By TYLER HATHAWAY
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After surrendering a season-high 67 points in a losing effort in their most recent game, the Webster Thomas Titans (4-3) responded, holding Penfield (3-5) to only 45 points in a 51-45 road victory. In a game in which buckets were hard to come by, coach Griffin Coles was proud of how his defense played.
“They just kept battling all game. It was a defensive battle for us. Penfield is physical and they play scrappy and physical on offense and defense. They rebound well, so we knew what we were coming into, and thankfully we responded today.”
The Titans stormed out of the gates, opening the game with an early 7-0 scoring run. Penfield pushed back, and Webster Thomas took a 30-29 lead into the halftime break. After being only able to stretch the lead to three before heading into the fourth quarter with a 42-39 lead, Coach Coles knew his defense would have to step up.
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“It’s a good offense,” Coles said of Penfield. “They cut extremely hard, they’re always battling hard for inside position, so you always got to be ready,” said Coles of the Penfield offense. “You got to be physical and you got to deny their cuts, and I think in the fourth quarter we started finally figuring out their offense and where the cuts were coming from.”
In the decisive final quarter, Thomas held the Penfield offense to six points, limiting the Patriots without a point for nearly four minutes.
“I think defensively our man-to-man defense picked up in the fourth quarter, and I’m happy we ended the game playing man defense the way we did and not resorting to a zone.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the Titans received great efforts from three players in particular seniors Andrew Quinn and Jackson Kulik along with junior guard Shawn Mason. Quinn led the way with a game-high 18 points, while Mason chipped in 15 points and Kulik finished with 14 points of his own. Junior guard Sean Linder was the other scorer for Thomas, wrapping up his night with four points.
Steal and layup from Andrew Quinn. Heading to the fourth: @HoopsTitans 42 @PenfieldBball 39 pic.twitter.com/M4LgYcSRrq
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 6, 2022
“When you have two scoring options teams can focus on you, but when you have three, it makes it extremely tough to stop in high school basketball,” said Coles. “They’re unselfish, these guys are best friends, they don’t care about who scores. We don’t care about the points, but we got our top three scorers. It usually ends up in their hands, and they know how to finish.”
Shawn Mason window. @HoopsTitans 44-39. 4:58 on the clock. pic.twitter.com/WM9VyFzXcQ
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 6, 2022
Guard Aiden Cook topped the Penfield side of the stat sheet, dropping 10 first-half points on his way to 15 on the night. Coach Coles knew if Webster Thomas were to win, they would need to put defensive pressure on him, and it worked in the second half.
“That was one of our keys for the game,” Coles noted. “We had to slow down Aiden because he is such a good shooter. I think in the second half we started to trust ourselves coming out a little bit, pressuring the ball a little bit more and they did a good job on it tonight. He’s a tough player.”
Aiden Cook curls for the and-one and a 22-20 @PenfieldBball lead. pic.twitter.com/syZ3kdVL98
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) January 6, 2022
Penfield also received help on the offensive end from Brady Schroeder, who put up 11 points. Other scorers for the Patriots were Daniel Gregory (six), Matt Karpen (six), Charles MacDougall-Knapp (three), Caden Harrington (two), and Derek Torres (two). Penfield had scored more 68 points per game in the three previous outings.
“We haven’t played a great game all year, at least four quarters of great basketball, but this is a step in the right direction for sure,” said Coles. “We needed a win like that, we needed to end the game playing man-to-man defense and we did tonight”.
Webster Thomas has won three of its last four and returns home to play Brighton for their next game.
Penfield’s next contest will consist of the Patriots hosting Hilton.
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