By TIM IRVING
Eastridge fell behind Pittsford Sutherland 37-36 in third quarter, in a boys basketball game that could have gone either way. But the Lancers’ defense turned it up a notch, spurring a 20-2 run and Eastridge went on to win 73-60.
The Knights took a 13-11 lead as Jalyn Moorehead and Tyler Mullin hit late three-pointers.
The Lancers built a lead in the second quarter with Cordell Young providing a spark off the bench. Back-to-back three-point plays for Young and Caquan Wester led a 7-2 run.
The Knights rallied back with senior forward Jake Preisser scoring all seven of his first half points in the second quarter and Sutherland tied the game a 29.
Another spark off the bench gave the Lancers the halftime lead as Zy Switzer stuck a basket at the buzzer for a 31-29 advantage.
Early in the third, the Knights grabbed the lead on a pair of Preisser free throws. Emmanuel Leftenant scored and drew a foul but missed the free throw. Wester got the offensive board, hit Mykael Miller, who dished to Hector Jimenez and the run was on.
Between Miller, Leftenant, Young and Jimenez, the Lancers run off 17 unanswered points. With time running down in the third, Miller hit a corner three and Eastridge led 53-39 going to the fourth.
“I think we’re at our best when we get out and go, keep the game up-tempo when we can and then, when we get stops on the defensive end, it just fuels our offense,” reigning Coach of the Year Dan Roser said afterwards.
The Knights kept fighting in the fourth and Mullin hit a three-pointer with 1:28 left to cut the lead to nine.
Wester answered on the defense end, a blocked shot with 40 seconds left locked up the win.
“They have two really solid big guys and Quan knew coming in that he was gonna have to show up and play really tough and we wanted to feed him the ball as much as we could,” said Roser said of Wester, who scored 15 points.
Miller also scored 15 and Leftenant led the Lancers with 20. Preisser also scored 20 for Sutherland. Both teams finish the game 2-1.
Scoring:
Pittsford Sutherland
Shane Leonard (2), Patrick Smelt (2), Jake Preisser (20), Joe Groark (3), Tyler Mullin (10), Jake Fekete (3), Jalyn Moorehead (12), Will Klenk (5), Sam Pisanelli (3)
Eastridge
Mykael Miller (15), Zy Switzer (2), Emmanuel Torres (3), Emmanuel Leftenant (20), Cordell Young (9), CaQuan Wester (15), Hector Jimenez (15)
Leave a Reply