Wellsville has been known to be explosive at times, but it is playing for a Section V title because of its defense.
Matt Insley scored 15 of his game-high 20 points in the second half as No. 2 Wellsville used a 17-0 second-half run to rally for a 42-34 win over third-seeded Greece Odyssey in Tuesday night’s Section V, Class B2 semifinal at Letchworth.
Brady Lewis added 10 points and six rebounds for Wellsville (17-3), which advances to the Class B2 championship game against No. 1 Hornell 1 p.m. Sunday at the Blue Cross Arena. Wellsville is in the sectional finals for the second straight year and 11th time in 13 seasons.
“We had some jitters, which was surprising, but (Odyssey) had a lot to do with it because they’re so aggressive defensively,” said Wellsville head coach Jim Insley. “There were a lot of balls going through our hands and we weren’t executing our sets.”
Matt Insley also had seven rebounds and three steals and Tom Muska grabbed seven rebounds for the Lions, who have won nine straight.
“We’ve been playing really, really well,” said Jim Insley. “I don’t even want to talk about it because that’s how well we’ve been playing. We’ve been playing better this past month than I thought we would ever play this season.”
Jacob Dixon scored 17 points to lead Greece Odyssey (10-10), which led by six early in the third quarter.
Wellsville did not have a field goal in the first quarter and got its first bucket of the night by accident. Connor Insley tried to pass the ball under the basket to Lewis, but the ball went into the hoop for a 3-pointer in the first minute of the second quarter.
That “accidental hoop” actually sparked an 11-3 run that gave the Lions their first lead of the night. Still, Wellsville trailed by two at halftime despite managing only two field goals.
“I thought in the first half they ran the floor better than we did and they out-rebounded us, but in the second half they didn’t get many second shots,” said the Lions’ head coach. “You’re frustrated and you come in at halftime because you don’t know why we’re playing the way we’re playing with the kind of nerves we had there in the first half. Coach (Matt) Buckley has been around a long time and the first thing he said was, ‘We need to relax.’ I came back with, ‘Relax? We can’t relax. They’re playing physical.’ We had to be strong with the ball and we started communicating. We got momentum and it carried us for a while.”
Wellsville has been known to be explosive at times, but it is playing for a Section V title because of its defense.
Matt Insley scored 15 of his game-high 20 points in the second half as No. 2 Wellsville used a 17-0 second-half run to rally for a 42-34 win over third-seeded Greece Odyssey in Tuesday night’s Section V, Class B2 semifinal at Letchworth.
Brady Lewis added 10 points and six rebounds for Wellsville (17-3), which advances to the Class B2 championship game against No. 1 Hornell 1 p.m. Sunday at the Blue Cross Arena. Wellsville is in the sectional finals for the second straight year and 11th time in 13 seasons.
“We had some jitters, which was surprising, but (Odyssey) had a lot to do with it because they’re so aggressive defensively,” said Wellsville head coach Jim Insley. “There were a lot of balls going through our hands and we weren’t executing our sets.”
Matt Insley also had seven rebounds and three steals and Tom Muska grabbed seven rebounds for the Lions, who have won nine straight.
“We’ve been playing really, really well,” said Jim Insley. “I don’t even want to talk about it because that’s how well we’ve been playing. We’ve been playing better this past month than I thought we would ever play this season.”
Jacob Dixon scored 17 points to lead Greece Odyssey (10-10), which led by six early in the third quarter.
Wellsville did not have a field goal in the first quarter and got its first bucket of the night by accident. Connor Insley tried to pass the ball under the basket to Lewis, but the ball went into the hoop for a 3-pointer in the first minute of the second quarter.
That “accidental hoop” actually sparked an 11-3 run that gave the Lions their first lead of the night. Still, Wellsville trailed by two at halftime despite managing only two field goals.
“I thought in the first half they ran the floor better than we did and they out-rebounded us, but in the second half they didn’t get many second shots,” said the Lions’ head coach. “You’re frustrated and you come in at halftime because you don’t know why we’re playing the way we’re playing with the kind of nerves we had there in the first half. Coach (Matt) Buckley has been around a long time and the first thing he said was, ‘We need to relax.’ I came back with, ‘Relax? We can’t relax. They’re playing physical.’ We had to be strong with the ball and we started communicating. We got momentum and it carried us for a while.”
The teams combined for seven field goals at halftime, not much of a surprise if you consider the last meeting between these two teams in which Wellsville held Greece Odyssey to only five total field goals.
The Leopards got two quick buckets to start the second half, but then went nearly eight minutes without a hoop. That’s when Wellsville made its move.
Matt Insley’s driving lay-up with 2:21 left in the third tied the game and his free throws 25 seconds later gave the Lions the lead for good. Wellsville scored the final 14 points of the third quarter and led 31-20 early in the fourth.
“It was more of a never-say-die attitude,” said Jim Insley. “It was a senior who has been around this game for a long game and wasn’t going to let it happen.”
Dixon scored six straight points to bring the Leopards within six with 2:45 left, then added a three-point play less than a minute later to cut Wellsville’s lead to 35-31.
Rich Ewell grabbed a blocked shot out of the air and layed it in for a critical bucket with 1:05 left to extend Wellsville’s lead to 38-31. The Lions then went 4-for-5 from the free throw line in the final minute to preserve the win.
“We took four charges, and I don’t think we’ve ever taken four charges in a game since I’ve been here in Wellsville,” said Jim Insley. “They stopped attacking the basket because they were afraid of picking another one up.”
Of those 17 points during Wellsville’s big run, 10 of them came after Dixon went to the bench late in the third quarter with his third foul.
Wellsville held a big advantage at the foul line, going 17-of-23, while the Leopards hit one of only four attempts.
Now the Lions prepare for a familiar opponent in Hornell. The Red Raiders won both regular season meetings and were the last team to beat the Lions back in mid-January in the Maple City. This will be the first postseason meeting between Hornell and Wellsville since the 2005 semifinals won by the Lions.
“You win and get to move on,” said Jim Insley. “I’ve been through sectionals a lot and helped coach baseball through sectional runs and played for a coach (Dennie Miles) who has won a lot of sectional titles. He will tell you, ‘You need to win one game during sectionals where you don’t play your best.’ Hopefully, that was this game for us tonight.”
