By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A player retuning from injury and a substitution for defensive purposes paid dividends for the Gates-Chili boys’ basketball team.
Keith Slack netted a game-high 25 points, and Thomas Jones III posted a double-double in his return to the lineup as Gates-Chili downed host Brockport, 66-61 in the opening round of the 2017 Doug Westcott Memorial Basketball Tournament.
Jones scored five of his 16 points during a decisive stretch that started late in the third quarter and ran into the fourth.
“I wasn’t going to play him until January third against [Webster] Schroeder, but I thought he might as well play in this tournament,” first-year Gates-Chili coach Terry Nowden said of Jones who hasn’t seen action since December eighth. “It’s all about him finding his rhythm now and getting him and Slack on the same page chemistry-wise.”
Tied 45-all with a little more than three minutes to go in the third quarter, Gates scored the next seven points and held Brockport without a field goal for more than four minutes. Nowden pointed to the defensive play of sophomore guard Devin Walton who came off the bench to spark G-C.
“I told him to go out there and change the game with ball pressure,” Nowden explained. “That’s what I was asking for all night long. Pressure the ball. Make them make their own mistakes. He came in, turned it up and it led to a whole bunch of turnovers. Turnovers lead to baskets all the time.”
Walton took advantage of one turnover to set up Jones underneath with a pretty drive and dish.
“I knew I had to come in and just play good defense, hard defense,” Walton said. “That’s what coach wants me to do. My biggest thing to do is play defense when I come in the game.”
Slack topped the 20-point plateau for the sixth time this season.
“He’s our leader,” Nowden said of the junior who is averaging 27 points per game. “He’s got to be the one who’s calm, and the one who can take control of the game when he needs to but also has the trust in his teammates to make the right passes. He’s a scorer.”
The 5-foot-9 guard hit a pair of 3-pointers midway through the third quarter. His second tied the game at 43 and set the stage for the decisive run.
“We started bringing our intensity up and actually listened to the script,” Slack said. “We locked them up. We started playing hard, playing with heart and focus.”
The next time Slack scored, he weaved his through a tangle of defenders in the key for a layup and a 57-49 Spartan lead.
Jones hauled in 14 rebounds in the contest -four of which came on the offensive end where the senior converted those into putbacks.
The Spartans (4-3) went 1-3 with Jones out of the lineup including losses to state-ranked opponents Fairport and Rush-Henrietta. The win over Brockport snapped a three-game skid.
“I let him play in a scrimmage during a recent practice,” Nowden said of Jones. “I wanted to see how healthy he really was. Other than just getting his rhythm back he was perfectly fine.”
“When he’s fully healthy, our two-man game is going to be unstoppable,” Slack stated.
Devin Walton knocks down the pull-up jumper. HALFTIME at the Doug Westcott Memorial @GCSpartan_Hoops 32 Brockport 32. Keith slack leads all scorers with 14. Brockport’s Amire Oder has 9. pic.twitter.com/ynzcRGRJ5Y
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 28, 2017
Walton scored nine points for Gates. Damon Payton had seven. Mark Morrison added five. Mitchell Harris and Adam Williams had two apiece.
Mark Morrison II connects from the right corner. End 1st: @GCSpartan_Hoops 17 Brockport 13 pic.twitter.com/okm3B0bEjZ
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 28, 2017
Willie Ball scored seven midway through the second quarter as the Blue Devils took their first lead of the game. The junior guard converted two free throws and followed with a pull-up 3-pointer from the top of the arc for a 24-21 Brockport lead. Ball followed two possessions later with a floater in the lane, and Jacob Jurhs pushed the advantage to five at 28-23 with an off-balance shot in the lane.
Jacob Juhrs says hold the peanut butter. All???????? @BCSDBlueDevils pic.twitter.com/ApqGmqG6yz
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 28, 2017
Ball grabbed a long rebound and went the length of the floor for a layup and A 43-40 Blue Devil edge midway through the third quarter. Jurhs hit one of two from the free throw line for Brockport’s last lead of the game at 44-43 with 3:38 to go in the third.
Ball and Amire Odey scored 13 apiece to lead Brockport. Noah Schultz added 11. Cory Gross had eight for the Blue Devils. Jurhs chipped in seven. Oscar Van Detta had three.
Gates-Chili will take on Spencerport in the Friday’s championship. A 6 p.m. tip off is scheduled. The Rangers defeated Churchville-Chili, 68-48 in the other opening-round matchup.
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