Frewsburg Junior Pours In 21 In Rout
FREWSBURG — After a loss to Fredonia last week, Frewsburg coach Tom Nelson recognized that his team needed contributions from throughout the lineup in order to have a successful finish to its season.
The Bears responded Tuesday evening.
Junior Aaron Hair had a career-high 21 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead four Frewsburg players in double figures en route to a 77-49 victory over nonleague Ellicottville.
“He’s needed a game like this to get going,” Nelson said of Hair. “He does a lot of other things for us too. He rebounds and defends.”
Junior Brad Nelson matched Hair with 21 points; senior Dylan Pearson came off the bench to score 14 points and grab 10 rebounds; and senior Quinn Conlan chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots for the Bears (7-6, 3-4 CCAA Division 1 West).
“That is a nice thing to have,” Coach Nelson said of the balanced scoring. ” … We aren’t a one-man team. We really aren’t. We have a nice group of kids here that can play.”
Sophomore Leif Jimerson scored 12 points while senior Steven Rowland and freshman Logan Grinols each had 11 for the Eagles (8-6, 5-0 CCAA Division 2 East), who saw their four-game winning streak snapped.
“Over the course of the winning streak, we’ve had a little better balance in scoring and had some other guys step up,” Ellicottville coach Dave McCann said. ” … We don’t necessarily care who shoots the ball, we just want it to be the right shot.”
Frewsburg made it look easy on the offensive end of the floor, shooting 28 of 56 (50 percent) from the field, including a blistering 10 of 17 from 3-point range, while knocking down all 11 of its free throw attempts.
“It seemed like they made a ton of the shots they took. When they weren’t making the shots, they were getting on the boards,” McCann said. ” … When they are making that many shots, it’s tough to come back when you dig yourself a little hole.”
The Eagles led 12-10 midway through the first quarter before Hair hit a 3-pointer, Nelson made a slick pass to Conlan for a bucket and Pearson scored on a putback in a quick 7-0 run that led to McCann calling a timeout.
“That’s his best game,” Coach Nelson said of Pearson. “When you have both of them (Pearson and Conlan) in there, it’s tough to stop. If they’re both playing well it’s a nice luxury. I’m not at all surprised because Dylan did it all last summer and in practice. He just needed to show it in a game.”
On the Bears’ next possession, Peyton Hayes found Hair for a bucket to give the hosts a 19-12 lead, but Rowland hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull Ellicottville within four after eight minutes.
Frewsburg opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run to take control of the game. After a blocked shot from Hair, senior Nolan Brink found Conlan for his first of back-to-back buckets. Two Eagles’ possessions later, Conlan blocked a shot and then scored on a putback at the other end of the floor to stretch the Bears’ lead to 27-15. After another Conlan blocked shot, Hair scored a second-chance bucket that made it 29-15 before Grinols stopped the run with a basket for Ellicottville.
Frewsburg went into halftime with a 43-25 lead as Nelson, Hair and Conlan had already reached double figures in scoring.
“You want to pay some attention to the size inside,” McCann said of Conlan and Pearson. “I thought they moved the ball pretty well and found the open guy. Those open guys made shots.”
Nelson beat the shot clock with a banked 3-pointer from outside of 25 feet to open the third quarter and Hair had his best eight minutes of the game with a trio of 3-pointers — his final one giving him 21 points with 3:29 left in the quarter.
“Aaron shot the ball really well,” Coach Nelson said. ” … He’s kind of streaky, but once he hit a couple I just wanted him to keep shooting.”
Senior Dan Reinagel as well as juniors Caleb Carr and Jason Dustin added points in the final quarter as the Bears saw eight of their nine players get into the scoring column.
“The energy needs to come from the players, not from the coaches,” Coach Nelson said. ” … They needed to play with more energy and I thought we did tonight.”
Frewsburg will play at nonleague Brocton on Friday evening before getting back into league play next week with a game at Dunkirk. Ellicottville will not have the luxury of another nonleague game this week as it travels to rival Franklinville on Thursday evening.
“They’re progressing. It’s getting better each week. We are kind of where we thought we’d be,” McCann said of his Eagles, who lost all five starters to graduation a year ago. ” … With this much youth and inexperience, we’ll continue to get better.”
NOTES: Ellicottville went 18 of 51 (35 percent) from the field, including 6 of 14 (43 percent) from 3-point range. … Both teams turned it over 13 times apiece. … Nelson had four assists and two steals while Hair had five rebounds and two assists for the Bears. … Clayton Rowland had four steals for the Eagles. … Harrison Newark scored 28 points and Lucas Marsh added 13 as Ellicottville won the jayvee game, 52-50. Traden Gray led Frewsburg with 23 points and Christian Burch added 10.
ELLICOTTVILLE (49)
Jimerson 4 2 12, Finn 1 0 2, Logel 1 0 2, CRowland 4 0 8, SRowland 4 0 11, WChudy 1 0 2, Hutchinson 0 0 0, JGrinols 0 1 1, BChudy 0 0 0, LGrinols 5 0 11. Totals 18 3 49.
FREWSBURG (77)
Brink 1 0 3, Carr 1 0 2, Dustin 0 2 2, Nelson 8 1 21, Reinagel 1 0 2, Hayes 0 0 0, Hair 8 0 21, Pearson 3 8 14, Conlan 6 0 12. Totals 28 11 77.
3-point goals–Jimerson 2, SRowland 3, LGrinols, Brink, Nelson 4, Hair 5.
Ellicottville 15 10 11 13 — 49
Frewsburg 19 24 20 14 — 77
Jayvees: Ellicottville won, 52-50.