By STEPHEN BRICKLER
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Sophomores CJ Johnson and Jackson Green scored 28 and 20 points respectively to lead top-seeded Penfield over No. 4 Irondequoit, 77-55 in Section V Class AA1 semifinal action at Gates-Chili High School, Tuesday night. The Patriots have the opportunity to bring home the school’s first boys’ basketball title since 1953.
The Patriots first had to overcome a slow start as perimeter shots were not falling in the game’s opening minutes. The lead changed hands four times in the first eight minutes of play with Irondequoit holding a 12-8 advantage fueled by seven points from junior Chase Leonardo.
About midway through the first quarter, the Patriots found a formula to unlock the Eagles’ defense with quick ball movement around the perimeter and then entering the ball down low to Green, who scored six of Penfield’s eight first-quarter points.
“First quarter jitters,” said Penfield Coach Jason Ellis. “Every game we’ve been in this year, first quarters are battles. Last game we played, Churchville had us 26-24 at half. It’s really about adjustments. Once we realized that the pressure was up high, we were able to slip some actions and play a little bit more around the rim. We did and we were able to impose our will a little bit more.”
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The Patriots also had two starters get into foul trouble early which forced them to the bench in the first quarter. Enter sixth man Johnson who combined with Green to score 19 of Penfield’s 20 points during a decisive 20-2 run to begin the second quarter. Green finished the first half with 17 points while Johnson contributed 12 second quarter points to push the Patriots to a 32-19 lead at the half.
“Our big man, Jake (McCarthy), he got in foul trouble early. He’s a big scorer for us so I knew I had to pick up the scoring load. My teammates were making it look easy for me”, said Green of his first-half performance. “I was getting every look I wanted because they were looking for me every time.”
With Irondequoit looking to lock down Penfield’s inside game in the second half, the Patriots found their stroke from outside in the third quarter scoring the first 11 points coming out of the break. Christian Zarzycki hit the first triple, followed by another from Johnson. Patrick Emling posted a 2-point bucket down low followed by another Johnson three pointer to put the Patriots up 24.
“Every time I catch the ball I have to look to shoot, look to score, and that’s what I did this game so I have to keep doing that”, said Johnson. “We started out slow but once my shots started falling and once Jackson started dominating down in the paint, we decided to keep going back to that.”
“CJ is a fantastic sixth man to have”, said Ellis. “The plan was to get him into the rotation a little earlier but guys like Michael Moxley and Gabe Reyes and Jake Natale, these guys they land up rising and keeps CJ at sixth, but CJ put on display what he is very capable of doing tonight.”
Leonardo hit back-to-back triples for Irondequoit, hoping to work themselves back into striking distance, but Johnson responded with five points of his own. Johnson finished the third quarter with 16 points, 12 coming from beyond the arc.
Irondequoit continued to battle in the final quarter with seniors, DJ Kemp and Taiden Makubire each scoring 10 in the final frame but were unable to overcome Penfield’s second and third quarter surge.
Penfield moves on to face Webster Thomas in the AA1 final on Saturday at Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester War Memorial. The time is to be determined. No. 2 Thomas survived a double overtime thriller over crosstown rival Schroeder 74-73 in the nightcap at Gates-Chili. Penfield defeated Thomas 74-66 in February.
The last time Penfield played for a title? “Years and years ago, but we’re here now”, said Green. “We came together and we had one objective.”
Ellis pointed to last year’s sectional loss helped this year’s team believe that things might be different this season.
“Last year, when we made it to this place (semifinal round) and lost by three to the New York State number one team (Athena). We lost (Trevor) Hofer and that was a big loss but we were returning so much experience now that we knew we would be special and then in April the boys got together and decided they were going to start really working together, gelling and trying to figure it out again. The addition of CJ and a couple of juniors made us really know that we were going to be special.”
The Patriots look to add a sectional championship to their basketball banner for the first time in 72 years on Saturday. Said Ellis, “Just one more.”
Irondequoit finished the season with a 10-12 record. Leonardo led the way with 15 points, followed by 12 from Kemp and 10 from Makubire. Myles Wynn contributed 6, Jayden Patterson 4, Josh Morse 3, Devin Panzardi and Brien Walker had 2 each and Goti Bandas had 1 to round out the scoring for the Eagles.
Penfield improves to 19-3. Aside from Johnson and Green, Patrick Emling netted 12, Zarzycki 8, Dallas Crawford 6 , Kelsey McGraw 2 and Moxley added 1 for the Patriots.
Penfield won the Section V Class D titles in 1951 and ’53.
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