By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Freshman JJ Crowder led four in double figures with 21 points as Avoca-Prattsburgh (15-9) shrugged off some early foul trouble and rolled to a third straight Far West Regional championship with a 75-45 victory over Section VI champion Pine Valley (11-12), Saturday at Buffalo State College.
Crowder connected four times from the floor for eight points in the second quarter to help the Titans take a 30-27 lead into halftime.
“It’s just their grit,” said head coach Brian Putnam. “They get after it, man. We played some better teams earlier in the season to get us ready for this moment. They just step up. We got a freshman who’s playing like a junior or a senior. He just stepped up and had a great game. We keep moving on.”
Chris Abbott scored 13 of his 15 points in the third quarter when A-P used a 28-13 advantage to take a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter.
“Our mindset coming out of the locker room at half was we got to throw the first punch,” Putnam said. “We had to grab the momentum back. It was all theirs going into halftime. We had a good start to our third quarter and never looked back.”
Dan Stilson scored nine of his 18 points in the fourth quarter while Macoy Putnam had four of his 15.
Pine Valley’s Miles Volk led all scorers with 25 points.
The Titans, looking for their third straight state title, advance to next weekend’s semifinals.
“Because we graduated so many lasted year, a few of these kids were along for the ride. They were pulled up last year. That makes them hungry. They see this. They see the Blue Cross Arena. They see Glen Falls and it lights a fire. They just want to keep it going.”
Avoca-Prattsburgh will either Harrisville (X) or Sacketts Harbor (III) in the semis.
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