Pickin' Splinters

Rochester's Independent Sports Source

Avon cruises into regional

by Leave a Comment

By PAUL GOTHAM

CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — Less than six minutes had elapsed in Tuesday’s Class B regional qualifier at Canandaigua Academy and a pair of timeouts had already been used by the Mynderse Blue Devils.

The stoppages in time did nothing in an effort to disrupt the offensive rhythm of Avon.

Michael Rowland finished with a double-double, and Trevor Stroud, the Class B2 Tournament MVP, continued his hot shooting in leading three in double figures as the Braves clinched a spot in the Far West Regional with a 70-48 victory.

“They were focused tonight,” said Avon head coach Rob Fries. “They’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. We’ve done a much better job with our offense, moving the ball and getting guys shots in the spots that we want.”

Avon (23-1) came into the game ranked No. 3 in the state and looked every bit of the part. The Braves scored on 10 of their first 12 trips down the floor including a seven-possession stretch where they used a 16-3 advantage to take a 24-8 lead after eight minutes of play.

“Trevor was hot,” Fries said of the junior who connected on three 3-pointers and scored 13 of his 25 points in the first quarter. “When you’re making shots from there, it opens everything up.

“When they shoot it from where they shoot it, I can’t take much credit for that. That’s not good offense. That’s just really good players.”

And when they weren’t connecting on the first shot, the Braves were busy grabbing four offensive rebounds in the opening eight minutes. Twice those efforts led to shots from distance.

“Those second-chance points were the difference,” said Mynderse head coach Pat Prayne. “How they got that lead was second and third chances. We ran into a buzzsaw tonight. The way they shoot, the way they play, they’re going places. My hat’s off to Avon.

“They’re very well-disciplined. They move the ball incredibly fast. They get shots off, and all the shots were falling. You can tell they didn’t just show up in November and start playing basketball. That team is going places. Good for them. I told them at the end when we were shaking hands, go get it and represent Section V.”

Rowland, Stroud and Harter, as they have so many times this season, combined for a bulk Avon’s offensive production.

Fries pointed to the efforts of fellow starters Kal Dolgos and Ryan Hillman along with Brody McDowell.

“It’s easy to talk about Trevor and Josh and Michael. It’s the other guys, though, that you got to have to win games. I thought we got good minutes when Trevor and Michael got into (foul) trouble. We got some good minutes from guys off our bench.

“Kal, Hillman and then Brody when he went in, all did a great job of getting their hands on offensive rebounds, being active and filling their roles. That was the best game I’ve seen Kal Dolgos play maybe all year. He was great tonight.”

Avon scored on 17 of 24 possessions and led 40-21 at halftime.

Dolgos set up Rowland to open the third quarter, and the Braves did not let the game get any closer than a 16-point margin.

Rowland finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Harter scored 12 and handed out nine assists.

“Those guys are gamers,” Fries said of Harter, Rowland and Stroud. “Those three are just so tough. They’ve played so many big games in other places, they just how up and play. I’m sure there are nights where it’s not going to go down, but they find each other when it happens.”

Dolgos collected six rebounds, three assists and two points.

Griffin Hilimire and Alan Plummer scored 14 apiece to lead Mynderse. Plummer grabbed nine rebounds. Jake Prayne added 10 points.

Avon’s win sets up a rematch with Salamanca (19-5/No. 6 NYSSWA) in the state quarterfinals. The two teams met in 2022 – then in Class C. Lucus Brown connected on four 3-pointers and scored 24 of his team-high 30 points in the first half as the Warriors held on to beat Avon, 61-59.

“Lucus Brown is phenomenal,” Fries said of the senior guard who is averaging 25. 2 points per game. “We know how good they are. I’m sure it will be a great game.”

MYNDERSE
Anthony Luffman 2 1-1 5, Jake Prayne 4 1-1 10, Jack Brady 1 3-6 5, Griffin Hilimire 7 0-0 14, Alan Plummer 6 1-3 14 Dylan Tandle 0 0-0 0, Chase Fitzgerald 0 0-0 0, Aiden Lewis 0 0-0 0, Braeden Cimineri 0 0-0 0, Rocco Palladino 0 0-0 0 TOTALS 20 11-16 — 48

AVON
Kellan Schneider 0 0-0 0, Jordan Murray 1 0-0 2, Josh Harter 4 3-4 12, Michael Rowland 8 0-0 19, Kal Dolgos 1 0-0 2, Brody McDowell 1 0-0 2, Trevor Stroud 10 1-1 25, Ryan Hillman 1 0-0 2, Austin Lattuca 1 0-0 3, RJ Gibson 0 0-0 0, Connor Smith 1 1-2 3 TOTALS 28 5-7 — 70

MYNDERSE 13 8 11 16 — 48
AVON 24 16 14 16 — 70

3-point goals: MYNDERSE 2 (Prayne 1, Plummer 1); AVON 9 (Harter 1, Rowland 3, Stroud 4, Lattuca 1).

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *