Carly O’Hern made sure that the Jamesville-DeWitt girls basketball team got even with Christian Brothers Academy, while Nick Aversa assured that the same thing didn’t happen on the boys side during Tuesday night’s doubleheader at the J-D gymnasium.
The girls Red Rams won, 51-41, overcoming an early-game drought when O’Hern erupted for 21 points in the second quarter. Then, in the boys game, the Brothers pulled out a 67-60 victory in large part because Aversa netted 14 of his 17 points in the second half.
All of this began with J-D’s girls seeking atonement. Way back in its Dec. 12 season opener, the Rams went to CBA and were held to nine points in the first half, unable to recover in a 35-33 defeat.
What no could have foreseen was how the rematch would nearly echo that first encounter until O’Hern came to the rescue on the night that J-D honored its two departing seniors, Alyssa Robens and Maddy Frank.
Nervous at the outset, and under heavy pressure from CBA’s tight defense, J-D was shut out until the waning seconds of the first quarter, the Brothers jumping out 13-0 before Angela Bussone’s basket, seconds before the horn, got the Rams on the board.
Then, two minutes into the second period, with her team still down 17-5, O’Hern hit a 3-pointer. Then she hit another, and another, and another, all the while firing up her J-D teammates on the other end, who proceeded to hold CBA without a field goal for nearly six minutes.
Not content with that, Hair connected two more times beyond the arc, giving her six 3-pointers, and then was fouled on another 3-point attempt and made all the ensuing free throws, which gave J-D a 26-23 halftime lead.
Add it up, and O’Hair had 21 points in that second quarter, all in a stretch of six minutes, which set the season mark for any individual J-D player in a full game this season.
“It feels awesome,” said O’Hair of getting into that “zone” and making every shot she attempted. “You don’t have to think about it. When the ball leaves your hands, you know it’s going in.”
Despite O’Hair’s explosion, CBA stayed close throughout the third quarter, led by Natalie Nardella, who put up 17 points. But J-D broke a 36-36 tie early in the final period with back-to-back 3-pointers from O’Hern (giving her 24 points for the night) and Kasey Vaughan.
Vaughan, with five points, and Juila Kelner, with eight points (all of them in the second half), helped the Rams close the game on a 15-5 run. Head coach Rob Siechen said using up to 10 players in the rotation helps in situations like this, so that reserves like Vaughan and Kelner can make big plays when it counts.
Then it was the boys turn. Just as on the girls side, CBA had won the first time out, hitting 11 total 3-pointers to pull away from J-D 83-64 on Dec. 29 in the opening round of the Bottar-Leone Holiday Classic.
The sequel would prove a whole lot closer. In fact, until the final minute, neither team had a lead more than five points all night.
J-D closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to overcome an early 13-8 deficit. With Dom DeRegis scoring nine points and James Boeheim contributing eight points, the Rams traded baskets with CBA throughout the second quarter until Isaiah Williams’ 3-pointer at the horn tied it, 31-31, going to the break.
And they were still tied, 47-47, through three periods, but one big difference was the work that Aversa, CBA’s junior point guard, was hurting the Rams on multiple fronts.
Not only did Aversa take care of the ball and avoid turnovers on most of the Brothers’ possessions, he was hitting outside shots, converting twice on 3-pointers in the third quarter to help CBA keep pace.
Never trailing in the final period, the Brothers saw Monte Stroman break a 48-48 tie with a 3-pointer. Then Aversa connected twice more, pushing CBA to a 59-54 lead, and if that wasn’t enough, he, along with freshman Charles Pride, went four-for-four on free throws in the last minute to clinch it.
Defensively, the Brothers held J-D to just one field goal in the last 3:57. CBA head coach Buddy Wleklinski said his entire team, especially the likes of Dan Damico, tightened up their man-to-man pressure and caused the Rams problems, especially Williams, who had just nine points a game after scoring 29 against Homer on Jan. 30.
Just behind Aversa, Stroman finished with 14 points and Pride 12 points, while Emmett Dunn and Nick Carey had six points apiece. DeRegis led all scorers with 20 points, with Boeheim getting 12 points as Jacob Eich and Evan Dourdas each had six points.
