By PAUL GOTHAM
BATAVIA, N.Y. — Riley Stella reached a career scoring milestone midway through the first quarter. With the game on line, the York senior showed his playmaking abilities.
Stella found teammate Lucas Garza for the go-ahead bucket in the final minute of play and No. 2 York advanced to the Section V Class C3 championship game with a 61-58 victory over No. 3 Oakfield-Alabama.
Coming out of a timeout, Stella took the pass from a sideline inbound play along right side of the floor and drove to his left before kicking to Garza on the left side.
“I saw Luke Garza sitting on the wing wide open,” Stella recalled. “I kicked it to him and splash, man. It just dropped for us. That was awesome.”
It was Garza’s third 3-pointer of the night.
“It felt great,” Garza said. “I wasn’t going to let us lose that game.
“Riley, he’s our guy. We just want to get him the ball, get him to drive. We knew someone would step in. If they didn’t, he was going to score. If they did, he was going to kick the ball to somebody. It just happened to be me. I got the ball. I put it up, and it went in.”
With the win, York advances to its second straight Class C3 title game. The Knights will get a chance to avenge a loss to Livingston County rival Cal-Mum in last year’s title game.
“It feels great,” Garza said. “This time we’re coming away with a win.”
York built a double-digit advantage in the first half and led for the first 30-plus minutes of the game.
Oakfield-Alabama’s Travis Weidrich grabbed a loose ball, went the length of the floor and scored on a layup. The Hornets had their first lead of the game at 58-56.
York called a timeout coming out of a tie up to set up the winning play.
“It was exactly what we wanted,” York head coach Ed Orman said of the go-ahead basket. “We knew what was going to happen. We said ‘if you can’t get it to Josh (Davis) off the high screen, get it to Riley. Riley, dribble drive to your left. Somebody’s going to step in and help. Whoever gets it just knock it down.”
Stella finished with 14 points on the night including the 1,000th of his career. The 6-foot-4 forward scored in the lane to reach the milestone less than four minutes into the game.
“It’s crazy,” Stella said of the accomplishment. “My teammates are always behind me on stuff like that. It’s just a crazy accomplishment. I’m the second guy in York history to do it, so it’s pretty cool.”
Oakfield-Alabama’s Joey Burdick led all scorers with 20 points. The senior captain connected three times from the 3-point arc during the fourth quarter. His first trey cut a seven-point deficit to four. His third triple of the stanza knotted the game at 56 with two minutes and 15 seconds remaining.
Corner 3 from Lucas Garza gives York a 37-33 lead with 4:30 to go in the 3rd pic.twitter.com/l8zajxIpVo
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) March 3, 2020
“My top eight or nine guys have played 45 straight game on teams that are going to sectional finals and things like,” Orman said. “Down the stretch we’re not going to panic. That was really my thing.
“When they took the lead and we took the timeout, it was ‘we’re fine. This is us. This is what we do.'”
Josh Davis led York with 15 points. Garza had 13. David Cuozzo scored eight. Timmy LaGeorge added six points and James Kennedy five.
Josh Davis takes the inside-out feed and connects from the right corner. York 18 Oakfield-Alabama 12 pic.twitter.com/ceKBmT9Art
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) March 3, 2020
The meeting will be the fourth this season between York and Cal-Mum. The Raiders took the first two decisions. York (19-3) took a 75-58 decision on February 5.
Weidrich scored 13 points for Oakfield-Alabama which finished 16-6 on the season. Gaige Armbrewster had 10 points. Kaden Cosmano, Kam Cosmano and Ty Mott scored four points apiece for the Hornets.
A 5 p.m. tip off is scheduled Friday for the C3 final at the Blue Cross Arena.
Leave a Reply