Coming to a close on his career in his 33rd season at the helm, King had the opportunity to go out the way he came in, winning the sectional title against Sherman.

From start to finish, King’s Pirates controlled the game and held off Sherman 41-29 for the Class D title at Jamestown Community College’s Physical Education Complex on Saturday.

“It’s just a great way to end,” King stated. “The first year I coached we beat Sherman in the section championship. It’s my 33rd year and it’s just kind of like a full circle. All the respect for Sherman, Cory and the program he runs. It has just been fantastic battles. So in that sense it’s not a better way to do it.”

Clymer started hot, hitting all of its 3-pointers in the opening period to establish an early lead. The Pirates led 17-6 after the first quarter with four different players getting on the scoresheet while it was just Jacob Ferranto putting points on the board for Sherman.

Sherman’s Troy Chambers (10) and Clymer’s Kameron Einink go up for a rebound during Saturday’s Section VI Class D championship game at Jamestown Community College’s Physical Education Complex. Photo by Steve Garvey

“All five of those starters are capable of being in double-digits,” King said about his team. “It’s such a benefit for us, and if somebody struggles on the night you hope there are three or four hot enough to carry.”

Clymer did not have the same shooting success in the second quarter, but it did not matter much as the starting group did its job limiting Sherman’s biggest threat in Ferranto. There was not a chance for Sherman in the paint — Clymer’s towering defenders had a hand in the way most of the time — and even with that avenue closed the Wildcats could not get things going from downtown.

“They’re so disciplined defensively and they’re so tall,” Sherman head coach Cory Emory said about Clymer.

Emory added: “I think they are 6-6, 6-4 and 6-4 across their back line. It’s pretty tough that when you do get open looks you kind of stress, and we did that tonight. I think we shot 4 for 26 from 3-point or something like that, which in a big-game atmosphere, plus their discipline defensively and their length, really gave us problems.”

It took a while into the third quarter for both offenses to get going again, but it was Clymer senior Carson White doing the damage with 8 of his team-high 13 points in the final half of the period to pull away from Sherman. The Wildcats hit back-to-back 3-pointers from Cal Cook and Ferranto to get within single digits 29-20, but before they could blink Clymer re-established itself with a 36-20 lead heading to the fourth.

“All season long we played great,” Emory said about his team. “We were the underdogs all season long, we fought through. Everybody knew about Clymer, everybody knew about Forestville, but we were there right with them in the end and, unfortunately, we just didn’t have a great shooting performance tonight.”

The Ferranto-led Sherman offense put its best effort in the fourth quarter, but despite scoring a game-high 16 points the Wildcats, still fell short of 30 and Clymer claimed its 11th sectional title with a 41-29 victory.

“We watched film,” King added. “We came in with a game plan and these guys — other than a few fouls — they did just a fabulous job defensively making it really hard. Jake Ferranto is a great player and we did a great job limiting his touches, and when he did, making it really tough.”

Each of the five starters for Clymer landed on the scoresheet. White led the way with 13 and Roman Wassink added 11.

The win is King’s fourth sectional title and this time his team will advance to the Class D Far West Regional, unlike in 2021 when COVID had the state tournament stop at sectionals.

“We’re blessed,” King said about his team moving on. “They talked about it before we played today. They wanted to come back to practice Monday. They’ve worked hard this offseason and committed a lot. It’s just neat to see them to keep playing and get another shot out there next week.”

Clymer (16-6) will face Section V champion Andover-Whitesville next Friday at the Buffalo State Sports Arena.

CLYMER (41)

White 6 1 13, Gomez 0 0 0, Beckerink 3 0 8, KWassink 0 0 0, Einink 3 0 7, Johnson 0 0 0, Mitchell 1 0 2, RWassink 5 1 11, Redlecki 0 0 0, Sexton 0 0 0, Lao 0 0 0, Fuller 0 0 0. Totals 18 2 41.

SHERMAN (29)

Kopta 0 0 0, Cook 2 0 6, Griswold 0 2 2, Chambers 0 2 2, Goree 0 0 0, Persons 1 0 3, Smith 0 0 0, Johnson 0 0 0, Ferranto 6 3 16. Totals 9 5 29

3-point goals–Beckerink 2, Einink, Cook 2, Persons, Ferranto.

Clymer 17 4 15 5 — 41

Sherman 6 6 8 9 — 29