Monday, January 11, 2010
by SETH SHANER

SNP photo by Seth Shaner. DeSales' Adam Griffin dribbles toward the basket in the Stallions' 62-36 win at Hartley Friday, Jan. 8.

Any worries of the cold, icy weather that kept Central Catholic League schools out of session at the end of the week cooling off the DeSales boys basketball team were quickly squelched at Hartley Friday, Jan. 8.

The Stallions (7-2, 3-0 CCL) started out hot as fire, with senior Adam Griffin nailing three consecutive three-pointers to start things off, and senior Nick Kellogg following with a pair of threes of his own, making for a 15-0 advantage.

"We were just really focused on getting off to a good start," Kellogg said. "We really emphasized getting out, playing hard on defense and trying to get out to a really good start, and I think we did that."

DeSales went on to claim the win, 62-36, and remain perfect in the CCL standings.

"We knew it would be important to get off to a good start," DeSales coach Blair Albright said, "because we knew they'd be playing with a lot of confidence because they were 7-1 coming in.

"We knew that, not only in Division II but in our league, they were a team that had made some noise. We knew, in their building, especially with them beating us there last year, we needed to come in and take the air out of the building early."

Add in the fact Hartley lost starting center Andy Losinski to a concussion early in the game and things couldn't have started much worse for the Hawks.

"Losing Andy didn't help," Hawks coach Randy Kortokrax said. "Is he an all-star who could make up 26 points? No, but it just kills your rotation. I had my first sub in 30 seconds into the game and then there are no subs.

"The other thing is, we had good shots in the first quarter and just didn't make any. It's not (DeSales' threes), it's that we missed some open looks. We missed a couple of threes."

DeSales led 31-13 at halftime, but this series has included big third-quarter comebacks by the Hawks in recent years, and it appeared one might be in the offing as they scored seven unanswered points to begin the second half.

"We have been characteristically bad in the third quarter this year," Albright said. "It was certainly concerning for us when we saw them come out of the half like that, but I was happy with the fact we were able to regain our composure and our concentration on the game plan to get stops first."

The Stallions responded and extended the lead.

Kellogg led all scorers with 15 points, including the two threes, while Griffin scored 12, all on threes, and senior Chi Chi Ariguzo pulled in nine rebounds.

Junior Kendal Sherrod led the Hawks with 12 points and five rebounds and senior Geoffrey Whiteside added seven points.

Hartley (7-2, 2-1) started the season 7-0, but has dropped its last two.

"This will teach us to work harder in practice and I feel like this is kind of a reality check," Sherrod said. "We have to get after it and be serious as far as practice and getting in the weight room."

Kortokrax knows he has an inexperienced team and still hopes to peak by the end of the season.

"The reality of the situation is we were 7-0 and guys thought we were better than what we really were," the coach said afterward. "We lost some good players last year and we have to wait for some of the (newer) guys to step up.

"We were outmanned tonight and it got rough, legally, and shooting-wise, we just can't shoot right now."

The season has been a work in progress for DeSales, which started a week late after the football team advanced to the state championship game.

"With the late start, we knew if we could just try to keep our head above water in December," Albright explained, "and put ourselves in a position where we haven't killed ourselves, we knew that January would be the month where we'd set the tone for what kind of year we're going to have."

The Stallions went on to win at Jonathan Alder 63-38 Saturday, Jan. 9.

Griffin led the way with 15 points, while senior Aaron Selmek added 12 and sophomore Charles Chandler 11.

DeSales is to host St. Charles Friday, Jan. 15, at 7:30 p.m. and plays Fairport, NY, at the National Hoops Classic Saturday, Jan. 16, at Wellston (5 p.m.).