Jack Rauch and Zach Walser have seen a lot of glory with the Bishop Ludden boys basketball team, and they were not about to get beat in their last regular-season home game, even if the opponent was a traditional power like Jamesville-DeWitt.
Rauch and Walser made Friday night’s clash between the Gaelic Knights and Red Rams their own, taking over in the second half to lead Ludden from behind to beat J-D by a score of 64-52.
As if the emotions of Senior Night didn’t provide enough motivation, what happened to Ludden the first time it played J-D this season offered it. Back on Dec. 12, the Gaelic Knights lost, 63-62, to the Rams, seeing several shot attempts in the final seconds go off the rim.
But with all the festivities surrounding Senior Night as a pregame distraction, it took a while for Ludden to get going. Mainly, its defense, laying back in a zone, paid for the open looks it gave to J-D’s guard, especially James Boeheim, who had all 14 of his points in the first half.
Closing the second quarter on an 8-0 run, J-D was up, 29-23, at the break. More alarmingly, Rauch picked up his third foul early in the third quarter, and the Rams looked like it would really seize control.
After sitting for a minute, though, Rauch returned, and everything changed. He promptly reeled off seven points that erased most of J-D’s lead, just as Ludden moved out of the zone and challenged all of the Rams’ perimeter shooters, especially Dom DeRegis, who did not make a field goal all night and finished with just four points.
By the time they reached the fourth quarter, Ludden had a 40-39 lead, and continued to surge until Rauch drilled another 3-pointer that extended the lead to 46-39. J-D could not recover.
Rauch set a career mark with 31 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and added seven assists. Many of those passes were to Walser, who poured in 16 points to make his home farewell a successful one.
Adams-Woods had seven points, with Cameron Beauford adding six points. J-D could not make up for the struggles of DeRegis and Boeheim in the late going, despite 18 points from Isaiah Williams.
Ludden didn’t get caught looking ahead to J-D, venturing to Homer last Tuesday night and taking control from the outset in a 76-45 victory over the Trojans.
Even though Homer is vastly improved from seasons past, it still couldn’t keep the Gaelic Knights from starting out on a 21-8 run. Things slowed down the rest of the half, but a 22-12 start to the second half helped Ludden put the game away.
Again, Walser, Adams-Woods (15 points each) and Rauch (13 points) were at the forefront, while Matt Hosek put up nine points. Will Engelhardt and Shi’kem Lee had eight points apiece. Homer only had one player, Jayden Gavidia, reach double figures as he got 10 points.
Solvay, meanwhile, clinched a Class B playoff berth in an emphatic manner, hosting Hannibal and roaring its way to a 74-42 victory over the Warriors.
But that was before the Bearcats had the misfortune to play Westhill at the worst time possible, and these Warriors would turn back Solvay in an 82-57 decision.
This was Westhill’s first game since its high-profile loss to Henninger on Jan. 31 at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall. What’s more, it was Senior Night for the Warriors’ core of stars, including Jordan Roland, Tyler Reynolds, Jeff Lobello, Dan O’Connell, Brian Daily, Stephen Bailey and Mike Burton, adding to the challenge.
Once the festivities were forgotten, Westhill withstood Blake Bagozzi’s early shooting barrage and, shut down the Bearcats in a decisive 24-3 second-quarter surge, which made it 46-20 at halftime.
Roland produced 26 points, while Reynolds, bouncing back after Henninger held him to four points, got 24 points on this night, adding four rebounds and three assists. Daily added nine points, O’Connell had seven points and Lobello got six points to go with his seven rebounds and eight assists.
Most of Bagozzi’s 24 points came from six successful 3-pointers, but no other Bearcats player got close to his total, Mike Yaizzo adding eight points as Sammy Kippen had seven points and Jake Dippold earned six points.
