John Schuyler and Jack Stafford scored 17 of Cincinnatus’ 23 fourth-quarter points as the Lions earned a 52-45 win over McGraw Monday night at Cincinnatus Central School.
Cincinnatus was in rough shape in the first half, trailing 27-18 at the break, but made it a 35-29 game after three. Schuyler and Stafford, both seniors, took over and started knocking down big shots.
“Every time one of us gets hot, it’s game over,” Schuyler said. “We got lucky, all of us did. I hit one from the corner, then one from the wing. When any of us get hot it’s wraps.”
Stafford scored five points in a row on a contested layup and 3-pointer, then Schuyler knocked down a contested corner three, Zack Streichert made a layup and Schuyler knocked down another three from the wing to lift the Lions in front for good after leading for only 20 seconds prior.
Cincinnatus got back into the game in the third by using McGraw’s defensive pressure against it. The Lions were able to get some quick layups and shots off against the Eagles’ press and bounce back after a rough first 16 minutes.
“We got punched in the mouth in the first half,” Cincinnatus head coach Jim Halstrom said. “We were getting beat up and there’s two ways to approach that. You can go out and fight or you can back into a corner. Our goal was to try to get back some points and we did get back some points in the third, not many.”
McGraw head coach Jamey Crumb was happy the defense was able to get the pace going, but his team’s lack of finishing ability on the offensive end resulted in the loss.
“We’re going to put out that defensive intensity every game,” Crumb said. “It just doesn’t help when we don’t make it on the offensive end and they have some shooters that just keep them in games.”
McGraw took a lead in the first half thanks to a swarming half-court defense and some timely buckets from Blair Mulcahy, Riley Van Liew, Jacob Clark and Mason Allen. Clark provided a big spark off the bench that McGraw desperately needed.
“Jacob’s big thing is just confidence,’ Crumb said. “He’s the best practice player but in games it’s not as good. Coming out like that, when the team hypes him up like that, we’re going to need that.”
Allen stepped up after halftime to keep McGraw afloat while the offense was floundering, finishing with 14 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. The junior proved he was McGraw’s top option and Crumb will have to get him more looks going forward.
“We tried spacing them out,” Crumb said. “He can shoot it from the outside a little bit, but we need him with those touches in the middle because he has a soft touch and the vision to pass off that too. We’re going to have to scheme for him a lot because our guards are doing a lot.”
Cincinnatus’ offense started off in a rut thanks to turnovers and some cold shooting. The Lions resorted to launching 3-pointers, something Halstrom trusts his guys to do consistently.
“They do have the green light, but we’re trying to have a better pattern in our half-court offense with a lot more motion,” Halstrom said. “(Monday night), we didn’t have a good start doing that and we settled for the threes. We can shoot the three any time. I’m confident in our guys.”
The Lions also had to play large portions of the game without starting center TJ Walker. With Trevor Shevalier out to begin the season, the rebounding burden fell on Stafford, who grabbed 10 boards on the night.
“It shows we’ve got spirit and no matter how short of a team we are, we’re going to get as many rebounds as the other team,” Stafford said.
Halstrom liked how his center finished the game after playing through foul trouble all night.
“TJ’s learning a lot every day and he learned a lot (Monday) because a couple of the fouls he had were a little aggressive on his part,” Halstrom said. “When he understood he only had one more to give he did a great job going straight up and still defending. He’s a smart kid and I’m proud of him for that.”
Schuyler ended with 20 points on three made triples to go with five rebounds, four assists, two steals and four blocks, Stafford had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double to go with three assists and two steals and Streichert recorded 11 points, two rebounds, an assist, two steals and a block. Walker (three points, eight rebounds, three assists, one block), Koda Temple (three points, three rebounds, two assists), Collin Holtmart (two points, one rebound, one steal), Mike Schifilitti (three rebounds) and Jacobee Eldridge (one rebound) all aided the Lions’ winning effort as well.
Calob Sutton followed Allen with five points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Eagles, Blair Mulcahy recorded seven points, two rebound and two steals and Van Liew had six points, seven boards and three assists. Clark (seven points), Brennan Wilson (five points, four rebounds, two steals, two blocks) and Easton Livermore (one point, two rebounds, three blocks) also contributed for McGraw.
Cincinnatus is now 2-0 and will look to move to 3-0 with a tough test at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Madison.
“It takes everybody with this team,” Halstrom said. “We’ve got a small team. It takes everybody and a win like this right off the get-go, a league game, is very important. It’s critical as far as I’m concerned because it gives them the confidence that they know they can do it. If they’re down, they won’t stay down.”
McGraw will look for its first win at 7 p.m. Wednesday at DeRuyter.
