By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — When it came to the subject of his halftime talk, Elyette Clyburn leaned on the wisdom of his high school coach.
Judging by results, the message was well-received.
Devin Dillon and Saeed Ervin scored on back-to-back dunks early in the third quarter to catapult host World of Inquiry (13-8) to a 72-44 victory over No. 12 Dundee/Bradford (10-10) in Section V Class C1 action, Tuesday night.
With the win, the fifth-seeded Griffins advanced to face No. 4 Gananda in the quarterfinals on Friday.
“That first sectional win after a week off means a lot,” said Clyburn referring to WOI’s regular season finale last Tuesday. “I think we were a little bit nervous at the beginning, a little too hyped. It was a matter of relaxing and playing basketball.”
After jumping out to 13-4 lead early in the game, Clyburn’s squad found itself holding on to a five-point edge with less than four minutes remaining in the second quarter.
The Griffins responded with a 15-3 run to close the half.
Going into the locker room, Clyburn knew exactly what he needed to expect from his team.
“Playing in high school, Coach Trent Jackson used to always say the first two minutes of the second half are going to determine the momentum of the game,” Clyburn said echoing the words of the late hall of fame coach from Franklin High. “I was happy with our intensity in those two minutes.”
Dillon stepped in a passing lane on defense for a steal and finished with a thunderous one-handed slam at the other end.
The home fans were still applauding the first dunk when Saeed broke into the open floor, climbed the ladder and threw down another.
Less than a minute had elapsed in the third, and the Dundee/Bradford bench called for a timeout.
“Our intensity put the game away,” Clyburn said.
The break in the action didn’t slow the Griffins, and it was Dillon who kept the offense in attack mode.
The ninth-grade guard buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key. He followed with a drive to the basket in which he sliced through the BraveScots’ zone defense and finished in traffic.
Next time down the floor, he drew the defense into the paint before dishing a pass to teammate Marcus Norwood who went off the bounce and scored two more points.
“I knew I had to set the tone for the team,” said Dillon who led four in double figures with 20 points. “I had to get out there and make plays.”
A year ago, Dillon was a late-season call-up from the JV squad and immediately made an impact as WOI won its first sectional title in program history. He scored a game-high 20 including triples on three straight possessions early in the first quarter of the regional qualifier, and the Griffins eventually reached the state semifinals.
Leading scorers Jaedon Adams-Griffin and Kanaz Linder graduated from that team.
Tuesday’s win was the fifth in six games for the current WOI team whose only losses in the month of February have come to schools from larger classes (Monroe and East).
“It feels great, feels great,” Norwood said of the win. “We played together and knew what we had to do to get to the next round.
“Once we started getting out in transition and scoring easy baskets, we were able to relax.”
Norwood finished with 13 points. Kenny Grimes added 12, and Junayde Dunn-Richardson had 10.
WOI played without starting forward Curtis Bell who averaged 12.9 points per game during the regular season.
Dundee/Bradford’s Brody Ryan hit three 3-pointers and led all scorers with 29 points.
DUNDEE/BRADFORD (10-11) 44
Nick McTamney 0 0-0 0, Kaise Kiklowicz 1 0-0 3, Brody Ryan 9 8-10 29, Kacey McDonald 0 0-0 0, Ethan Farrow 0 0-0 0, Alex Kendall 2 0-0 4, Connor Crane 0 0-0 0, Preston Tham 0 0-0 0, Gabe Russell 1 0-0 2, Colton Aftuck 0 0-0 0 Gavin Templar 0 0-0 0, Brighton Grant 0 0-0 0 TOTALS 16 8-10 — 44
WORLD OF INQUIRY (13-8) 72
Marcus Norwood 6 0-2 13, Richone Washington 1 0-0 2, Courtney Wellington 0 0-0 0, Caleb Brinson 0 0-0 0, Saeed Ervin 2 0-0 4, Dezmond Jackson 1 0-0 2, Junayde Dunn-Richardson 5 0-0 10, Devin Dillon 8 3-4 20, Dayan Vera 1 0-0 2, Kenny Grimes 4 2-2 12, Rayshaad Lane 0 0-0 0, Joseph Morales 1 0-0 3, Ashton Worth 1 0-0 2, Khristian Maynard 1 0-0 2 TOTALS 31 5-8 — 72
DUNDEE/BRADFORD — 4 14 14 12 — 44
WORLD OF INQUIRY 13 22 18 19 — 72
3-point goals: DUNDEE/BRADFORD 4 (Kilkowicz 1, Ryan 3); WORLD OF INQUIRY 5 (Norwood 1, Dillon 1, Grimes 2, Morales 1).
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