Jamestown's Jaylen Butera prepares to jump up for a basket while being defended by Health Sciences' Jaylin Gadley during the United Way Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday at McElrath Gymnasium. P-J photo by Christian Storms

The Jamestown Red Raiders boys basketball team is filled with a lot of very good athletes, many of which are also football players on the Red Raiders team that very recently played in a Class A State Semifinal.

On Saturday night, in the finals of the United Way Tip-Off Tournament at McElrath Gymnasium, against the Health Sciences Falcons (4-0) it was evident that the Red Raiders (1-1) were still shaking off the cobwebs and transitioning into basketball season as the Falcons edged them in the fourth quarter for a 55-54 victory.

“I think a lot of the mistakes we made tonight and some of our poor execution on offense is because it’s so early in the season,” Jamestown head coach Ben Drake said about opening weekend struggles. “We haven’t had that much practice time. Most of these guys played football all the way until almost December. We’ll get better as time goes on, but I think a lot of it can be attributed to being so early in the season.”

One thing there was no shortage of from the Red Raiders was energy as they brought a lot of it very early. The Red Raiders were all over the Falcons in the first quarter, frustrating the Falcons players and coaches. Jamestown was pressing Health Sciences from right out of the gate and from the press the Red Raiders were creating turnovers that led to several scoring chances.

“I thought that we played with a lot of intensity,” Coach Drake said about his team. “I thought we played really hard, our pressure bothered them for a big part of the game.”

Health Sciences' Jimmie Green (3) and Jaylin Gadley (12) team up to deny Jamestown's Jaral Farmer a basket. P-J photo by Christian Storms

While Jamestown certainly was causing troubles for the Falcons, the buckets were not coming easy to the Red Raiders as they had their lowest scoring quarter of the night in the first.

In the second quarter, Jamestown started to reap the rewards of its press by scoring more buckets directly from Falcons’ turnovers. The high intensity play continued throughout the quarter, but the negative effects started to show themselves as several Red Raiders began picking up fouls, most notably Jaral Farmer. At the half Jamestown sported a 25-20 lead, but Health Sciences was not going anywhere.

Foul trouble had Farmer on the bench for much of the third quarter and the Red Raiders certainly missed his defensive presence as Health Sciences outscored Jamestown in the quarter 17-16. Even with Farmer and several other Red Raiders taking turns on the bench, Jamestown did not stop giving out shooting fouls. In the second half, Health Sciences took 22 shots from the free throw line and scored 13 points off those shots.

“We picked up some cheap fouls,” stated Coach Drake. “When we play hard like that and we’re pressing we’re going to get some fouls. The ones that we need to eliminate are the unnecessary ones where we make an undisciplined decision and smack someone in the arm.”

While on defense Jamestown was giving out free points at the charity stripe, on offense the Red Raiders continued to work hard for every bucket. Jaylen Butera was the motor driving the offense as he scored a game high 18 points while grabbing four rebounds and managing three steals. Butera’s offensive contributions preserved the Red Raiders lead going into the fourth quarter as he scored nine of the team’s 16 points in the third quarter.

Jamestown's Jaral Farmer backs into Health Science defender Jimmie Green. P-J photo by Christian Storms

Jamestown’s 41-37 lead in the fourth quarter very quickly evaporated as Health Sciences scored the first five points to go up 42-41. Jamestown had its last lead after Farmer swatted his third block of the game that was picked up by Trey Drake and hustled down the court for two points and the 50-49 lead.

Health Sciences quickly responded to the Drake score with consecutive 3-point plays, first a Michael Whitt corner three then Xavier Benton followed up with a hard fought two points that sent him to the line for one of his 13 free throws.

Trailing by five Jamestown had plenty of chances to get back into the game but the shots were not falling. The Red Raiders shot 31% from the field and 20% from 3-point range which put them in the tough position of trailing late in the game.

Jamestown fought until the bitter end of the game giving the Red Raider faithful a glimmer of hope. With one second left in the game Drayce Garland hit a 3-point shot that made the score 55-54 and with a little bit of luck Jamestown had a chance to win if Health Sciences made an error on the inbound. Jamestown clamped on the press, but Health Sciences was able to inbound for the one second needed to win the game and the tournament.

“This was a great game for us,” Coach Drake said about the close contest. “To be involved in a good early season battle like this back and forth is really something we can learn from. We made some mistakes tonight, but I thought we played really hard and that to me right now is the most important thing.”

Jamestown's Sean Paige is defended by Health Sciences' Xavier Benton. P-J photo by Christian Storms

After the game the All-Tournament team was announced, from Jamestown was Butera, Drake and Farmer; from Health Sciences was Jaylin Gadley and Michael Whitt; from Cardinal O’Hara was Jacob Kanowski; and from Southwestern was Aidan Kennedy. The overall tournament MVP was Xavier Benton from Health Sciences who scored a team high 16 points in the championship game.

HEALTH SCIENCES (55)

XBenton 2 11 16, Alvira 0 0 0, Green 1 0 2, TBenton 0 0 0, Hopkins 3 1 7, Staten 2 1 5, Gadley 6 0 14, Lynch 0 0 0, Webster 0 2 2, Whitt 3 0 9. Totals 17 15 55.

JAMESTOWN (54)

Farmer 4 3 11, Paige 3 4 10, Brumagin 0 0 0, Freeney 0 0 0, Drake 3 2 9, Harley 0 0 0, Torres 0 0 0, Butts 1 1 3, Butera 6 5 18, Pryce 0 0 0, Garland 1 0 3, Viele 0 0 0, Colletti 0 0 0. Totals 18 15 54.

Pictured is the United Way Tip-Off All Tournament team from left, Jamestown's Jaylen Butera, Jamestown's Jaral Farmer, Health Sciences' Michael Whitt, Jamestown's Trey Drake, Southwestern's Aidan Kennedy, Health Sciences' Jaylin Gadley, Tournament MVP Health Sciences' Xavier Benton. Not pictured is Cardinal O'Hara's Jacob Kanowski.

Health Sciences 8 12 17 18 — 55

Jamestown 9 16 16 13 — 54