By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — John McCauley delivered a simple message to his team prior to Saturday’s tipoff. With injuries and discipline matters behind them, the Aquinas Li’l Irish boys’ basketball team had its lineup intact for the first time this season.
“We’ve got no excuses now,” McCauley said after Aquinas defeated Canisius (VI), 76-61 at the Wegman-Napier Center. “I put it on the board. It starts today. We’ve got everybody back. We got all the ammo. It’s time to go out and get the job done.”
Aquinas (2-7) erased a halftime deficit and went on to snap a five-game losing streak.
“The guys responded against a tough team,” McCauley added. “That’s a good win for us.”
Justin Johnson scored 19 and led four in double figures.
“When we do that, we’re tough,” McCauley said of the balanced scoring attack. “That’s what we expected going into the year.”
Johnson connected twice behind the 3-point arc in the first quarter. The junior guard added another triple in the third. But when it mattered most, Johnson produced off the dribble getting into the paint for layups.
“It’s something that we’ve been begging him to do,” McCauley said of his player. “He’s so athletic. He’s truly gifted. But he’s such a good shooter that he falls in love with his jump shot. We’ve been imploring him to get to the basket, play off two feet and play physical because he’s so strong.”
With Aquinas clinging to a one-point edge at 53-52, Johnson converted his first of two and-ones.
“They were playing me tight to guard against the three,” Johnson explained. “So when they play up close it gives me the ability to drive past, get to the basket.”
The 6-foot-2 guard’s second traditional 3-point play made it a nine-point game at 65-56 with 3:18 remaining in the game.
“He’s so explosive,” McCauley added. “When he’s doing that, he’s tough to guard.”
Junior center Tyler Warner followed his 26-point/15-rebound performance Thursday night with 11 points on Saturday. The 6-foot-11 junior scored six in the final four minutes to help seal the win.
Jack Bleier dishes to Tyler Warner to give @AQBoys_Hoops a 67-59 lead. pic.twitter.com/1iIFFs7fEv
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 5, 2019
“We know we’re always going to have an advantage inside every game,” McCauley noted. “If we can get the ball inside to those guys, draw some early fouls, get some early bonus now it opens up for our guards to drive. Then they can’t be as physical with our guards.
“It’s tough for the other team’s bigs to help out because now you leave our 6-foot-11 guy on the backside. We’ve been imploring our guards to just get in the paint. Teams can’t guard us.”
McCauley also noted his team’s play on the defensive end of the floor.
“We made the plays that hurt tonight. That’s something that we’ve been stressing in practices all through the season. We haven’t made enough of the plays that hurt, the diving on the floor, the taking charges, the 50-50 balls. We haven’t done that enough and this afternoon I felt like we did that.”
Jack Scanlon connected twice from long range including a dagger to give the Li’l Irish a double-digit lead late in the game. The junior guard finished with 17 points. Freshman Myles Blackwood added 11 points.
Jack Scanlon drills a corner 3. 44.4 remaining @AQBoys_Hoops 73 Canisius 61 pic.twitter.com/1UzXFJdUaI
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 5, 2019
“It’s fun to finally see us do it,” McCauley added. “It’s fun to see it pay off for the guys to see the smiles after the game. It feels good because we’ve gone through a lot. I’m happy. I’m really happy.”
Steve Mahar returned to the lineup on Thursday for the first time this year. The 6-foot-7 junior forward suffered an injury late in the football season and wasn’t cleared to return until recently. Mahar came back, but fellow junior Ruben Torres was in street clothes during Thursday’s 101-96 loss to Northstar Christian. Johnson also sat out the first half of Thursday’s for an undisclosed matter.
Mahar and Johnson started on Saturday. Torres scored six points off the bench.
Rueben Torres gets in the lane to give @AQBoys_Hoops a 58-54 lead with 4 to go pic.twitter.com/Ivy1OBOmbQ
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 5, 2019
“It’s our first game where we have our true starting five with the reserves that we want in the places that we want. I think guys all fell into place. We got contributions from across the board. Guys hit shots.”
Jack Bleier chipped in with six points.
Dewayne Vass paced Canisius (No. 20 NYSSWA Class A) with 18 points. Joe Jamison added 14. Joe Ciocca had nine points.
Leave a Reply