Pickin' Splinters

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DeWitte and Talbot lead; Thomas avenges earlier loss

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Webster Thomas defeated Penfield 59-49 for a third win in the past four games. (Photo: Paul Gotham)

By PAUL GOTHAM

WEBSTER, N.Y. — Second time through the league schedule fits well on first-year head coach Christopher Barrett and the Webster Thomas boys’ basketball team.

Shrugging off the possibility of a letdown, the host Titans turned the tables on Penfield with a 59-49 win in Monroe County Division I action, Wednesday night.

The victory was the second straight and third in the past four for Thomas (5-6) which opened the season with two wins in its first six games.

“We’re starting to play with an attitude that we are a pretty good team and we can compete with these guys,” Barrett said. “We knew we had some lumps to take and to grow. They’re going to play with a chip on their shoulder every night. They’re easy to motivate for that reason.”

Seniors Boston DeWitte and Shane Talbot highlighted an effort that saw Thomas rally from as many as six back and go on to erase a halftime deficit.

DeWitte led a defense that held Penfield nearly 20 under its season average of 68.7 points per game.

“That might have been the best game he’s played for us,” Barrett said. “He doesn’t score a lot. He does all of the dirty work.”

The 6-foot-2 center’s ability to slow Penfield’s offense helped the Titans hold the Patriots to one field goal during a decisive 12-possession sequence that started late in the third and extended into the fourth quarter.

“He did a really good job of defending guards as a big; that was probably the biggest difference,” Barrett explained. “He was able to switch on that high screen on to Hofer or Zarzycki (Penfield guards Trevor and Christian).”

During the first 16 minutes of the contest, Penfield was able to take advantage of space created when Thomas’s forwards left the lane to defend screens.

“In the first half they beat us on a lot of backdoor slips when we tried to switch screens,” Barrett said. “In the second half, our communication really improved on those screens. We didn’t get caught on any backdoors or slips.”

Leading by two with 3:48 remaining in the third quarter, Thomas forced seven turnovers during the six-plus minute stretch that saw the Titans build a 45-37 advantage.

“Coach walked us through it in practice,” DeWitte said. “We weren’t super-effective early in the game, but toward the end we started to cutting back more, so we could defend the roll.”

Talbot’s 3-pointer coming out of a timeout with 2:23 left in the game pushed the advantage to nine at 53-44.

“I was just shooting when I had the opportunity,” Talbot said. “Obviously, my teammates set me up with great passing, spacing and screens. Just doing what they do best.”

The senior guard connected four times from deep and finished with a game-high 20 points.

“He’s so quiet,” Barrett said. “He does not make flashy plays. People don’t talk about him, but he is such a glue guy and so important for us.

“He never gets sped up. He never gets rattled. He doesn’t let a miss affect him. He’ll take the next one if it’s a good shot.”

In a division that includes Penfield’s Hofer along with Garrett Clar and Griffen Hopkins of Victor as well as Aidan White (Fairport), LaShard Lowry, Jr. (Fairport), Brady Gerig (Hilton), Ben Sneddon (Hilton) and Avery Council (Rush-Henrietta), Barrett notes that Talbot deserves his due.

“We’ve been through the league once. There are some really good players in the league. Really good. It’s probably time that we started talking about Shane as one of the better players in Division I this year.”

Thomas beat Fairport (9-3) on Friday to snap the Red Raiders’ five-game winning streak.

“I was a little worried about a letdown, but it just didn’t happen,” Barrett said. “They came out and played hard from the tip.”

Penfield (9-3) had won six in a row heading into Wednesday’s contest. The Patriots defeated Thomas, 71-51 when the two teams met on December 1st.

“We faced a well-coached, hard-nosed, gritty team who didn’t care about records or previous matchups,” said Penfield head coach Jason Ellis.

Hofer scored 10 of his team-high 17 points in the first half. The senior guard connected on back-to-back threes early in the second quarter to give the Patriots their largest lead of the game at 23-17.

“We are a very tough team with a lot of young talent,” Ellis said. “We have been very fortunate to stay in the winning column as we have been learning to play at this level.

“As hard as it is, more can be learned from a loss than a win. We will definitely take this and get back to work.”

PENFIELD
Trevor Hofer 5 5-5 17, Jackson Green 2 0-0 4, Christian Zarzycki 6 1-2 15, Jacob Natale 0 0-0 0, Michael Moxley 1 0-0 2, Patrick Emling 5 0-0 11, Jake McCarthy 0 0-0 0 TOTALS 19 6-7 49

WEBSTER THOMAS
Chase Fitch 1 1-2 4, Levi Kulik 1 3-4 5, Joey Baller 2 1-2 6, AJ LaLoggia 1 0-0 2, Shane Talbot 6 4-6 20, Sean Quinn 4 3-4 14, Sean McEneany 0 0-0 0, Boston DeWitte 4 0-0 8 TOTALS 19 12-18 59

PENFIELD 17 12 8 12 — 49
WEBSTER THOMAS 17 11 13 18 — 59

3-point goals — Penfield 5 (Hofer 2, Zarzycki 2, Emling 1); Webster Thomas 9 (Fitch 1, Baller 1, Talbot 4, Quinn 3)

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