DERUYTER –– The No. 3 DeRuyter boys basketball team turned up the heat in the second half to drown an outmatched No. 11 Lyme squad for a 73-48 win Wednesday night at DeRuyter Central School in the Section III Class D quarterfinals.
DeRuyter will play No. 2 Madison for the third time this season in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday at South Lewis Senior High School.
The Rockets led 35-29 at halftime, but totally dominated after the break. DeRuyter’s full-court press caused countless turnovers and allowed for easy runouts for Dan Holl, who finished with a game-high 27 points.
“I’ve been working on it during practice,” Holl said.
“He’s been on a crazy scoring streak lately,” teammate Devens Whalen added. “We’ve been looking for him to run the offense.”
Holl’s big night is one of many recently, as the junior guard has averaged 22 points per game since the start of February. Holl had big expectations when he was called up to the varsity team as a freshman and head coach Ric Barnes is starting to see him reach his full potential.
“He had some attitude struggles around the end of January, then all of a sudden the switch flipped,” Barnes said. “‘Oh, I’m supposed to be the leader. I’m supposed to be knocking down shots. I’m supposed to be vocal on the court.’ All of a sudden, he got it. Hopefully he’s maturing so that, no matter what happens the rest of this season, he can actually be a leader next year.”
“When he’s on, he’s really good,” Barnes added. “When he’s negative, different story.”
DeRuyter used its defensive pressure to open a 52-40 lead through three, then a 13-0 run in the fourth sealed the deal.
“They were able to see what we were doing through Hudl, so we threw the press on,” Barnes said. “We’re not a pressing team on every trip, so we were only pressing four.”
Barnes and his players felt the Rockets didn’t play great basketball in the first half despite holding a six-point lead.
“We wanted to keep pushing the ball and keep our heads up,” Barnes said. “We had to control the boards better in the second half. In the first half, we didn’t even rebound at all.”
The Lakers crashed the glass hard on both ends, with bodies flying around and colliding whenever a shot went up. With DeRuyter dealing with some foul trouble, Barnes let senior Jeremy Prince battle it out down low.
“Jeremy came in off the bench and he hasn’t gotten much time this year,” Barnes said. “He went in and scrapped around and he’s the perfect guy to do it with those guys.”
Lyme played DeRuyter tough in the first half, with Sam Timmerman, Alex Radley, Drew Eassa and Cooper Kaplan all making shots to keep the game close. The Lakers held a 17-14 lead at halftime.
“They just worked hard,” Whalen said. “They have a lot of good guys on their bench for that, too.”
Whalen scored 20 points behind Holl’s 27, Dylan Foster scored 11 points, Jackson Millett pitched in seven points, Prince scored four points and Cooper Millett had two points for the Rockets.
DeRuyter will get a third crack at Madison after losing 64-52 on the road on Feb. 4 and 68-49 at home on Feb. 7. Madison is 20-1 on the season and the No. 7 team in the state’s Class D poll, but the Rockets believe they can spring the upset Tuesday.
“We have to take advantage of personnel,” Barnes said. “When they were here, their big boy (Justin LaMunion) got two fouls in the first two minutes and sat the rest of the half. We didn’t take advantage of that at all and that was a wide margin. When we played at Madison we played a lot harder.”
GIRLS BASKETBALL
No. 13 MARATHON 53, No. 4 ELMIRA NOTRE DAME 42
Marathon opened up a 15-8 lead through a quarter and held on for an upset win in the first round of the Section IV Class C tournament. Audrey Ensign, Addie Oram, Alina Parker and Faith Baker all scored in double figures for the Olympians, who will take on No. 5 Unatego Saturday.
Ensign led the way with 15 points, Oram recorded 13 points, Parker added 12 points, Baker pitched in 10 points and Catherine Newkirk had three points for Marathon.
No. 3 SACKETS HARBOR 53, No. 6 MCGRAW 19
McGraw trailed 32-8 at halftime and couldn’t muster enough offense to get back into the game in the Section III Class D quarterfinals. The Eagles end their season with a 9-6 record.
No. 3 MORAVIA 50, No. 14 OXFORD 32
Moravia used a 33-16 second half to pull away from Oxford and spoil its upset bid. Caraline Wasileski scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half and added eight rebounds. The Blue Devils will host No. 6 Union Springs Saturday.
Jessalyn Jones contributed 10 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals, Lashley Heredia Castillo had eight points, two rebounds and two steals, Kendall Hess chipped in six points, eight boards and two assists, Emily Austin made a 3-pointer, Olivia Genson notched two points, three rebounds and three assists and Lily Heim had two points and four assists in Moravia’s big win.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
No. 7 Cato-Meridian at No. 2 Tully, 6 p.m. today
No. 8 Southern Cayuga at No. 1 Moravia, 6 p.m. Friday
No. 4 Walton/Downsville or No. 5 Chenango Forks at No. 1 Dryden, 6 p.m. Tuesday
No. 3 DeRuyter vs. No. 2 Madison, 7 p.m. Tuesday at South Lewis High School
GIRLS BASKETBALL
No. 5 Tully at No. 4 Weedsport, 6 p.m. today
No. 13 Marathon at No. 5 Unatego, 6 p.m. Saturday
No. 6 Union Springs at No. 3 Moravia, 6 p.m. Saturday
BOYS WRESTLING
New York State Championships, Friday and Saturday at MVP Arena, Albany
GIRLS WRESTLING
New York State Championships, today at MVP Arena, Albany
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
New York State Championships, March 8 at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex, Staten Island
