Things didn’t get much better from there for the visiting Golden Falcons.

The Hillbillies led wire to wire in Friday’s Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 boys basketball game at Fredonia High School.

The 61-36 victory marked Fredonia’s 11th win in 12 games so far this year as the first round of league play came to a close.

“This was a really good win against a really good team,” said Fredonia head coach Nick Bertrando. “These guys have battled everybody in our league. They are tough. … They are one of those teams where you can’t just wing it.”

Falconer's Chase Bianco shoots during Friday's CCAA Division 1 boys basketball game against Fredonia at Fredonia High School. P-J photo by Ashleigh Brown

Fredonia (11-1, 5-1) scored nine of the game’s first 10 points, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers by Putney. Falconer (8-5, 3-3) scored six straight points after that, in a two-minute stretch, cutting Fredonia’s lead to 9-7. The Hillbillies responded with eight of the next 11 points to close the quarter, with only a Max Parmentier 3-pointer interrupting the run.

RJ Koopman drilled a 3-pointer in the first minute of the second quarter to give Fredonia a double-digit lead, 20-10. Koopman hit another 3-pointer with 5:23 left in the quarter to extend the lead to 23-10, as Falconer was held scoreless in the period to that point.

“They do a good job of playing man-to-man defense. They are in your face. They are switching on ball screens. I think we needed to do a better job executing offensively,” said Falconer head coach Cordell O’Brien.

Shortly after Koopman’s second 3-pointer, Parmentier stole a pass from Koopman as he tried to save the ball from going out of bounds. With no defenders around him, Parmentier soared for a slam dunk. He followed with a jumper on the next possession to pull to within single digits, 23-14, just before the halfway point of the period.

“We’ve gotten down a couple times this year early in games,” O’Brien said. “I was happy with the way we battled back.”

Suddenly, in just over a minute’s time, Fredonia’s lead was back up to 14 points after a 3-pointer from Donovan Dowdy. Both teams were scoreless for the next two minutes before Colin Luce made a layup to double up the score, 32-16.

“We were really trying to establish ourselves in transition, but also put the pressure on them to see how they respond,” Bertrando said.

Parmentier hit a layup through contact with 2 seconds left in the half to give Falconer momentum going into the break, still down 32-19. Parmentier led all scorers with 11 points in the first half, but nobody else on Falconer had more than three points at the break. Luce led Fredonia in the first half with 10 points, while Putney and Dowdy each had 8 points before the break.

“For the most part, I thought we had some really good defensive possessions, but there were another five or six that I’d like back in the first half,” Bertrando said. “We just forgot to do all the things that are a staple of what we talk about on defense every single day.”

After a floater from Chase Bianco on Falconer’s first possession of the second half, Fredonia responded with a 10-0 run over nearly four minutes, including six straight points from Luce, capped by a reverse layup. With 3:20 left in the third quarter, Fredonia’s lead ballooned to 42-21.

“Hats off to Fredonia, they played really hard. They are well-coached. They played better tonight. They executed the entire game, and we just didn’t do that tonight,” O’Brien said.

Fredonia added on in the final minute of the third quarter, as Koopman drilled a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer just before the shot clock expired, then turned to the student section behind him to celebrate as the shot fell. Dowdy ended the quarter with a layup with 5 seconds left on the clock to put Fredonia ahead 47-22 entering the final frame. The teams played an even fourth quarter at 14-14 as Fredonia coasted to another important league victory.

“It was just very stagnant tonight. We had a lot of mental mistakes. I think we just need to get back to the drawing board and use this as a learning experience,” O’Brien said.

Parmentier led all scorers on the night with 20 points. However, only three other players scored on the night for the Golden Falcons, and nobody else reached double figures.

“He is a tremendous athlete, and he’s a pretty good basketball player too,” Bertrando said of Parmentier. “He presents a unique ability as a three-level scorer. There’s not a lot of weaknesses to his game.”

Luce led Fredonia with 18 points, along with six rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. He did his damage in the paint, even against a team with a player like Parmentier at 6-foot-6.

“I was patient under the hoop. I was making sure to use all my fakes because I knew they go for blocked shots,” Luce said.

He credited the discipline of the entire team for its success on Friday.

Koopman added 17 points over the final three quarters, along with eight rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and three steals. Dowdy had 10 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals and a blocked shot. Putney had 8 points and two assists.

Up next, both teams will be in action on Monday in nonleague games at Jamestown Community College for a showcase on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Fredonia will play Frewsburg at noon, while Falconer will play Panama later that night. Fredonia then hosts Buffalo Culinary on Thursday.

“We’re staying humble. We have two nonleague games next week that will help us to sharpen things out and get ready for the second round of the league,” Luce said.

FALCONER (36)

Delaney 0 0 0, Carlson 2 1 5, Bianco 3 2 8, MaxParmentier 9 1 20, MarParmentier 1 1 3, Washington 0 0 0, Nutt 0 0 0, Fuller 0 0 0. Totals 15 5 36.

FREDONIA (61)

Luce 8 2 18, Kelly 1 0 2, Dowdy 4 1 10, Putney 3 0 8, Koopman 7 0 17, Phillips 0 2 2, Piazza 0 0 0, Cuthbert 0 0 0, Stearns 2 0 4, Lincoln 0 0 0, Cave 0 0 0. Totals 25 5 61.

3-point goals–MaxParmentier, Dowdy, Putney 2, Koopman 3.

Falconer 10 9 3 14 — 36

Fredonia 17 15 15 14 — 61