By PAUL GOTHAM
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Less than 12 minutes had elapsed in Friday’s NYSPHSAA Class AAA semifinal, and Fairport boys’ basketball already committed 10 turnovers on the day. A pair of Red Raider starters had drawn two fouls apiece.
To try and get his squad through the rough patch, Fairport head coach Scott Fitch burned three timeouts.
The deficit was 19 points.
The floor of the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton looked tilted in favor of Section IV champion Corning-Painted Post.
To make matters worse, a partisan crowd added to the advantage.
Then, in what seemed like the snap of a finger, everything changed.
“We had to work for that one for sure, but I thought the kids responded really well to getting punched in the mouth early,” said Fairport head coach Scott Fitch. “They could have folded. Their mantra this year has been trust us (the Red Raider coaching staff), and I feel like they trust us. We didn’t splinter and that allowed us to come back, a great comeback.”
The Red Raiders scored on 11-straight possessions in the second quarter to cut the deficit to three before halftime and went on to clinch a spot in Saturday’s championship game with a 79-72 victory.
“Usually you see a team splinter at some point in the season, and you got to mold it back,” Fitch said. “This group just hasn’t done it, and I didn’t see it tonight again, which is saying something, because we were definitely the away team.”
Trailing 34-15, Alex Grejda took a pass from teammate Hadi Dergham and drew contact on a layup. Dergham followed with back-to-back baskets before the duo combined again with Grejda finishing.
Noah Meabon scored the next five starting with a dunk off a turnover.
Antonio Nurse made it a five-point game at 36-31 when he took an inside-out feed from Dergham and buried a 3-pointer from the right wing. It was the first of three straight triples for the Red Raiders as Dergham and Jon Roessel added to the rally.
A Meabon putback capped the second quarter to make it a 42-39 game.
As impressive as the effort was on the offensive end, it was an adjustment at the other end of the floor that jumpstarted the Red Raiders.
For 12 minutes, Corning-Painted Post dictated the game. The Hawks routinely were able to beat Fairport off the dribble and take advantage of a defense that was forced to chase.
Nolyn Proudfoot, who came into the day’s action leading the Hawks averaging nearly 30 points per game, scored eight points during that early stretch. The sophomore guard also was getting into the paint off the dribble and facilitating for teammates.
“He so good, Nolyn is so tough,” Fitch said. “We had to change. We weren’t able to stay in front of them.”
The Red Raiders went box-and-one for a hadful of trips down the floor to deny Proudfoot the ball.
“We won a couple possessions,” Fitch said. “We did that just to get our legs under us again. After that, we started doing a trap at half court to get the ball out of that kid’s hands.”
The Red Raiders, who had been turnover prone for 12 minutes, were now the ones forcing miscues as the Hawks mishandled the ball four times over the final minutes of the second quarter.
“I thought our rotations were really tight when we did that,” Fitch said. “I felt like we had to pressure them in a different way and that’s where we went to.”
In the second half, Fairport created 12 more turnovers and limited Corning-Painted Post to 10 field goals.
Grejda took a feed from Gannon Culver and finished in the lane to tie the game at 45. Two trips down the floor later, Grejda converted a rebound and putback to give Fairport its first lead of the game at 47-45 with less five minutes remaining in the third.
Kyler Stevenson tied the game briefly for the Hawks.
Sam Roselli hit a pull-up jumper in the lane to give Fairport a lead it did not surrender at 49-47.
Grejda led all scorers with 24 points. Dergham had 16. Meabon and Roesell added 11 apiece. Roselli scored 10. Culver (2) and Nurse (5) also contributed.
Nolyn Proudfoot and Carter Proudfoot scored 20 apiece to lead Corning-Painted Post. Stevenson and Kohl Hogue both scored 12.
“They had a great crowd, great energy, Fitch said of the Hawks who had their student section in attendance on Friday. “That was a tough start, for sure. I wouldn’t sign up for that any day.”
The Red Raiders, did sign up for one more game. Fairport will play CBA Albany (2) in Saturday’s final. A 7:45 PM tipoff is scheduled.
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