Pat Donnelly was back in front of the bench Tuesday night, bringing his usual passion and energy to the court and making all seem whole for the Bishop Ludden boys basketball team.
Better than Donnelly’s return, though, was the fact that the top-seeded Gaelic Knights moved ahead in the Section III Class AA playoffs by once again upending “Holy War” rival Christian Brothers Academy, pulling away in the fourth quarter to beat the no. 9 seed Brothers 64-40 in the AA quarterfinals.
Donnelly said that he was in good health and that all the tests following a prostate-cancer procedure earlier this month came back clean. While he recuperated, assistant Len Rauch and athletic director Gallagher Driscoll took turns with head-coaching duties, Driscoll leading Ludden to a win at CBA on Feb. 14.
But that close 55-53 decision caused legitimate concern for Gaelic Knights partisans, especially after the Brothers won at no. 8 seed Utica Proctor 50-43 in the opening round of the sectional tournament to get a third opportunity at toppling Ludden.
The pace, at least at the outset, played right into CBA’s hands, with long possessions and lots of defense from both sides. This allowed the Brothers to inch into a 14-13 lead late in the second quarter.
And even though a 10-2 second-quarter run pushed Ludden in front to stay, it spent the game’s middle stages in a futile effort to pull away. When Dan Damico hit two free throws early in the fourth quarter, the Brothers cut the Gaelic Knights’ lead to 37-31.
Only here did Ludden pull clear, Donnelly saying that the key to it was that it was finally able to force a quicker tempo, leading to CBA turnovers, fast breaks and baskets on the other end.
Nic Button’s back-to-back 3-pointers launched a closing 27-9 run. Mika Adams-Woods had 15 of his 23 points after the break, while Joe Connor provided ample support with 17 points, including a pair of breakaway dunks. Button finished with 11 points.
This puts Ludden (19-2) into Saturday’s sectional Class AA semifinal at 4:30 at SRC Arena against no. 4 seed Liverpool, a rematch of both the 2016 sectional final and the season opener Dec. 3, the Gaelic Knights prevailing on both occasions.
West Genesee also got to the AA semifinals Tuesday night, though the no. 2 seed Wildcats had to sweat through another close, tense affair before edging no. 7 seed Auburn 76-72 in front of an overflow crowd in Camillus.
Having lost to Ludden each of the last two years in the sectional quarterfinals, WG was all too glad not to have to worry about the Gaelic Knights this time, nor have to worry about a Nottingham side it beat in two close calls this winter after Auburn knocked out the Bulldogs 51-48 in the opening round.
Quickly enough, though, the Wildcats found the Maroons just as much of a headache, trailing most of the first quarter before Jack Bova, with a pair of 3-pointers late in the period, produced an 18-12 lead.
The second period nearly mirrored the first, Auburn catching up and WG answering it. Malik Zackery, whose half-court shot beat Bishop Kearney on Feb. 11, again hit a 3-pointer before the horn to extend the Wildcats’ edge to 42-34 at halftime.
Not flinching from these late-quarter heroics from WG, Auburn caught up again in the third quarter. Scott Minnoe had the hot hand, and his 3-pointer broke a 51-51 tie that allowed the Maroons to go to the final period nursing a 54-52 lead.
Much of the fourth quarter was close, too, but in the final minutes WG broke out, again fueled by a barrage of 3-point shots from Bova, as it gained a 72-63 edge and did enough from the free-throw line to hold off one more Auburn charge.
All told, Bova hit seven 3-pointers to account for most of his 22 points, while Zachery had 18 points and Lucas Sutherland topped them both with a big effort that included 24 points. Nate Phillips finished with eight points as Auburn’s Kaleb Cook led all scorers with 27 points and Minnoe added 19 points.
This sends the Wildcats (17-3) to SRC Arena to play the sectional semifinal against no. 6 seed Henninger. WG won their lone regular-season encounter with Henninger, 76-70, on Jan. 12, but since then the Black Knights have gone 10-2, including playoff wins over Baldiwnsville and, on Tuesday, at no. 3 seed Rome Free Academy, where it prevailed 69-67 in overtime, behind Jaden Graves’ 38 points.
