Onondaga — One season for Bob McKenney at the helm of the Bishop Grimes boys basketball program – and one Section III Class B championship in the books.
The Cobras’ first sectional title since 2008 was secured Saturday at SRC Arena, where the formula that has worked all winter – attack hard on defense and spread the production around on offense – did in Syracuse Academy of Science and led to a 72-60 victory.
Though he had won plenty of championships in his long tenure at Jamesville-DeWitt, McKenney said this first one at Grimes carried its own special meaning.
“It’s very gratifying and satisfying,” he said. “I’m fortunate to coach these young men. “They’ve given (a full effort) every day since November.”
That effort was on full display against SAS in a title game where the Cobras never trailed and, as it has done all season, got strong production from several sources, including senior A.C. Ater, whose game-high 23 points helped him earn tournament MVP honors.
“We just went after (SAS) on every single play,” said Ater.
Only through a technicality did Grimes sweep its regular-season series with SAS. The Cobras lost at home to the Atoms on Jan. 17, but later claimed a forfeit when SAS found out it had used an ineligible player in that game, plus three others.
Those forfeits took place just before the playoffs, dropping the Atoms from a no. 4 to no. 7 seed – but SAS took out that frustration on its sectional foes, topping Cazenovia, two-time defending state champion Westhill and Institute of Technology Central to get to the finals.
In each of those previous two games, said McKenney, Grimes played poor defense. So it spent the last week of practice emphasizing work in the paint to force SAS outside, and then initiating contact to take advantage of the Atoms’ smaller roster.
continued — Grimes pushed the tempo from the outset on each end, applying full-court defensive pressure and constantly attacking the basket on the other end during a 10-0 start where Ater and Shawn Gashi each scored four points.
Though the Atoms did settle into the game, the Cobras still led, 18-10, after one period, and it forced SAS’s leading scorer, Symir Torrence, to the bench with his third foul early in the second quarter.
Eventually, missing Torrence hurt the Atoms, who cut its deficit to four, only to see Grimes work it back up to double digits late in the half. Spreading its production around between Ater, Gashi (10 points each) and Mark Shattuck (nine points), the Cobras took a 38-28 advantage to the break.
Sticking to that aggressive game plan, Grimes put the game – and the sectional championship – away in the third period by unleashing its outside shooters. The Cobras got 3-pointers from Ater, Luciano Vigliotti and Johnny Wike, all of which helped double the margin to 58-38.
Any chance SAS had for a comeback got cut short when two starters, Noreon Williams and Kenyang Lual, fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Ater hit on a series of free throws to cap his MVP effort. Gashi finished with 15 points. Wike worked his total to 11 points and joined Ater on the All-Tournament team.
In next Saturday’s Class B regional final, Grimes will face Section IV champion Norwich. A win there gets the Cobras to Glens Falls Civic Center for the March 11-12 state final four.
McKenney knows all about finding glory at Glens Falls from the five state titles he won while at J-D. He said that going there one more time before the state tournament moves to Binghamton in 2017 would be even more special.
