Salamanca's Andy Herrick puts up a layup in front of Lackawanna's Johnathan Hendrix during Saturday's CCAA-ECIC Challenge at SUNY Fredonia's Dods Hall. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

FREDONIA — Lucus Brown is one of the best returning players in the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association.

But Brown’s Salamanca teammate Andy Herrick is pretty good in his own right.

On Saturday, Herrick was the Warriors’ best player.

And he had to be.

The Salamanca senior scored a game-high 23 points, including 11 straight for his team during one second-quarter stretch, as the Warriors beat Lackawanna 62-54 in the second game of the CCAA-ECIC Challenge at SUNY Fredonia’s Dods Hall.

Salamanca's Lucus Brown (23) puts up a shot in the lane over Lackawanna's Antwan Threeths while the Steelers' Sunday Ikeguwonu (21) and Adam Almontaser (2) look on during Saturday's CCAA-ECIC Challenge at SUNY Fredonia's Dods Hall. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

“Andy was unbelievable. We have Lucus and I think a lot of people look at Lucus as the guy. … Andy would be the guy on just about every other team in Western New York,” Salamanca head coach Adam Bennett said. “He’s really the guy for us.”

Herrick was named the Player of the Game for Salamanca, a Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 West program that lost in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class C semifinals last March in Glens Falls.

Julienn Clements scored a team-high 12 points for Lackawanna, an Erie County Interscholastic Conference Division 4 team that lost to Olean in the Section VI Class B1 title game a season ago.

“These are two really good teams. They went to the B1 final last year and they have some really good players back,” Bennett said. “Clements is an outstanding player and he’s got a good cast around him. We feel like we have a really good team too.”

The game was tied 14-14 after the first quarter before Salamanca took control in the second quarter.

Salamanca's Cory Holleran puts up a shot inside against Lackawanna during Saturday's CCAA-ECIC Challenge at SUNY Fredonia's Dods Hall. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Herrick was the catalyst.

After the Steelers’ Johnathan Hendrix was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws to give his team a 22-19 lead, Herrick took over scoring back-to-back buckets to regain the lead for his team.

“He just works. I thought he was aggressive today,” Bennett said. “He did a really good job on both ends of the floor. He was active defensively.”

Herrick then hit a 3-pointer and two more buckets inside to make it 30-25 before Clements and Salamanca’s Cory Holleran traded buckets down the stretch and the Warriors took a 32-27 lead into halftime.

“We always want to play aggressive and fast and physical. I thought that took us out of some of our stuff offensively early on,” Bennett said. “As the game went on, I’m really pleased with how we played offense. We started going north-south. We had some great baseline cuts for layups. The guys started to really trust each other.”

Salamanca's Maddox Issac looks for room to shoot in front of Lackawanna's Chamarr Ware during Saturday's CCAA-ECIC Challenge at SUNY Fredonia's Dods Hall. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

Brown hit his third and fourth 3-pointers of the game to open the second half, but on the Steelers’ next possession, the returning New York State Sportswriters Association Class C first-team all-state selection rolled his ankle closing out on a Lackawanna player and didn’t return.

“(Herrick) was a leader,” Bennett added. “When Lucus went down in the third quarter, he kind of rallied everybody together, which is huge for us.”

Initially, Salamanca was negatively affected by losing Brown as the Steelers went on a 6-0 run to close their deficit to five. But a pair of Herrick free throws, a basket from Holleran, two free throws from Carmine Hoag and a putback by Tayoni Galante at the third-quarter buzzer allowed the Warriors to take a 13-point lead into the final eight minutes.

“We have a lot of depth on this year’s team. We had a couple of guys who came in off the bench. Carmine Hoag did an outstanding job for us in the second half (and) Cory Holleran. We got contributions from guys that aren’t starters,” Bennett said. ” … It was a team effort. We just got really good contributions from guys who we are going to need contributions from if we are going to do what we think we are capable of.”

Herrick and Jaxson Ross each scored 6 points in the fourth quarter, which proved to be enough to hold off Lackawanna despite Salamanca turning the ball over on its final four possessions of the game.

Salamanca's Avery Brown shoots in front of Lackawanna's Johnathan Hendrix Salamanca's Andy Herrick puts up a layup in front of Lackawanna's Johnathan Hendrix during Saturday's CCAA-ECIC Challenge at SUNY Fredonia's Dods Hall. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

“There’s a lot to like, but also a lot to work on,” Bennett said, “which is the way it should be in early December.”

NOTES: Salamanca shot 21 of 58 (36.2%) from the field, including 6 of 23 (26.1%) from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 16 times. … Lackawanna shot 18 of 38 (47.4%) from the field, including 3 of 13 (23.1%) from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 25 times. … The Warriors scored 28 points off turnovers and had 16 second-chance points. … The Steelers scored 12 points off turnovers and had 11 second-chance points.

LACKAWANNA (54)

MWare 1 0 2, Hendrix 2 4 9, Clements 4 4 12, Almontaser 2 0 4, Gray 2 1 5, Threeths 2 0 5, Ikeguwonu 1 1 3, Kingsly 1 0 2, CWare 1 0 2, Chesson 0 1 1, Paige 2 4 9. Totals 18 15 54.

SALAMANCA (62)

JHerrick 0 0 0, Ross 4 0 9, Hoag 0 4 4, Isaac 0 0 0, ABrown 0 2 2, Galante 4 0 8, LBrown 4 0 12, Holleran 2 0 4, AHerrick 7 7 23. Totals 21 13 62.

3-point goals–Hendrix, Threeths, Paige, Ross, LBrown 4, AHerrick 2.

Lackawanna 14 13 8 19 — 54

Salamanca 14 18 16 14 — 62