By JOHN LIKANJE
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Coming into Wednesday night’s matchup, the East Rochester Bombers had played two of their previous three games against state-ranked teams Charles G. Finney (No. 9 NYSSWA Class C) and Lyons (No. 5 NYSSWA Class C). Despite coming up short in both, the Bombers (5-3) felt confident about how they competed. Head coach Patrick Walsh’s squad bounced back Wednesday night to take down the Clyde-Savannah Golden Eagles (2-6), 73-52.
“These kids have shown that they just don’t quit,” said Walsh when evaluating his squad’s performance this season. “We were just trying to tell them ‘Run the stuff that we know.'”
Junior guard Allen Otero poured in a team-high 26. He got off to a hot start, scoring eight of the Bombers’ first 13 points of the game on three layups and a fadeaway jumper from the right wing.
“We came in ready,” Otero said of the Bombers’ preparation for Wednesday night’s game. “We got to step our game up. You put in the hard work.”
Senior forward David Warren netted 16, including knocking down three of his four long-range shots in the third quarter. Senior guard Alex Rans added 13 on two shots from beyond the arc, a couple of layups, went 3-3 at the free throw line, and finished a three point play.
The Bombers used a couple of runs in the third to pull away for the victory. After the halftime break, Otero and Warren scored a combined for 11 points during a 16-4 spurt for a 48-28 lead. After the Golden Eagles responded with a 10-0 run, the quartet of senior guards Austin Mack, Rans, Otero, and Warren netted 10 consecutive points to give the Bombers a 58-38 edge.
“I thought our seniors played really well,” Walsh said complimenting the trio of Mack, Rans, and Warren who combined for 37 points. “We made the extra passes. We made stops when we had to. The kids made good adjustments tonight.”
Mack (8), Chuck Domm (8), and Russell Domm (3) rounded out the scoring for the Bombers.
“We were looking for the passes,” Walsh explained about his team’s offensive sets. “Our bigs went high-low and got backdoors. And when you get backdoors, you tighten up their defense and we just hit our threes.”
For the Golden Eagles, sophomore guard Camden Chance accounted for 14 of the 16 points the team scored in the third quarter. He made two layups, a couple of three-pointers, a floater, and went 2-2 from the charity stripe. Chance finished the game with 21.
Senior guard Jordan Cooley knocked down four bombs and a couple of free throws en route to 14 points.
Jaiden McKinney (6), Steve Dunn (6), and Hunter Donselaar (5) rounded out the scoring for the Golden Eagles.
East Rochester will travel to Marion Friday night to play the Black Knights. Game time set to tip off at 7:00 PM.
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