Wednesday Roundup: Loucks smashes all-time scoring record in Scio’s 58-32 win at Belfast; Fillmore boys victorious, Andover boys fall on the road

Written By Chris Brooks

BELFAST — With one more hurdle to jump over before reaching this weekend’s Dan Barkley Showcase at Alfred State, the Scio Tigers were also aiming for their best start through 10 games since head coach Dillon McFall took over the varsity show, five seasons ago.

With an 8-1 record in hand entering Wednesday’s game in Belfast, there was another added bonus inside the pot of gold that sat at the end of the rainbow for one Tiger — a chance at re-writing the history books. That Tiger being junior Cam Loucks, who has been known to electrify the hardwood every time he has stepped onto it on the varsity level, nearly four years ago.

Last year, he managed to become a 1,000 point scorer in the team’s history books as a sophomore. A little over halfway into the 2019-2020 campaign, he would garner another prestigious record that will assist him in going down as one of the very best in Scio boys basketball history.

Needing only eight points to capture such a feat, Loucks would muster all of those points in the first 10 minutes, as he put away an off-balanced lay-in from the right side in the early parts of the second quarter to become Scio’s all-time leading scorer, netting his first eight points of what morphed into a game-high 27 point performance for the Tigers in their 58-32 victory over the host Bulldogs,

Loucks received high acclaim from both communities during a brief pause in action after sinking the basket to smash what had been a nearly 30-year old record held by Theron Mong back in the early 1990s.

After his 27-point effort, Loucks now stands alone at the top of the mountain with 1,352 career points, and counting.

“There’s not very many coaches out there that get to coach a kid that eventually becomes their program’s all-time leading scorer,” said Tigers coach Dillon McFall. “Joe (Hennessy) did it with Adam Enders when he became the County’s all-time leading scorer, and now it was Cam for our program this year. I’m really happy for him, and I am so proud of him for getting that record. When I took over the program a few years back, he was young and he was one of the couple guys I’ve leaned on quite a bit. We’ve been together for his entire high school career, and it’s a cool feeling to see this happen for him. He’s a great kid, he makes everyone around him better, and he is very deserving of this.”

Loucks’ basket came part way into the second quarter when the Bulldogs (2-9) turned up the heat on the Tigers after the opening quarter, only leading by a 14-10 count going into the next stanza of play. It was a back-and-forth pace that set up shop across the board, with Scio leading by as much as eight, and Belfast trailing by as little as two.

But in the second half, it was a different story.

The Tigers (9-1) put all their chips to the center of the poker table, as they strung together their highest performance of the evening in the third quarter while holding the Bulldogs in check across all facets, running off on an enormous 25-6 game-changing run of Belfast to pull away toward their ninth win in 10 games — the best 10-game start in the McFall Era for the Tigers.

Just three other scorers helped the Scio offense establish its presence, with Brendan Graves finding his rhythm from downtown early by hitting two of his three three-pointers in the first half to set up a 22-point effort. Jake D’Arcy chipped in with five points of his own, while Carl Finnemore had the remaining three points.

On the flip side, Belfast was led by Devin Harriger, who recorded a team-high 13 points. Stephen Struckmann provided 10 points all inside, while Carter Guilford added in eight points. Bulldogs head coach Joe Hennessy said despite the loss, it was exciting to see his former AAU player in Loucks break a big time record.

“I had the privilege of coaching Cam for one weekend in AAU a few years back,” he said. “He will do anything you ask of him. Score, rebound, play defense, the whole nine yards. Those kids don’t come along as often anymore, and he deserves everything that is coming his way. He works harder than anyone else in this county, and it shows.”

Scio will now prepare for the Barkley Showcase with two days of practices leading up to Saturday night, as they prepare for a 6 p.m. showdown with the Jasper-Troupsburg Wildcats inside the Orvis Activities Center at Alfred State. As for Belfast, they remain at home on Friday to play host against Andover at 7:30 p.m.

Scio           14  9 25 10 – 58

Belfast       10  5   6 11 – 32

SCIO: Jake D'Arcy 2 0-0 5, Brendan Graves 7 6-6 23, Cam Loucks 7 12-17 27, Carl Finnemore 1 1-1 3. Totals: 17 17-24 58.
BELFAST: Jason Drozdowski 0 0-2 0, Matt Weaver 0 1-3 1, Devin Harriger 5 0-1 13, Hunter Enders 0 0-1 0, Stephen Struckmann 5 0-0 10, Carter Guilford 3 2-9 8. Totals: 13 3-15 32.

3-point goals: Scio 5 (Graves 3, Loucks, D'Arcy), Belfast 3 (Harriger).
Total Fouls: Scio 14, Belfast 19. Fouled out: Drozdowski (BEL), Weaver (BEL).

Fillmore 52, Bolivar-Richburg 42

BOLIVAR — An early first quarter run is what got the engine moving for the Eagles of Fillmore over the road at Bolivar-Richburg, Wednesday night. But from that point on, it was a tight defensive battle up until the final buzzer. When the smoke cleared, Fillmore’s run remained at the forefront of the battleground, as they collected their seventh straight win by a 52-42 count over the host Wolverines.

With Fillmore and Bolivar-Richburg fighting their way toward a pair of near deadlocks in each half, the defenses began to hunker down at the beginning of the new half in the third quarter, when the Wolverines (4-9) trimmed down the Eagles lead to seven with a miniature 6-2 run by holding the opposition scoreless from the field.

“They’re a good team. They’re very quick with the ball, their bench is deep. We don’t have that luxury to work with, but our kids are making strides,” Wolverines coach Jeff Margeson said. “We shut them out from the field in the third quarter, but we couldn’t really capitalize on it on our part. It was an ugly quarter, and it really wasn’t much about the offenses struggling, it turned out to be a great defensive battle.”

But when it was all said and done, a quick beginning to senior Luke Cole’s game, and a big fourth quarter effort from Will Valentine allowed the Eagles (9-1) to remain in the driver’s seat for good. Cole scored 20 of his game-high 21 points in the first 16 minutes of play, while Valentine followed suit with nine of his 16 points coming in the 15-12 run that set themselves apart from the Wolverines in the fourth quarter.

“Luke Cole is a smooth player for Fillmore, and he’s a tier above everyone on the court,” said Margeson. “He plays on a different level, and he’s difficult to contain. I was very happy with our defense and the way we held him. He only had one point in the second half. Randy (Crouch) does a great job with his team getting them ready for these games to face all these types of situations.”

Cole finished his double-double evening with 11 rebounds off the glass, and three blocks. Assisting the Eagles efforts was Levi Webb, who helped the offense with seven points, while Dylan Valentine and Tobias Webb had five and three points, respectively.

Bolivar-Richburg was led by Landon Danaher, who collected a team-high 13 points. Camdyn MacDonell was not far behind, contributing 12 points, while Brayden Ellis had nine points to pitch in, all from three-point land.

Both teams will now head for the Orvis Activities Center at Alfred State this Saturday to partake in Dan Barkley Showcase festivities. The Eagles will help kick off the five-game slate with their 2 p.m. matchup against Canisteo-Greenwood. Immediately afterward, the Wolverines will take the floor to take on State-ranked Avoca at 4 p.m.

Fillmore                   18 17  2 15 – 52

Bolivar-Richburg       9 15  6 12 – 42

FILLMORE: Dylan Valentine 1 2-2 5, Luke Cole 8 3-5 21, Levi Webb 2 2-2 7, Tobias Webb 1 1-2 3, Will Valentine 5 6-9 16. Totals: 17 14-20 52.
BOLIVAR-RICHBURG: Riley Danaher 0 3-4 3, Landon Danaher 6 1-2 13, Wyatt Karnuth 1 0-0 3, Brayden Ellis 3 0-0 9, Isaac Scott 1 0-0 2, Camdyn MacDonell 6 0-2 12. Totals: 17 4-8 42.

3-point goals: Fillmore 4 (Cole 2, L. Webb, D. Valentine), B-R 4 (Ellis 3, Karnuth).
Total Fouls: Fillmore 6, B-R 17. Fouled out: None.

Alfred-Almond 74, Andover 41

ALMOND — On their home floor, the Alfred-Almond Eagles completely dominated the hardwood with their balanced scoring helping them find their way to the winner’s circle at game’s end, as they rolled past the visiting Panthers of Andover on Wednesday with a 74-41 home victory.

The Eagles hit the mark on all angles from the floor after a closely-contested first quarter of play with the Panthers, as they went on to score a pair of 20-point quarters in the next two frames to build upon their lead for good. That effort was assisted by their electric three-point game, as Alfred-Almond found the basket 12 total times from beyond the arc.

Leading the way for Andover was Spencer Cook, who recorded a team-high 16 points to pair with his seven rebounds, five steals and a trio of assists. Grady Terhune had three of the team’s five three-pointers to put forth toward a team-high 12 point performance, while recording a team-high eight rebounds. Chris Walker, Cormac Brown, Preston Ordway and Noah Greene all had three points each, while Gabe Halsey rounded off with the last point from the charity stripe.

Andover is back on the floor this Friday night, as they hop on the bus for a road trip toward a 7:30 p.m. contest with the Belfast Bulldogs.

Andover                 8 13 10 10 – 41

Alfred-Almond    12 25 24 13 – 74

ANDOVER: Grady Terhune 4 1-2 12, Cormac Brown 1 1-2 3, Spencer Cook 6 3-6 16, Chris Walker 1 1-1 3, Preston Ordway 0 3-4 3, Noah Greene 1 0-2 3, Gabe Halsey 0 1-2 1. Totals: 13 10-17 41.

ALFRED-ALMOND: Blake McMichael 3 1-3 7, Carsen Hann 3 0-0 8, Drake Guthrie 1 0-0 3, Ethan Sick 2 0-0 6, Ty Kenney 2 2-4 8, Chris Mormino 1 0-0 3, Miles Muhleisen 0 2-2 2, Isaac Little 7 2-3 17, Kevin Dunning 2 3-6 7, Jonas Kays 4 2-3 13. Totals: 25 12-21 74.

3-point goals: Andover 5 (Terhune 3, Cook, Greene), A-A 12 (Kays 3, Hann 2, Sick 2, Kenney 2, Guthrie, Mormino, Little).
Total Fouls: Andover 16, A-A 16. Fouled out: Ordway (AND).


BOYS VOLLEYBALL

Wellsville 3, Genesee Valley 1

WELLSVILLE — The fight for the top spot in Allegany County is continuing to build some steam, with the regular season coming to a close early next week. With the Cuba-Rushford Rebels overtaking the number one seed after their latest win on Tuesday, the next day brought a chance to reclaim that stake for the Lions.

They would do just that behind solid offensive efforts from Isaiah Scott and Walker Waldon at the front of the net, as Wellsville improved to 8-1 to move past Cuba-Rushford once more in the standings with a four-set victory over visiting Genesee Valley on Wednesday, capturing the win by a 25-19, 25-17, 21-25, 25-22 count.

Scott led all Wellsville (8-1) attackers with a game-high nine kills to go with eight digs and three aces. Waldon followed along with eight kills of his own to pair with a trio of aces. Mason Parks contributed six kills of offense, while setter Matt Bittel continued to dish out the helpers, racking up a game-high 22 assists at the net.

Genesee Valley (0-9) was led by Ethan Porter, who led their offensive attack with six kills and six aces. Setter Logan Torrey handed out 15 assists at the front to go with three aces from the service line, and a pair of kills.

Tonight, the Lions will welcome in the Rebels for their final meeting of regular season play in a game that will surely determine who will become the County’s top seed entering the Playoffs next week. The Jaguars are also back in action this evening, returning home to play host to Scio. Both matches will begin promptly at 6 p.m.

Scio 3, Bolivar-Richburg 1

SCIO — Patryk Pietruszka hit all strides for the Scio offense in their return to action on Wednesday, as he compiled a game-high 22 kills to go with four blocks at the net to power up a four-set victory for the Tigers over the visiting Wolverines of Bolivar-Richburg, taking the decision by a 25-18, 24-26, 25-19, 25-19 count.

Helping the Tigers (3-5) and their cause was Jude Marion, who was solid at the service line, garnering 17 service points to go with three kills on offense. Elia Travaini provided 16 more service points to pair with his 11 assists at the net, while Simge Sahbaz collected 10 assists along the way.

No statistics for Bolivar-Richburg (4-4) were provided upon publication.

Scio will looks to keep their rhythm going just down the road at Genesee Valley this evening, while Bolivar-Richburg ships out to visit Arkport/Canaseraga on Friday. Both matches will begin promptly at 6 p.m.

Chris Brooks
Previous

The 6th Annual Dan Barkley Showcase: A brief glimpse at all seven games beginning Friday at Alfred State
Next

Tuesday Roundup: Andover continues rolling along by coasting past Lady Jaguars; GV boys bounce back at home against C-S