All Systems Go
Orchard Park’s Complete Game Sends Jamestown To Rare Home Loss
Jamestown’s Dominic Gonzalez attempts to get by Orchard Park’s Max Mancabelli (1) during Friday’s ECIC Division 1 boys basketball game at McElrath Gymnasium in Jamestown. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg
One by one, Orchard Park’s starting five and its sixth man exited the locker room in the bowels of McElrath Gymnasium on Friday night and stood against an adjacent wall.
Quakers’ head basketball coach Chris Frankowski then pulled out his cellphone and took a photo.
Capturing an image of their trip to Jamestown was certainly appropriate.
“I thought they executed our game plan great,” Frankowski said.
Hard to argue.
Finn Taberski poured in 23 points, including five 3-pointers, and Weston Cummings and Brody Monaco added 14 apiece to lead hot-shooting Orchard Park to a 70-60 victory over Jamestown.
The win improved the Quakers’ record to 10-1 overall and 2-1 in the division, while the Red Green, which saw their six-game winning streak snapped, fell to 6-3 and 3-1.
Orchard Park, which suffered its lone loss at home to Williamsville North 10 days ago, certainly felt comfortable at the “Mac,” connecting on 29 of 48 shots from the field, including 7 of 14 from beyond the arc. Just as telling was the Quakers’ dominance on the glass where they outrebounded the Red & Green 36-19 and their stout defense on Dominic Gonzalez and Elijah Farmer.
Added together, it was just the right formula to hand Jamestown a rare home setback.
“They have two sensational players who are better than anyone we have, and that’s OK,” Frankowski said. “We don’t have to have the most talent, we just have to play five guys doing the system the right way. We just tried to give them a different look and see what happens.”
The Quakers led 22-21 after the first quarter, 44-37 at the break and limited the hosts to only six points in the third quarter. Armed with a 56-43 advantage heading into the final period, Orchard Park extended its advantage to as many as 18 points midway through the fourth and Jamestown could only close to within 10 by game’s end.
“They played tremendous,” Red & Green head coach Billy Miley said of the Quakers. “They did a good job trying to make it difficult for Dom and Elijah and they were able to make some shots at the other end. When that happens, it’s going to be a long night and it was.
“They played tough. They executed what they wanted to do and we couldn’t do what we wanted to do.”
Gonzalez paced the Red & Green with 19 points, but only 5 after halftime; Gavin Johnson added 16 points and five assists; and Farmer had 10 points — but only 3 after the break — and nine boards.
Jamestown will be back in action on Monday when it entertains Sweet Home in a nonleague game. The junior varsity game starts at 11:30 a.m., followed immediately by the varsity contest.
ORCHARD PARK (70)
Mancabelli 4 0 9, Cummings 5 4 14, Taberski 9 0 23, Valiquette 1 1 3, Monaco 6 1 14, Niver 3 1 7. Totals 28 7 70.
JAMESTOWN (60)
Farmer 4 0 10, Gonzalez 7 2 19, Johnson 7 0 16, Thagarad 3 0 7, Barr 0 0 0, Spencer 1 0 2, KarMilne 3 0 6. Totals 25 2 60.
3-point goals–Mancabelli, Taberski 5, Monaco, Farmer 2, Gonzalez 3, Johnson 2, Thagard.
Orchard Park 22 22 12 14 — 70
Jamestown 21 16 6 17 — 60




