By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Midway through the third quarter of Saturday’s non-league matchup, the Irondequoit boys’ basketball team had taken a seven-point lead and turned it into a 15-point advantage.
Running a half-court set, the Eagles moved the ball from side to side of the floor before the pumpkin came to rest in the hands of Keenan Robertson along the baseline. With the shot clock reading single digits, the sophomore pivoted and without hesitation calmly nailed a 12-footer.
Irondequoit was on its way to a bounce-back win and gaining an ounce of revenge for a setback from a year ago.
And Robertson arrived just on time.
“Our play fell apart and we just needed to score,” Robertson said after Irondequoit’s 59-43 win over Canisius (VI). “The shot clock was running down, so they got it to me in the corner. I just did what I needed to do.”
The points were his sixth and seventh of the quarter. With Freddie June, Jr. slowed by a knee injury and Patrick Thomas struggling with leg cramps, Robertson grabbed the role of primary scorer and thrived.
Earlier in the week, the 6-foot-4 forward earned his first varsity start when June was sidelined with an illness. He responded and scored 15 points. Two days later, he scored 15 more in a loss. Saturday, he paced the Irondequoit offense with 12 points.
“He’s got a lot of talent,” Irondequoit head coach Chris Cardon said. “He stepped in for Freddie and had a really good game at Fairport with 15 points. He played pretty well against Thomas because Freddie was still under the weather a little bit. I just felt that he was playing well enough (to stay in the starting lineup).”
The first five minutes of Saturday’s third quarter, though, showed a young player establishing himself on the offensive end.
Robertson made it look easy catching in full stride and finishing a two-on-one break with teammate Luke Melidona for his first bucket of the stanza. He converted one of two free throws next trip down the floor after drawing a foul in the lane.
Four possessions later, he cut across the lane for a catch and finish in traffic.
The baseline turnaround jumper? It served as warning that he can do more than score around the bucket.
“It’s just nice that my teammates have trust in me that I can hit any shot,” Robertson noted. “Since they had trust in me I was able to hit the shot.”
He rounded out the performance with a game-high 12 rebounds.
“He’s actually more of a guard, but he’s good inside,” Cardon explained. “He can finish. He can really shoot the 3, but for our team we need him to play inside – outside more.”
Irondequoit (No. 25 NYSSWA Class A) improved to 5-1 with the win.
Last time out, they allowed 12 3-pointers in a 72-57 loss to Webster Thomas. Saturday afternoon, the Eagles limited Canisius (No. 11 NYSSWA Class A) to 14-of-43 from the floor including four treys.
“We got back to Irondequoit defense,” the 32nd-year coach said. “I thought the other night against Webster we didn’t play good defense. They had a lot to do with it. They shot so well. They outplayed us. They were the better team. They were the better team that night.”
Leading 27-18 at halftime, Cardon’s squad had forced 10 turnovers and allowed five field goals. The Eagles caused 20 Canisius ballhandling miscues for the game.
“We decided to execute on offense and defense and make sure that our transition defense was as good as it could be,” Robertson said. “We wanted to bounce back from Webster Thomas and come out with the win.”
June finished with 10 points and four assists. Josh Stenglein also scored 10. Thomas added eight points. Connor Shafer scored seven. Luke Melidona had six points and four assists. Kenny Gonzalez (4) and Jack Brennan (2) rounded out the scoring for Irondequoit.
The Eagles converted 23-of-28 from the free throw line.
Dewayne Vass led Canisius with nine points. Joe Ingrando and and Eric Kegler scored eight apiece. JT Boyland had seven points. Jason Martin and Max Dowling chipped in four apiece for the Crusaders (4-2).
A year ago, Canisius beat Irondequoit 48-47 when Jayce Johnson scored with 20 seconds remaining to give the Crusaders the win.
Irondequoit gets the next two weeks off before hosting Rush-Henrietta on January 4th.
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