By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Call it off-season conditioning.
When Ben DiGiovanni finishes his time at Pittsford Sutherland High School, he will head east to continue his scholastic and athletic careers at Dartmouth College where he will battle against Ivy League foes … on the lacrosse field.
For the next few months, though, the Knights’ guard will spend his time tormenting Section V opponents on the hardwood.
Such was the case Friday night.
DiGiovanni scored eight of his game and career-high 26 points over the last five minutes to help Sutherland gain separation for a 67-57 win over Wilson Magnet in non-league action.
With Sutherland clinging to a one-point lead at 51-50, DiGiovanni took an inbound pass and finished at the rim. Three possessions later, he converted a pair from the free throw line then followed that with another bucket in the lane to give Sutherland a 60-50 advantage.
“My team was just finding me,” he remarked. “I was able to read the defenders, just control the tempo and be able to deliver and execute.
“When they’re pushing up, we got 3-point shooters they got to extend on, I’m able to slip through and read the defenders and get behind their heads and finish.”
A year ago, DiGiovanni topped double figures in 11 different games and averaged 9.5 points per outing. He scored 18 in the Knights’ win over Brighton in their opener on Wednesday. Friday he had 12 points at half and connected nine times from the floor for the game.
“He’s the one kid that’s been playing for us the last two years,” Sutherland head coach John Nally said. “He’s got all the experience. He’s going to play 30, 31 minutes a game for us, so we got to ride him a little bit. I think some of these young guys will come along. Until they get their feet wet, he’s going to have to carry us a little bit.”
And also deliver when the Knights need him most.
Sutherland built a 14-point lead going into the half. Less than three minutes into the third that advantage was 15.
Wilson responded with six straight points cutting the deficit to single digits.
DiGiovanni responded, went backdoor along the baseline and took a Jalyn Moorehead pass to finish at the rim.
*backdoor
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 7, 2019
Triples from Wilson’s Latief Holmes, Jalen McDonald and Zavarius Henry followed by a Henry leaner in the lane made it a two-point game at 46-44 with 1:10 remaining in the third.
Coming out of a timeout, DiGiovanni made an inside cut, took another Moorehead feed and stopped Wilson’s momentum with a layup.
Coming out of a timeout, Ben DiGiovanni gets the inside cut two. End third: @SutherlandHoops 48 @wildcats_wilson 44 pic.twitter.com/jt6hXlK7TA
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 7, 2019
“He does a lot off pure athleticism,” Nally added. “His shot fake and pivot stuff is really natural. He’s good with that. We’re trying to really use that stuff. He’s got to get to the hole a little bit. He doesn’t get the amount of jump shots off to really score that way. We got to get him to the hole a little, but because he’s a guard he’s going to have some matchups that are favorable.”
Wilson dropped its second straight to open the season. The Wildcats graduated starters Robert Davis, Desi Floyd and Malikk Johnson from last year’s squad. Tory Bradley was expected to start at point guard but moved out of state. Despite those losses, the Wildcats used a 17-4 run followed by a 6-1 spurt to make it a one-point game.
“I told them after the game I was really proud of the effort, how hard they played,” head coach Brendan O’Toole said. “They played well. They played hard. They came out of timeouts and ran the stuff that we drew up. Their fight, it was great to see. Obviously disappointed with the loss, but we definitely showed some good things.”
Wilson forced four turnovers over the final three minutes of the third quarter to pull close.
“We were better defensively,” O’Toole said of his team’s run. “They weren’t getting as many easy looks. It helps when you’re knocking downs some shots. We had a couple guys hit threes, but defensively we weren’t giving up as many good shots. Our man tightened up a little bit. We were fighting over screens better. We were helping better. That was the big difference.”
Henry scored 18 to lead the Wildcats. Wilson big man Brennan Clark scored 17. The 6-foot-5 senior also drew the most attention from Sutherland.
Brennan Clark gets position in the post for two. @wildcats_wilson pic.twitter.com/9YXXlfEK1b
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 7, 2019
“I think he had at least five offensive rebounds in the first half,” Nally said of the opposing player. “He’s a rebounding machine. He’s probably one of the top five rebounders in the area if not the best in the area. He goes and gets it. It’s hard. We tried to stay attached to him…If you can keep a body on him, that helps.”
Holmes added nine for Wilson. Darius Turner had eight.
Moorhead scored 12 points for Sutherland. Garrett Blanton added nine. Jake Priesser had eight points for the Knights. Owen Flisnik (4), Will Klerk (4), Drew Kull (2) and Patrick Smelt (2) rounded out the scoring for Sutherland.
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