By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Who says momentum can’t carry over from one game to the next. After erasing a double-digit deficit to go on to victory in the semi-finals, the Cuba-Rushford Rebels continued to roll Friday night.
Three scored in double figures, and Cuba-Rushford downed previously undefeated Perry, 71-59 to claim the Section Five C3 championship.
One game after trailing by 17, the Rebels climbed out of a second-half hole.
Camren Larabee and tournament MVP Trevor Smith combined to score 10 straight during a decisive 12-0 third-quarter run in which the Rebels took a lead they did not surrender.
“Last game may have allowed this to happen tonight,” Cuba-Rushford head coach Carl Holmes said. “I think the confidence was built last game that ‘hey, we can come back. We can play.'”
Larabee connected from the top of the arc on one of his five triples on the night. Smith followed with a trey of his own. The duo traded baskets to give Cuba-Rushford a 40-37 lead, and the Rebels handed Perry its first loss of the season.
“We have a very loose group of guys,” Cuba-Rushford head coach Carl Holmes said. “They just come to play. That has shown all year. There was no discussion of their record. I didn’t hear anybody talking about it. They just come every game to play. Sometimes that hurts us because we’re so loose on offense which is great, but we’re a little loose on defense. In the second half we tightened things up with that. The kids are just a loose group of kids. They have been all year.”
Larabee’s contributions were unlikely at the best. The 5-foot-11 forward finished with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting including five of seven behind the arc.
“We have four (averaging) in double figures, and he isn’t one of them during the course of this season,” Holmes noted. “Tonight was his night. Couldn’t have been more thrilled for Camren. He played with confidence, great confidence.”
Senior forward Noah Decker scored 18 on 7-of-12 shooting including a 3-pointer from the right corner with 1:04 remaining to give Cuba-Rushford separation at 65-59.
“He has the green light,” Holmes said of his player. “He has worked on those extensively this year. It is not a new idea for him to do that.”
Cuba-Rushford held Perry without a field goal for the final 4:01 of the game.
“We were giving up penetration to the basket,” Holmes explained. “Our adjustment was to pull it back and stop the drive to the basket. I think that changed the complexion of the game. Kudos to the kids for doing that. That’s not an easy adjustment.”
Owen Spencer scored nine of his game-high 23 points in the second quarter as Perry took a 33-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Austin Croll hit a baseline floater to start the second half, and Spencer scored in the lane to give Perry a 37-30 lead after the first two possessions of the third quarter.
Cuba-Rushford outscored Perry 20-5 over the remainder of the stanza to take a 50-42 lead into the final eight minutes of play.
Spencer hit 13 of 17 free throws. Perry finished 22 of 33 from the charity stripe.
Cuba-Rushford was 10 of 12 from the line.
Tyler Cowie added 13 points for the Yellowjackets. Dan Elliott had 11.
Perry converted 17 Cuba-Rushford turnovers into 20-5 advantage pinpoints off mishandles.
Cuba-Rushford outscored Perry behind the arc 27-6.
Perry finished 22-1.
Cuba-Rushford improved to 20-2. The Rebels beat Clyde-Savannah in the semi-finals 62-61.
CUBA-RUSHFORD 71, PERRY 59
CUBA-RUSHFORD (20-2)
Trevor Smith 7-16 1-1 18; Noah Decker 7-12 3-5 18; Camren Larabee 6-10 0-0
17; Ben Seigel 0-0 6-6 6; Malachi Barros 2-11 0-0 4; Dawson Sanderson 2-4
0-0 4; Evan Tucker 2-8 0-0 4. Totals 26-61 10-12 71.
PERRY (22-1)
Owen Spencer 5-11 13-17 23; Tyler Cowie 5-12 1-2 13; Dan Elliott 4-6 3-5 11;
Austin Croll 3-13 2-2 8; Devon Mann 0-6 4-7 4; Michael Hockey 0-0 0-0 0; Cam
Campbell 0-0 0-0 0; Mat Tallman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-48 23-33 59.
Cuba-Rushford…………….. 18 12 20 21 – 71
Perry……………………. 13 20 9 17 – 59
3-point goals–Cuba-Rushford 9-25 (Camren Larabee 5-7; Trevor Smith 3-6;
Noah Decker 1-3; Evan Tucker 0-4; Malachi Barros 0-5), Perry 2-18 (Tyler
Cowie 2-6; Austin Croll 0-5; Devon Mann 0-4; Owen Spencer 0-3). Fouled
out–Cuba-Rushford-Trevor Smith; Camren Larabee, Perry-Dan Elliott.
Rebounds–Cuba-Rushford 39 (Noah Decker 9), Perry 33 (Owen Spencer 9).
Assists–Cuba-Rushford 14 (Malachi Barros 3; Camren Larabee 3; Evan Tucker
3), Perry 4 (Owen Spencer 2). Total fouls–Cuba-Rushford 22, Perry 16.
Technical fouls–Cuba-Rushford-None, Perry-Owen Spencer. A-1800
Jerry McCabe says
Paul,
I was looking for your story on the C2final, because the Democrat and Chronicle just isn’t reliable anymore. I was also hoping for some coverage of SJFC & UR. I enjoyed the article on Downey.
Maybe I’ll see you at Fairport.
Best,
Jerry McCabe