By PAUL GOTHAM
VICTOR, N.Y. — Three days removed from falling in overtime on a shot in the final seconds, the Victor boys basketball team put one on the good side of the ledger Monday night. The win was their first win of the season and first under head coach Tyler Roberts.
Tanner Hay hit a runner off the window with less than three minutes remaining to give the Blue Devils a lead they did not surrender in a 62-60 win over the Eastridge Lancers.
“I had a good screen from a teammate and I came off it and just put it up there and it went in,” Hay said of the basket. “Luckily it just fell. Whole team played great. Everybody battled down the stretch.”
Chuck Nwugwo scored all 13 of his points in the second half to pace the Blue Devils which trailed by as many as seven early in the second quarter.
The senior guard connected on a baseline runner for his first points of the game less than two minutes after coming out of the locker room and his 3-pointer from the left corner tied the game at 37.
“We had our best ball movement of the game in the third quarter,” Roberts noted. “We created a lot of close outs, a lot of guys touching the ball. Chuck was able to capitalize on guys closing out hard on him to get all the way to the basket.”
Screen and cut. Tanner Hay converts the inbound for @victorboysbball pic.twitter.com/iRDJ6CcuUa
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 12, 2017
Nwugwo followed with a drive across the lane for a layup to give Victor its first edge in the second half at 39-37, and he gave the Blue Devils their largest lead of the night at 47-40 with a steal and layup late in the third quarter.
“We were moving the ball pretty well, and I took advantage of that,” Nwugwo said. “They were giving me looks, and I was able to convert.”
Eastridge, though, responded.
Terrence Reed scored six of his game-high 17 points over the next five minutes including a left-handed finish with three and a half remaining in the game to give the Lancers a brief edge at 52-51.
Hay converted one of two free throws to tie the game before putting Victor ahead to stay.
“Tanner just made a great play,” Roberts stated. “In close games players have to make big plays and our guys stepped up and did it.”
Victor committed 14 turnovers in the first half, and Eastridge took advantage of it.
Tony Arnold scored nine straight to give the Lancers their largest lead of the night. The sophomore guard connected twice on free throw line jumpers. He followed with a pull-up jumper off a ball screen and his 3-pointer from the right wing made it a 21-14 game.
Victor turned the ball over just three times in the second half.
“They played great defense all night,” Roberts said of Eastridge. “We had to move the ball better. We did a better job of that in the third quarter. That’s how we were able to get more paint touches. The guys just did a better job of doing what we’ve been preaching in the last few weeks.”
Matt Caggiano hit three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points for the Blue Devils.
Victor’s Connor Keenan also connected three times behind the arc and collected 13 points, but the senior captain fouled out with more than four minutes to play.
Eastridge’s Kyndal Taggart was also slowed by foul trouble. The senior guard entered play averaging 17 points per game, but picked up his second foul less than two minutes into the contest. He did not play the remainder of the half and was assessed his fourth infraction late in the third quarter. He finished with two points.
Terrence Reed gets to the bucket for two of his game-high 17 points. @EastridgeHoops pic.twitter.com/GTN63sDjMv
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 12, 2017
Jalen Rose Hannah scored a season-high 12 points for Eastridge.
The Lancers fall to 3-2 on the season.
Victor improves to 1-3. The Blue Devils lost to Gates-Chili in overtime on Friday when Keith Slack hit the game winner with 5.9 seconds remaining in the extra period.
“I’m proud of the guys for responding the way they did,” Roberts said. “We had a good practice yesterday. They just rallied around each other and took a lot of charges tonight. Just dug down and did what we had to do.”
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