HS BASKETBALL: THS drops pair on Wall of Fame night
By Dave Ricci The Tonawanda News
The effort was there but, unfortunately, the victories weren’t.
The Tonawanda Warriors and Lady Warriors gave it all they had but at the end of the night both wound up on the losing end in a special varsity basketball double header Friday night that featured the induction ceremony for the Tonawanda High School Athletic Wall of Fame Class of 2010.
Ryan Kowal sank a pair of free throws with 4.5 seconds left in the game as the JFK Bears stole a 69-66 win over the THS boys in their ECIC IV matchup at the George H. Miller Gymnasium.
Trailing 18-9 after a first quarter that saw them squander early scoring chances, the Warriors turned in a much better second half.
Jesse Lalka, who scored nine of his 25 points in the final three minutes and 20 seconds of the game, helped the Warriors to a 64-61 lead with 2:12 left on the clock, but they could not hang on.
The sting of this loss was compounded by the fact the Warriors knew it was a winnable game that slipped away.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Warriors coach Hank Hughes. “It’s gut-wrenching for the kids in the locker room, it’s gut-wrenching for me. We were so close, especially (when you consider) how far we’ve come from two years ago. It hurts.”
The Warriors (3-12 overall, 1-9 ECIC IV) got 22 points from Kyle Schroeder and another tremendous effort from Chris Hartke.
“Chris’ effort is always there,” said Hughes. “Chris, I think, is probably the hardest worker I’ve ever coached (in basketball).”
Sean Fox hit one of two shots from the line with 22.1 left to play to put the Bears (5-10, 4-6) up 67-66.
In girls action, Hannah Herc poured in 17 points as the Eden Raiders defeated the Tonawanda girls 41-24 to remain perfect in ECIC IV play.
To the Warriors’ credit, the game was tied at 16 at the end of the first half, and THS hung tough for the first three quarters as Eden held a slim 30-24 lead after three.
But a couple of quick buckets early in the fourth gave the first-place Raiders (15-1, 12-0) all the breathing room they would need. Though the Warriors (11-5, 6-4 in ECIC IV) played hard they simply didn’t drive to the basket enough and couldn't match the offensive fire power of the Raiders’ top guns, Hannah Herc, Hailee Herc and Cassie Smythe, who canned all 12 of her points on 3-pointers.
But Tonawanda’s real undoing was the cold hard fact that Eden outscored them 11-0 in the final frame.
“I never fault their effort at all. I can’t fault that,” said Warriors coach Jay Hall. “We’re offensively challenged. We had eight points in the second half. We’re tied at halftime and we scored eight points. You’re not gonna beat many teams by scoring eight points in a half of basketball. Especially a good team like Eden, they’re undefeated in the league.”
Meghan Kossow led Tonawanda with 10 points and Dee Bowers added eight.
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