By STEVE BRICKLER
IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. — Webster Schroeder took over sole possession of first place in Monroe County Division II with a 63-61 win over host Irondequoit. The Warriors had previously beaten the Eagles 54-45 earlier in the season. The Eagles had a last second three-point try and subsequent tip-in attempt both fall off the rim at the end of regulation.
In the first quarter, the game stayed within one possession until Irondequoit’s Isaiah Ballard picked up his second foul with 3:11 to play and had to go to the bench. Schroeder took advantage of Ballard’s absence by going on a 9-0 run to take a 21-11 lead, the biggest lead for either team in the entire game. Connor Fulkerson had five of his eight points on the game during the run.
With Ballard back in the game in the second quarter, the Eagles proceeded to go on a 13-2 run to take their first lead since early in the opening frame. Quinn VanKerkhove had six of his game-high 24 points to lead the run and his driving layup gave Irondequoit the lead at 24-23 midway through the quarter. VanKerkhove was able to get his points despite a Warrior defense meant to slow him down.
“We knew we had to come in and we had an assignment. They’ve got two top guys (VanKerkhove and Ballard), they can do it all,” said Schroeder head coach Rashaad Stokelin. “I’ve seen sometimes when one guy has twenty something and the other guy has twenty something and we knew if we can take that away, it’s a gamble, but see if we can take them away as much as possible and see if their supporting cast could fill the void, fill the gap.”
Schroeder was able to retake the lead on a pair of two-point buckets by Anthony DeRosa and Aydin Stephens respectively and looked to be heading into the half with a 4-point edge when Jacob Insley hit a mid-court shot at the buzzer to give the Warriors a 34-27 lead going into the break.
The Warriors maintained their lead throughout the third quarter, led by Stephens and Jack Kelly who combined to score 11 of the 13 points Schroeder would earn in the quarter.
The contributions from multiple players has been a theme for the Warriors as of late.
“That’s been happening the last couple of games with rebounds, with scoring and I love it because it shows that we are sharing the rock, we trust each other and that’s one of the boxes we wanted to check around this time,” said Stokelin.
But at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, one of Irondequoit’s supporting cast, sophomore Chase Leonardo, scored eight straight Eagle points on two triples and a floater from the right side of the lane to pull the Eagles within two at 47-45. After a Tyler Washington bucket for Schroeder, Irondequoit looked to be making a concerted effort to get the ball down low to Ballard who used his size to get to the basket for two buckets in traffic to tie the game. VanKerkhove gave the Eagles the lead with a pair of free throws and Ballard followed with a pair of free throws of his own to give the Eagles a 53-49 edge.
Kelly and Fulkerson countered with back-to-back triples to put Schroeder back up by two when VanKerkhove spun a reverse layup off the glass to tie the game again at 55.
Stephens proceeded to score the next five points to give Schroeder the lead they would not relinquish at 60-55. The Eagles would climb back within a point at 60-59 on single free throws by VanKerkhove and Ballard and a two-point basket by Nikki Yudin.
Clinging to their one-point lead with just under a minute to play, and with possession of the ball, Schroeder would miss their shot from the perimeter, but the long rebound was gathered by Kelly, giving the Warriors another possession. Irondequoit was then forced to foul four times before the Warriors were required to go to the line for free throws, taking valuable seconds off the clock.
Said Stokelin of the big late rebound by Kelly, “One thing I’m always going to preach is rebounding. I love rebounding. You can punch your ticket for being a good rebounder and with a guy like Jack, hey Jack, you’re a good shooter and a good scorer but you can also rebound the basketball very well, show that side of you. It came up big in that last one”
Insley sank both free throws to put the Warriors up 62-59. VanKerkhove drove the length of the court for a layup to get the game back within one and the Eagles proceeded to foul Insley again. Insley connected on one of two.
The Eagles raced past midcourt in the final seconds, where VanKerkhove got the ball inside the arc, passed it back out to Ballard whose three-point attempt from the left side bounced off the rim to the right where Yudin made a desperation tip at the buzzer that fell off the backside of the rim.
Irondequoit Coach Kyle Trevas lamented his team’s rebounding struggles on the night.
“Our kids played hard but didn’t rebound. We had some lapses on the glass against a team whose strength is rebounding. Coming into the season we knew rebounding could be an issue and we have really improved with it but tonight we didn’t. My hat’s off to those guys, they are a tough, well coached group.”
The Warriors moved to 6-1 in the division and 9-4 overall while Irondequoit fell to 5-2 in the division and 8-5 overall.
“We’re in the driver’s seat (for the division), but we’ve got to make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves and that we just keep preparing, get something out of every day we’re together and even when we’re not together, get something out of it,” said Stokelin.
For Irondequoit, Ballard finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Leonardo (11), Yudin (7) and DJ Kemp (6) also supplemented VanKerkhove’s 24 points.
Stephens led Schroeder with 19 on the night. Insley added 15, Kelly 11, Fulkerson and DeRosa contributed eight apiece and Washington added two on the night.
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