Smith leads R-H to tournament title

By PAUL GOTHAM

HENRIETTA, N.Y. — Time spent coming off the bench paid dividends Thursday night for Adareus Smith and the Rush-Henrietta boys’ basketball team.

Smith scored 12 points and nabbed MVP honors as the host Royal Comets held off a late charge to claim the 2022 Rush-Henrietta Holiday Tournament Championship with a 60-57 win over Pittsford Sutherland.

“Tonight, we made shots,” Rush-Henrietta head coach Chris Reed said. “We defended at a much higher level because we had to. Sutherland is good. They’re really good. They have a real good chance to win sectionals in their classification. It was a quality win for sure.”

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Smith connected twice from the floor and converted a pair of free throws for six points in the third quarter to help R-H take a 42-35 lead into the final eight minutes of play.

“We’ve always felt he’s very talented,” Reed said of the 6-foot-2 senior forward. “We felt that he didn’t play with the motor that was necessary.

Jacob Luc finds Jalen Taggart inside for two. ⁦@RHBoysVarsityBB⁩ 55-50 with 1:14 remaining. pic.twitter.com/7BWmSxRVup

— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 30, 2022

“He wasn’t starting because of it. Some would pout or go into the tank. Not him. In practice, he was starting to show it. We were like ‘if you were playing like this, we’re different.’ The last two nights he’s really played. We hope he can continue that.”

Thursday’s victory after Wednesday’s 80-63 win over Wilson were the first two of the season for R-H (2-5).

“It’s a simple game,” Reed noted. “You’ve got to make shots, and we haven’t been making shots until yesterday. All of sudden, things turned.”

Kobey Weeks connected on five 3-pointers in the first half. Graylin Strong added six in the opening 16 minutes of play, and Jacob Luc had four. The Royal Comets led 33-21 heading into the locker room.

That advantage evaporated in the opening moments of the fourth quarter.

Sam Pisanelli hit a floater in the lane then converted a three-point play. Everett Wilcox buried a catch-and-shoot triple to tie the game at 43.

Sam Pisanelli gets in the lane to cut the deficit to one. pic.twitter.com/7mNoFTdtci

— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) December 30, 2022

A Pisanelli drive followed by Wilcox’s steal and layup gave the Knights a 50-49 edge with 2:25 remaining in the game.

Graylin Strong responded with an and-one for a lead that the Royal Comets did not surrender at 52-50.

“The speech after you get dominated is tough when you’re doing it time after time after time,” said Reed whose team lost its first five games by an average margin of nearly 16 per outing. “It’s human nature to start doubting stuff and start pointing fingers. All those things that happen when things don’t go well, they were starting to creep in. To the guys’ credit they’ve been listening and they really came together.”

Ninth-grader Jalen Taggart, who was recently promoted from JV for the tournament, scored six of his 10 points to close out the win.

“Doubt does creep up especially when you’ve been losing games. We made plays and getting to the double-bonus was huge. That helped that we were able to get to the foul line and take advantage of that.

“Couple guys made some outstanding plays for buckets that gave us a cushion at the end. Quality, quality win. We’re happy. We’ll see where it goes. We needed it.”

Weeks finished with 17 points. Strong had 12 points. Jacob Luc (7) and Avery Council (4) rounded out the offensive production.

Sutherland’s Pisanelli led all scorers with 19. Wilcox, Max Michalski and Dutch Pestorius each had 12. Luke Fliss contributed two points.

Sutherland (5-3) had won three straight coming into the game.

“When you lose in the fashion we’ve been losing, your spirit and your belief takes a hit. We weren’t just losing 57-55. We were getting killed. We hope we found something, but it’s definitely going to make the New Year a lot sweeter for us. It’s easier to come back to practice after this.”