Falcons declaw Panthers for first victory
Abby snaps three game losing skid
The Abbotsford Falcons boys basketball team is winless no more. The Falcons finally got the monkey off their backs with a complete dismantling of the Pittsville Panthers at home on Tuesday, Dec. 7.
The Falcons took a well-earned 50-35 victory in their non-conference bout with the Panthers, and shook off a shaky first half to pull away from the Panthers in the final frame.
“They came out against Pittsville and really wanted to win,” Falcons head coach Brent Faber said later. “We got fortunate on some stuff late in the game, guys stepped up, played harder. Brandon had a heck of a game, and Esteban chipping in with ten. which was huge.”
The Falcons went into the locker room with a two possession, 21-17 lead, but were able to break the game open in the second half. Brandon Diedrich powered the Abbotsford offense with a season high 20 points. Brandon was lethal from the beyond the arc, converting on four of seven three point attempts.
He was aided by a double digit efforts from Adam Diedrich and Esteban Gomez, who scored 11 and ten points.
The Falcons did not allow a single player from Pittsville to finish in double figures, and Abby went on to out-score the Panthers 29-18 in the final half.
JV Castillo pitched in with three points, along with Blake Bargender, Evan Reis and Brandon Hawkey, who all managed two points apiece.
Things weren’t nearly as rosy in the Falcons next game. Abbotsford hosted the Newman Catholic Cardinals on Thursday, a team that’s favored to win the Marawood Conference, and possibly even more.
Abby had its hands full trying to stop the ‘Cards devastating inside-outside game, and in the first half, the ‘Cards were dropping threes at will.
Newman Catholic would shoot nearly 50 percent from deep, splashing 14 of 30 three point attempts. Those baskets outside opened things inside, and the ‘Cards took an overwhelming 53-19 advantage into the break.
“Moving into this game, we could have adjusted, but we wanted to stick with the 1-3-1,” coach Faber said. “We want to make that our own . . . but we’re trying to play a zone because we’re not exactly tall, and we’re trying to use our speed to their advantage.”
The Falcons found some life in the second half, and became more aggressive in the post, bodying up Newman Catholic for interior touches, and getting to the charity stripe 20 times.
Unfortunately, Abby converted just nine of those 20 chances, but every little bit helped, and in the second half the Falcons went toe to toe with Newman Catholic, who only managed to out-score Abby 34-32 in the second half.
“I never want to go into a locker room saying ‘We’re not going to win this one’, but we also need to be realistic, Faber said afterwards. “So what are we going to work on? This game was one heck of an extreme practice.”
Esteban Gomez had his best game of the season, going five of nine from the floor, and another four of six from the stripe to lead Abby with 14 points.
Adam Diedrich and JV Castillo dropped nine and eight points on the ‘Cards, followed by Brandon Hawkey, who finished with seven points.
Brandon Diedrich received much of the defensive focus of Newman Catholic, and was held to seven points. Blake Bargender and Preston Bunkelman both scored three points, and Evan Reis tallied two points to round out Abby’s scorers.
Their contributions are something Faber is looking forward to, as well as continued aggression from his players in order to get to the line, or get opposing teams into foul trouble.
“I think this is going to be help us in the next couple games because this going to take our aggression level up to the next notch that I think we need to be to win games.
“I think if they play this way, come through the lane, and get contact, that’s what we need. You get other teams like us, who aren’t deep, you get them in foul trouble and that’s where we can execute.”
DRAW THE FOUL - Junior forward Brandon Diedrich fights to get a shot off against Newman Catholic last week. Diedrich finished with nine points against the Cardinals.
