By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Fairport boys’ basketball coach Scott Fitch wasn’t completely satisfied with his team’s performance Tuesday night. An assessment like that comes from years of running a championship-level program.
Here are the facts, though. Fairport limited Bishop Kearney to seven field goals combined for the second and third quarters. In doing so, the Red Raiders held the Kings for the game to their lowest offensive output in more than two months.
“Every shot they had was contested or we had a potential charge,” Fitch said after Fairport’s 65-50 win at Ed Nietopski Gymnasium. “That’s tough on an offense when you’ve got that rotation working. I thought our rotations were very good.”
Fairport forced six turnovers over the 16 minutes of play from the end of the first to the beginning of the fourth quarter and outscored Kearney 37-19. The Kings came into the game averaging averaging more than 72 points per game over their last eight contests. BK managed just 36 points in the first three quarters against Fairport.
“I like to think the offense feeds off the defense,” Fitch said. “If you get a team that plays defense, you can be in any game.”
It doesn’t hurt when the offense is in a groove as well.
Senior Jackson Sullivan paced three in double figures. Five Red Raiders combined to connect for 11 3-pointers on the night.
“We had great ball movement,” said Sullivan who finished with a game-high 19 points. “That made for some open cuts. The ball movement gets other teams. It got BK run down, so that helped us out on offense.”
The 6-foot-5 forward scored a pair of baskets in the lane early in the game and then stepped out to hit his first of three 3-pointers before the end of the first quarter.
“His seals were good early and usually when he gets one or two buckets, that really helps him,” Fitch said of Sullivan who is averaging 11.4 points per game. “He saw the ball go through the basket, and he’s very capable of shooting which I think surprises people at first.
“You don’t see a big man step out and shoot like that a lot, but he’s got a very nice touch. He’s not the fastest guy, but his inside/out game is still very effective.”
Andrew Bartlett, Brett Heininger and Andre Starks, Jr. all connected from long range in the game’s first eight minutes, and the Red Raiders had a lead they did not surrender at 20-17.
Bartlett finished with four three balls and 14 points on the night. Starks added 10 points. Heininger had nine.
Jackson Sullivan to Anthony Pappano. Hurt. Harm. HALFTIME: @FCSDSports 38 @BishopKearneyHS 27 pic.twitter.com/zxF14uruKH
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) February 7, 2018
“I thought we played really well for three quarters,” Fitch noted. “We didn’t finish it very well, so it leaves a little bit of a sour taste.”
Early in the fourth, Ryan Lucey found Sullivan cutting in the lane to give Faiport its largest lead of the game at 59-36.
Kearney showed signs of life late holding the Red Raiders without a field goal for seven possessions. Jamal Williams hit from behind the arc for two of his five points. Shykell Brown converted one of two free throws. AJ Gray fed Jamal Fennell inside for two, and Mike Gentile swiped a pass and led Fennell into the open court for a layup. Kearney had cut the deficit to 14 at 63-49 with 2:36 remaining.
But the Kings, who recently rallied late in wins over Rush-Henrietta and UPrep, could not truly threaten.
“They’re very good,” Fitch said of the Kings who had five of seven recently. “They’ve got five guys that can play. We thought Brown was the key. I thought early we didn’t play great D. I thought he got in the paint on us and hurt us. We finally started keeping him out of the paint.”
Brown and Gray scored 12 apiece. Fennell and Kevin Goode, Jr. both scored 10. Kearney lost to Greece Athena 70-49 on December 28th in a game where Brown was sidelined with an injury.
Other scorers: Bishop Kearney – Jordan Searles (1). Fairport – Anthony Pappano (6), Ryan Lucey (5) and Vanzell Johnson (2).
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