By BILLY HEYEN
WEBSTER, N.Y. — With about two minutes to play Wednesday, Jalen Rose Hannah and Tony Arnold passed the ball back and forth near halfcourt. Each pass was accompanied by a “let’s go” and a smile.
Hannah and Arnold were varsity freshmen three years ago when Eastridge won two games. Now seniors, the pair knew all that was between them and a sectional final at Blue Cross Arena was a couple of inconsequential minutes.
“We’ve been losing all of these years,” Arnold said. “… We want to win, and I think we’ve got a good chance.”
Three-seed Eastridge pulled away in the second half to beat two-seed Leadership, 56-38, on Wednesday night at Webster Schroeder High School. It was the fewest points scored by Leadership this season, after the prior low was 56. Arnold led the way for Eastridge with 20 points, while Hannah’s 14 and Percy Robinson’s 12 joined him in double figures. While no official steal stats were kept, Hannah and SherRon Davis’ defense on Leadership’s guards helped key the win, too.
“Defense was gonna make the difference tonight,” Eastridge head coach Dan Roser said. “I thought we could score with them. What it was gonna come down to was whether we could get stops. They just freakin’ bought in and set the tone early locking their guys up.”
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Roser had chosen to keep Arnold and Hannah up on varsity three seasons ago as they dealt with a season that ended with just those two wins. They were joined the following year by their classmate, SherRon Davis. What the Lancers have hoped to accomplish this season has been the last four years in the making.
In some ways, it’s been longer. Eastridge’s lone sectional title in boys basketball came in 1964. The Lancers have never been seeded better than this year’s three-seed, and the last time they were that high was 1992. For decades of Section V basketball, Eastridge has been an afterthought.
“It’s been a journey for them, for sure,” Roser said.
Both teams entered Wednesday night being led in scoring by their point guards — Leadership by Maurice McKinney and Eastridge by Arnold. That wasn’t much of the early-game narrative, though. The two combined for 10 first-half points.
Instead, the first half was about defense, especially for Eastridge. The Lancers had a first-half sequence of three straight steals turned into buckets, first for SherRon Davis, then for Jalen Rose Hannah, and finally culminating in a pass from Tony Arnold to Percy Robinson for two. After a Leadership timeout, Eastridge immediately forced a five-second violation with full-court pressure.
“We knew from the jump what we had to do,” Hannah said. “… Them getting that five-second violation really got the bench and the crowd into it.”
And @Its_Ron_ before that pic.twitter.com/KE6bL3utYU
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) March 4, 2020
Leadership had to grind its way to buckets with the Lancers frequently switching on the perimeter of their man-to-man defense. All three of Davis, Hannah and Arnold contained most drives before they could reach the lane, with the Lions’ best scoring coming on the offensive glass on either makes or extra plays created by Kennyh Hardeman.
Eastridge’s offense had to work, too, thanks to a 3-2 zone defense from the Lions that pressed out on shooters. The Lancers only fully exploited the zone once in the first half, when a right wing pass from Hannah found Robinson on an alley-oop behind the defenders.
“(Robinson) set the tone down low, just going after the rebounds, playing physical,” Roser said.
Alley oop from @JalenRoseHanna1 to Percy Robinson. 8-6 @eridgelancers @eastridgehoops lead. @PickinSplinters pic.twitter.com/xgacgfIacJ
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) March 4, 2020
Hannah took the game over out of the break. First he found Paxton Reed over the top for two, then he nailed a 3. After Leadership closed to back within four points, Hannah threw another alley-oop to Robinson which was followed by a euro-step bucket for Tony Arnold.
A few minutes later, when Hannah swiped a steal at halfcourt and drove for a layup, the Lancers led 37-24 with 2:45 to play in the third.
“At the end of the day, (Hannah’s) out there making the plays,” Roser said. “He’s the floor general.”
This game has been dominated by @JalenRoseHanna1. Steal and bucket here, he’s got 12 and @eastridgehoops lead 37-24 with 2:45 left in the third. @eridgelancers @PickinSplinters pic.twitter.com/9bwqgqF0q8
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) March 5, 2020
Arnold knew at the start of the fourth quarter it was time to finish the game off, so he quickly drove for two before knocking down three pull-up jumpers. On the final one, which put Eastridge up 20 with no time for a comeback, Arnold jogged back down the court with a huge smile on his face.
“I knew it was time to put the game away, and my teammates believe in me,” Arnold said. “They tell me to get a bucket when we need one, so that’s what happened.”
Roser had challenged his players during the week on the defensive end of the floor. That’s what would get them to a championship game, he said. The Lancers responded to the test, and they’ll head to Blue Cross Arena on Saturday to play for a sectional title.
Arnold broke down in tears on the court after the game while Hannah’s smile beamed. The two wins as freshmen had been the start of their Eastridge varsity journey. Now all that’s left is one win for their high school tenure’s ultimate goal.
“It’s big for our school reputation, our family, yeah, it’s just big,” Hannah said. “We just want to go there, show what we can do and hopefully come out with the win.”
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