By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — It was a matter of getting back to what they do best, and for the Aquinas boys basketball team that meant improving their efforts when the opponent possesses the ball.
Defense keyed a decisive second quarter, and the Li’l Irish went on to defeat the Niagara Falls Wolverines (VI), 67-59 in non-league action Saturday afternoon.
Aquinas forced seven turnovers and outscored Niagara Falls (NFHS) 23-13 to take a seven-point advantage into the locker room at halftime.
“It was good to get back to Aquinas basketball again,” first-year head coach John McCauley said. “We were playing defense first with effort, playing together.”
Trailing by three after the first quarter, Aquinas limited the Wolverines to one field goal during their first seven possessions of the stanza – a stretch that lasted nearly four minutes.
“That’s where we’re going to put all our chips,” McCauley stated. “We’re a defensive team first. We’re going to pride ourselves on getting stops to help the offense out a bit more.”
Senior Jalen Pickett poured in 16 of his game-high 24 points in the quarter. Pickett’s catch-and-shoot three-pointer gave a AQ a 22-20 lead. They did not trail again.
“We started creating turnovers, getting up and down,” Pickett said. “I was able to get my shot off a little bit more. We were getting easy layups, so we started to get warmed up.”
Jalen Pickett goes baseline for two. @AQBoys_Hoops pic.twitter.com/mNSMIHoWir
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 7, 2017
Pickett followed with a steal and bucket on the ensuing inbound forcing a timeout from the NFHS bench. The break in play didn’t slow the Li’l Irish onslaught.
Pickett swiped another steal and hit his second of three triples on the afternoon. Teammate Jason Hawkes drew a charge, and Pickett made good on the opportunity with a pull-up jumper for a 29-21 AQ advantage.
“After you get a couple steals, get out and going a bit, you get that sweat going a bit then shots start falling,” McCauley noted. “You start playing with a little bit more confidence, little bit more swag. It was good for sure that the defense set up the offense.”
The Li’l Irish held NFHS to five field goals over 18 second-quarter possessions. At the other end of the floor AQ produced points on six of their last eight trips down the floor in the half.
“It’s crazy how that works,” McCauley noted. “Some kids think that you rest on the defensive end and put all of your time and effort on the offensive end of the court. Really basketball works the opposite way around.”
Aquinas came out of the locker room and picked up where it left off pushing the lead to double digits early in the third.
Pickett found Hawkes cutting baseline for a lay in, and Anthony Flegler followed with a trey from the right wing. Aquinas led 38-26.
The win came two days after a stinging 62-48 setback to UPrep. A game in which the Li’l Irish were outrebounded 43-25 and allowed the Griffins to shoot 28 of 56 from the floor.
“It was good to get back out here and get the stink off us today,” McCauley said. “We weren’t happy with the effort that we put forth on Thursday just from a toughness standpoint, so it was good to get back out here and play basketball again.”
The loss was the first to a Section Five team since 2014 when the Webster Schroeder Warriors took down the Li’l Irish in the Class AA sectionals.
“On defense we struggled two days ago,” Hawkes said. “We really bounced back. We stuck to our principles. Defensive rebounding was really big for us today. Coach really stressed for us to trust our teammates. That’s what we started doing. We picked it up.”
On Saturday, Hawkes sparked a 36-25 advantage on the glass with a game-high 10 rebounds. The senior guard/forward handed out five assists and collected three steals to go with two charges taken.
“Jason is our do-it-all guy,” McCauley stated. “With him being 6-6 and the ability to play every position on the floor his value is immense. Taking charges is something that he takes pride in. He looks forward to the opportunity to step in and give himself up for his team. He takes pride in that.”
Hawkes finished with eight points on 5-of-8 shooting. He took two charges as well in Thursday’s loss.
Jalen Pickett finds Jason Hawkes underneath for two. pic.twitter.com/zc0bIfdFl5
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 7, 2017
“He loves to get that call,” McCauley added. “It’s great when your captain is a guy who embraces that because it only trickles down to all of the other guys.”
“I’m not 7-foot. I can’t do any crazy dunks,” Hawkes said. “I can’t jump the highest so definitely player control fouls is something I can take advantage of to take possessions away from the other team.”
Aquinas scored six straight early in the fourth quarter to take its largest lead of the game. Pickett converted one of two free throws. Hawkes corralled an offensive rebound and found Luke Putnam for three. Eric Carter connected twice from the charity stripe, and AQ led 60-39.
Carter finished with 10 points off the bench. Sincere Alston added eight off the bench as well including a spectacular effort to end the third quarter. The senior forward kept the play alive on the offensive glass with a tip. He slipped around a Niagara Falls defender, grabbed the rebound and finished with a putback. He hauled in five rebounds on the game.
“That’s been something that we’ve been trying to get out of him all year,” McCauley said. “He shows that in practice. The trick has been trying to get him to translate that effort and that intensity into a game. He finally figured out a way for him to just play free. Today you saw what he can do when he plays free. He’s a great athlete. He has a crazy motor.
“Him providing that spark and being that third guy for us today is huge. If we can find a consistent third guy, and it doesn’t have to be the same guy, if we can just find a consistent third guy whether that’s Sincere Alston or Eric Carter whoever it is, it takes a lot of pressure of Jalen and Jason for sure.”
Quran Dubois paced Niagara Falls with 17 points.
Aquinas outscored NFHS on points in the paint (30-28), points off turnovers (21-18) and second-chance points (18-10).
The Wolverines bench outscored AQ’s 32-25.
Aquinas improved to 6-2 with the win.
NFHS falls to 4-6. One of their four victories came against UPrep to open the season.
“UPrep is a really good team,” Pickett said. “They killed us on the glass. We had to work on boxing out and getting stronger, getting tougher being more physical. Today was a really good win. It’s a big win for us. This team beat UPrep, and we came out and we really played well. We showed that we can still play and it brought a lot of confidence to everybody. We’re a really good team. We got to play like it every night.”
AQUINAS 67, NIAGARA FALLS 59
NIAGARA FALLS (4-6)
Quran Dubois 5-6 6-8 17; Jhamir Isom 3-4 0-0 9; Jamal Burton 3-5 1-1 7;
Devin Sanders 2-7 1-2 6; Tazaun Rose 2-5 2-2 6; Syquan Ralands 2-7 0-1 4;
Roderick Arrington 1-2 0-0 3; Tyler Sanders 1-4 0-0 2; Cortese Myles 1-3 0-2
2; Marquise Miller 1-2 0-0 2; Charles Lamar 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 21-47 11-18
59.
AQUINAS (6-2)
Jalen Pickett 9-20 3-6 24; Eric Carter 2-3 6-10 10; Sincere Alston 3-4 2-5
8; Jason Hawkes 4-5 0-0 8; Anthony Flegler 2-6 2-2 7; Luke Putnam 2-3 0-0 6;
Marc DiGirolamo 1-3 1-3 3; Jimar Cunningham 0-0 1-2 1; Rodre Lewis 0-1 0-0
0; Graycen Carter 0-3 0-0 0; Hiramil Hernandex 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-49 15-28
67.
Niagara Falls…………….. 13 13 8 25 – 59
Aquinas………………….. 10 23 19 15 – 67
3-point goals–Niagara Falls 6-16 (Jhamir Isom 3-4; Roderick Arrington 1-1;
Devin Sanders 1-3; Quran Dubois 1-1; Tyler Sanders 0-1; Marquise Miller 0-1;
Charles Lamar 0-1; Syquan Ralands 0-1; Tazaun Rose 0-2; Jamal Burton 0-1),
Aquinas 6-17 (Jalen Pickett 3-8; Luke Putnam 2-2; Anthony Flegler 1-3; Marc
DiGirolamo 0-2; Rodre Lewis 0-1; Hiramil Hernandex 0-1). Fouled out–Niagara
Falls-None, Aquinas-None. Rebounds–Niagara Falls 25 (Quran Dubois 4; Devin
Sanders 4), Aquinas 36 (Jason Hawkes 10). Assists–Niagara Falls 9 (Tazaun
Rose 3), Aquinas 13 (Jason Hawkes 5). Total fouls–Niagara Falls 21, Aquinas
13. Technical fouls–Niagara Falls-None, Aquinas-None. A-400
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