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Jamestown Clinches ECIC D1 Crown

Jamestown’s Demarri Jones dunks over an Orchard Park defender during Monday afternoon’s ECIC Division 1 boys basketball game at McElrath Gymnasium. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

With one of the greatest players in Jamestown basketball history looking on, Demarri Jones put on a highlight-reel performance Monday afternoon.

The 6-foot-3 junior poured in 28 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass, was credited with three steals and threw down a monstrous dunk that sent the Presidents Day crowd at McElrath Gymnasium, which included 1994 alumnus Justin Johnson, into a frenzy.

Oh, yeah, and the Red Raiders downed Orchard Park, 56-47, to capture the Erie County Interscholastic Conference Division 1 title and a likely No. 2 seed in the upcoming Section VI Class AA playoffs.

The win improved Jamestown’s record to 14-6 overall and 10-2 in the league, while the Quakers, who lost to their Chautauqua County rival for the second time in five days, fell to 13-6 and 7-4. The Red Raiders won’t start their postseason until Feb. 29, but if they can bottle what they did in the third quarter yesterday and uncork it again in the playoffs, they can be a dangerous team.

“I was really proud of how we played today,” Jamestown coach Ben Drake said. “After the first few minutes, we came out and had a different mindset for the rest of the game.”

Justin Johnson, left, receives his retired Jamestown High School jersey from head coach Ben Drake in a pregame ceremony Monday afternoon at McElrath Gymnasium. Johnson, who now lives in Texas, returned to his alma mater hours before he was inducted into the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

Trailing by as many as 11 points in the first quarter and by four, 26-22, at intermission, Jamestown came out a dynamic crew after the break.

In fact, the Red Raiders opened with a 12-0 run to start the third quarter, a surge that was keyed by the defensive intensity of junior Elijah Rojas, who spent most of the first half on the bench. By the midway point of the period, Jamestown led, 34-26, thanks to five points from Rojas, four from Jaral Farmer and three from Jones.

“We started out in zone, but from the second quarter on we just went straight man to man defense and I thought we did a great job,” Drake said.

The Quakers finally broke their drought on Ethan Swiatek’s hoop and a traditional three-point play by Aidan Jennings that pulled them to within 34-31 at the 2:38 mark.

And then Jones made a play a half-minute later that will be talked about for a long time.

After an Orchard Park miss, Rojas dribbled up the court and when he got to the foul line extended, he passed the ball back to Jones, who was streaking down the lane for a one-handed slam over a Quakers’ defender that sent some members of the student section onto the floor in celebration.

“I saw it coming,” Drake said of the dunk. ” … It was a nice dunk. From a coaching perspective I was afraid the (the Orchard Park) guy was going to get set and take a charge and it was going to offset it, but, luckily he didn’t have time to get himself set up and (Jones) got the and-one.

“It was one of the nicest dunks we have had in a number of years, maybe since Jaysean (Paige) played.”

The overexuberance, however, resulted in a crowd technical foul. After Orchard Park’s Tino Mancabelli hit one of two free throws and Brad Fowler converted a layup, the Red Raiders’ lead had suddenly shrunk to 37-34 with two minutes left in the third quarter.

Jones then came to the rescue again, converting a layup on a feed from Rojas. And after a trey by Jennings pulled Orchard Park to within two, Farmer and Jaylen Butera scored from the paint, the latter coming with two seconds remaining in the period to push Jamestown’s lead back to six points, 43-37.

The Quakers didn’t get closer than five points the rest of the way.

After the game, all the talk was about Jones’ performance, which also included a slam in the fourth quarter.

“He plays hard, and when he’s energized like that and running the floor hard, that’s going to be the key moving forward. … If he continues to play like that, it’s obviously going to be really important for us.”

Joining Jones in double figures were Farmer with 10 points to go along with five offensive rebounds. Rojas added 9 points, six rebounds and five steals; and Butera chipped in 7 points and three boards. Another key to Jamestown’s win was its 40-22 rebounding advantage.

Mancabelli led the Quakers with 18 points and Fowler added nine.

NOTES: In the junior varsity game, Jamestown finished the season 13-7 after falling to Orchard Park, 64-48. Sincere Green and Ben Anderson each had 10 points in a losing cause. On Saturday, the Red Raiders’ jayvees knocked off Williamsville North, 61-27. Green led the way with 18 points, and Dominic Osceola added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

ORCHARD PARK (47)

Sharp 1 0 2, Jennings 2 3 8, Shaw 0 0 0, TMancabelli 5 7 18, Lander 0 0 0, Swiatek 3 0 7, Kline 1 0 3, KMancabelli 0 0 0, Joba 0 0 0, Fowler 3 3 9. Totals 15 13 47.

JAMESTOWN (56)

Drake 0 0 0, Crofoot 0 1 1, Rojas 4 1 9, Butera 2 3 7, Jones 11 6 28, Farmer 5 0 10, Swegles 0 1 1, Brito 0 0 0. Totals 22 12 56.

3-point goals–Jennings, TMancabelli, Swiatek, Kline.

Orchard Park 17 9 11 10 — 47

Jamestown 8 14 21 13 — 56

Jayvees: Orchard Park 64, Jamestown 48.

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