the charity stripe, as Loucks led all scorers with a game-high 25 points, including an 11-of-14 outing at the stripe. Graves was not far along, as he found his rhythm from outside with all four of Scio’s three-pointers to put toward a 5-for-6 outing at the line, en route to 23 points. Jake D’Arcy added in six points of his own.

The Rebels (6-8) were led by Ethan Brooks, who had a team-leading 10 points before being fouled out of the contest. Grady McCumiskey netted nine points inside, while Trent Chamberlain and Andrew Clement helped the cause with seven, and six points respectively.

Scio returns home to welcome in Arkport/Canaseraga for a 7:30 p.m. visit on Thursday, while Cuba-Rushford stands pat inside the Wighthouse to play host to Bolivar-Richburg in a 7:30 p.m. contest to finish off their season series.

Scio                     13 13 18 11 – 55

Cuba-Rushford   10   5 13 13 – 41

SCIO: Jake D'Arcy 1 4-6 6, Alex Field 0 0-1 0, Brendan Graves 7 5-6 23, Cam Loucks 7 11-14 25, Carl Finnemore 0 1-2 1. Totals: 15 21-29 55.
CUBA-RUSHFORD: Ethan Brooks 5 0-0 10, Trent Chamberlain 2 4-6 8, Alex Tylor 0 0-2 0, Julius Korytkowski 1 0-0 2, Andrew Clement 3 0-0 7, Grady McCumiskey 4 1-1 9, Dan Emerson 2 1-2 5. Totals: 17 6-11 41.
3-point goals: Scio 4 (Graves), C-R 1 (Clement).
Total Fouls: Scio 16, C-R 20. Fouled out: Brooks (C-R).

Bolivar-Richburg 61, Andover 42

ANDOVER — Right out of the gate, Andover and Bolivar-Richburg went back and forth in an opening quarter that saw the Wolverines spring out to an early three-point lead. But the offense belonging to the hosts saw some spark plugs come into play at the end of the first half and into the new half, as Landon Danaher and Camdyn MacDonell took charge to assist their team in pulling away toward a 61-42 win over visiting Andover on Tuesday.

“It was not the best showing from the Wolverines. Andover came out and hung right with us. It surprised the boys a little bit in the first half, but we switched up the defense,” Wolverines coach Jeff Margeson said. “We settled things down, and we went back to simple basketball. We started to get some turnovers our way that turned into fast breaks. Andover’s a scrappy, and very intense team. They didn't back down at all.”

Danaher made his impact known in the middle-frame run for Bolivar-Richburg (6-11), as he accounted for nine of his 17 points in the second quarter to jumpstart what was a 17-10 run of Andover to gain a 34-24 lead at the half. The lead saw an extension after the hosts in white and red made a key adjustment to their defense in the third quarter, which allowed them to score their biggest quarter on offense in a 19-13 outscoring that kept them ahead for good.

“The spark plug was Landon and Camdyn, they were both big presences,” said Margeson. “The boys didn’t really have their best night, but we got some much needed space in the third quarter. We’ll take this, and clean up the act for Friday.”

MacDonell led all scorers on the hardwood with a game-high 20 points down low. Danaher followed with his 17 points, while Riley Danaher pitched in with seven. For Andover (4-11), Spencer Cook garnered a team-leading 14 points. Grady Terhune chipped in with eight points, while Chris Walker had seven. The Panthers will have a quick turnaround tonight once more on the road, as they visit the Hammondsport Lakers for a 7:30 p.m. contest.

Next up for the Wolverines is a trip to Cuba-Rushford to finish off the season series with the Rebels. Tip-off is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start immediately following the varsity girls matchup at 6 p.m.

“The focus now is not to worry about who we’re playing,” Margeson said. “We have to get buckled down for Sectionals, and peak at the right time on the same page. There was a little fumble here and there tonight, but I was glad to see them pull it together for the W. The atmosphere over in Cuba is a tough environment, but we’ll be ready for the challenge.”

Andover                    14 10 13  5 – 42

Bolivar-Richburg      17 17 19  8 – 61

ANDOVER: Grady Terhune 3 2-3 8, Cormac Brown 2 1-2 6, Spencer Cook 6 1-1 14, Chris Walker 3 1-7 7, Preston Ordway 2 0-0 6, Gabe Halsey 0 1-2 1. Totals: 16 6-15 42.
BOLIVAR-RICHBURG: Riley Danaher 3 0-0 7, Landon Danaher 8 1-1 17, Wyatt Karnuth 2 1-2 5, Brayden Ellis 1 0-0 3, Jason Greeson 2 1-2 5, Isaac Scott 1 2-2 4, Camdyn MacDonell 9 2-3 20. Totals: 26 7-10 61.

3-point goals: Andover 4 (Ordway 2, Brown, Cook), B-R 2 (R. Danaher, Ellis).
Total Fouls: Andover 11, B-R 18. Fouled out: None.

Avoca 68, Whitesville 38

AVOCA — A 24-6 first quarter lead for the Avoca Tigers was enough to drop the sledgehammer in the game, as they held visiting Whitesville to single digits in three of the four quarters to come away with a 68-38 victory over the Blue Jays, Tuesday evening.

Despite falling behind fairly quickly in the first half, Whitesville (1-13) collected an outscoring at the start of the second half, as they provided their strongest showing of offense in the third quarter with a 15-14 margin over the Tigers. On the scoresheet, CJ Estep led the Blue Jays on offense with a team-leading 10 points. Chris Gullett chipped in nine points, while Jessie Pensyl had seven.

Whitesville heads home for their next contest on Thursday, as they welcome in the Belfast Bulldogs for a 7:30 p.m. contest.

Whitesville        6   8 15   9 – 38

Avoca 24 20 14 10 – 68

WHITESVILLE: Chris Gullett 4 1-4 9, Brendal Jackson 2 0-0 6, Jessie Pensyl 3 0-0 7, CJ Estep 4 0-2 10, Colby Gaines 2 2-4 6. Totals: 15 3-10 38.
AVOCA: Brady Brandow 4 0-0 12, Jordan Slayter 2 0-0 4, Devin Stowe 6 2-2 14, Tristian Stark 3 3-6 9, Thomas Derick 3 0-1 7, Jonathan Jensen 3 0-0 7, Michael Hoad 2 0-1 4, DeJay Hammond 5 1-2 11. Totals: 28 6-12 68.

3-point goals: Whitesville 5 (Estep 2, Jackson 2, Pensyl), Avoca 6 (Brandow 4, Derick, Jensen).
Total Fouls: Whitesville 11, Avoca 9. Fouled out: None.