Boys basketball: Avon Lake’s England ruins Amherst’s night
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AMHERST — Something is bound to give when you concentrate on one player — especially when you’re playing the Avon Lake Shoremen.
That was proven last night when Avon Lake’s Pat England countered the Comets’ box-and-one defense on Ronnie Willoughby with his own hot 3-point shooting to help the Shoremen to an easy 62-35 Southwestern Conference victory at Amherst.
“We have some guys who can shoot the basketball besides Ronnie,” Shoremen coach Eric Smith said after his team improved to 2-1. “You’re usually not used to something like that (box-and-one) early in the season but it’s something we’ve prepared for all preseason. With Ronnie being an All-Conference player last year it’s something we assumed we would see.”
The Comets came out in a zone to start the game but when Willoughby scored nine points in the first six minutes, they shifted to the box-and-one. With Connor Weir guarding him man-to-man, Willoughby was shut down the rest of the first half.
But it hardly mattered from the Shoremen’s point of view. England stepped up to the line — the 3-point line, to be precise — and began to take over. After hitting a pair of threes in both middle periods, he finished the outburst with another in the fourth for a total of six 3-pointers and 20 points on the night.
“I had wide-open looks and the team was able to work it around to me,” England said. “They were pretty easy to hit.”
Still, the Comets (2-2) only trailed 29-23 at the half. Alex Kneisel, who finished with 14 points, and Weir, kept them close as they continually drove inside on the Avon Lake zone for layups and short jumpers. But Amherst’s shooting collapsed in the third quarter as it made only 1-of-10 from the field and fell behind 42-28 with eight minutes to play.
With the box-and-one lifted in the fourth, the Shoremen showed what might have happened without it as Willoughby scored 10 points in the first six minutes to put the game away.
“They held me down pretty well in the middle quarters,” Willoughby said. “But Pat hit his threes, which was great. It’s great when you have shooters like Pat and T.J. (Thompson) and Jay (Seaton).”
While Willoughby led the team with 21 points, four different Shoremen hit 3-pointers. They made 10 of their 22 attempts from beyond the arc, slightly better than their 11-of-25 shooting from inside it.
“You have to give up something,” Amherst coach John Srnis said. “Willoughby’s a good player, that’s why we went to the chaser. I don’t think the other player (England) has scored that many points. If he missed his shots it could have been different.
“But the bottom line is that if we don’t score more than 35 points it doesn’t matter what we do defensively. And if we turn the ball over like we did tonight, it doesn’t matter what we do defensively.”
The Comets committed 19 turnovers and although they were outrebounded only 36-29, they were dominated 13-4 in the final quarter.
“Our rebounding in the beginning was disappointing,” Smith said. “We pride ourselves on being physical. We got that corrected in the last couple of minutes of the third quarter and in the fourth. That helped us out.”
The Shoremen were coming off a disappointing 39-37 SWC loss to Westlake on Friday.
“We didn’t play real well in that one,” Smith said. “I think tonight is what we’re capable of.”
Avon Lake 62, Amherst 35
Avon Lake (62): Pat England 7-0-20, T. J. Thompson 2-0-5, Ronnie Willoughby 7-5-21, Dom Whitfield 1-1-3, Jay Seaton 1-0-3, Mike Magyar 1-1-3, Brandon Muck 1-0-2, Brandon Murway 0-1-1, Andrew Bohan 0-2-2, Trent Toy 1-0-2, Brandon Spitzer 0-0-0. Totals 21-10-62.
Amherst (35): Alex Kneisel 5-3-14, Scott Ferris 3-0-6, Connor Weir 2-0-4, Andrew Sprenger 2-2-4, Shakeem Jones 2-3-7, Austin Zink 0-0-0, Mat Zocchi 0-0-0, Jared Warner 0-0-0, Brad Block 0-0-0, Kyle Hagerich 0-0-0. Totals 14-6-35.
Avon Lake 14 15 13 20 — 62
Amherst 10 13 5 7 — 35
3-point field goals: Avon Lake 10-22 (England 6, Willoughby 2, Thompson, Seaton); Amherst 1-5 (Kneisel). Field Goals: Avon Lake 21-47 (45 percent); Amherst 14-44 (32 percent). Free Throws: Avon Lake 10-20 (50 percent); Amherst 6-10 (60 percent). Turnovers: Avon Lake 7, Amherst 19. Rebounds: Avon Lake 36, Amherst 29. Fouls: Avon Lake 13, Amherst 12.
JV: Amherst, 40-37
Contact Jim Jablonski at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.
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