ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Luke Melidona highlighted a pivotal run to end the first half. Patrick Thomas celebrated his birthday by leading four in double figures, and the Irondequoit boys’ basketball team shrugged off some early struggles for its second decisive victory.
Melidona connected twice during a 8-0 run as the Eagles turned a five-point game into a double-digit affair at halftime.
“Our defense didn’t come out too well in the beginning,” Melidona said. “As we started picking up, we started making runs. The runs kept us in it.”
Leading 30-25 with less than two minutes remaining in the second quarter, Melidona jump started the Irondequoit offense with a bucket. Freddie June, Jr. pushed the lead to nine and then fed Josh Stenglein on a two-on-one break for another deuce. The Eagles had their first double-digit advantage of the night.
Melidona followed with an acrobatic finish in the lane, and Irondequoit was on its way to a 71-43 victory.
“That was not a typical Irondequoit-Schroeder game,” Eagles head coach Chris Cardon said. “Usually they’re low-scoring grinders. The crowd probably liked it but it’s not our recipe to win.”
There’s no question Irondequoit struggled to gain separation from the young Schroeder squad.
Collin Donnelly nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner to close the first quarter and then converted a pair of free throws to start the second. JoJo Plummer sliced through the lane for a bucket, and Schroeder trailed 18-17. The Warriors missed a chance to take the lead next time down the floor.
“I was proud of our kids,” said Schroeder head coach Matt Spadoni whose squad starts a pair of sophomores and a junior. “I thought we gave them all they could handle for two and a half, three quarters.”
The deficit was still one at 21-20 when Ky’mere Meeks scored in the lane.
In the end, though, this was about an Irondequoit team that returns three starters, all seniors, from last year’s squad which advanced to the NYS Class A semifinals for the second year in a row.
Thomas accounted for eight of his game-high 21 in the third quarter when the Eagles outscored Schroder by nine to take a 58-36 lead.
“Patrick’s been playing really well,” Cardon said. “He’s a beast. “We really work hard with him. He works hard in the offseason. I was really happy with how he played.”
The senior forward celebrating his 18th birthday connected on nine of 14 shots for the night to match his season-high from a year ago.
“My fast break points and getting the ball inside,” he said of his success on Wednesday. “They couldn’t stop me in the post, so I just kept getting the ball in there and scoring.”
June finished with 16 points. Stenglein added 11, and Melidona had 12.
Irondequoit’s defense, which surrendered 25 points in the first half, limited Schroeder to six field goals in the last 16 minutes of the game.
“You have to attack them,” Spadoni said Irondequoit. “You have to try and beat them down the court. If they set up their half-court defense, they’re more athletic than we are. They’re physical. They play good solid half-court defense. If you try to go one-on-one from the top, it’s not going to go very well for you.”
The Eagles host undefeated Gates-Chili (3-0) on Friday, part of a stretch where the Class A school takes on seven straight from Class AA. They play a road game at perennial contender Fairport as well as at Hilton and have a meeting Section VI contender Canisius. Later on in the year, they travel to Buffalo to take on the Federation Champion, Park School.
“Our schedule is really, really tough,” said Cardon who led the program to the 2017 NYSPHSAA title. “The schedule is to prepare us and tonight was a game that opened my eyes to what we need to work on.”
June and Melidona collected five assists and three steals apiece. Stenglein added four assists. Thomas grabbed eight rebounds. Kenny Gonzalez collected six boards.
Irondequoit beat Spencerport, 71-43 in its season opener.
Meeks paced Schroeder with 10 points. Colin Merkey and JoJo Plummer had nine apiece. Donnelly scored seven.
Schroeder (2-2) plays at Hilton on Friday night.
Other scorers: Schroeder – James Knox (2), Luke Insley (5), Josh Hauman (1). Irondequoit – Connor Shafer (5), Keenan Robertson (2), Kenny Gonzalez (2) and Grayson Smith (2).
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