If you've ever played or coached against, or even just watched McKinley, you understand the analogy. Waves of Macks. They just keep coming at you. Relentlessly. It will take everything out of you just to keep your head above water, and with even the slightest break in concentration…whoosh, you're in over your head! Facing McKinley isn't a sink or swim endeavor, more like sink or survive.
On Wednesday night, fourth ranked large school McKinley took advantage of an opportunity to make a splash in the WNY hoops scene and dunked eighth ranked Clarence, 88-62. Lovell Smith dropped a game-high 26 points, 10 rebounds, & a pair of dunks on the Red Devils, while Reyjzon Jordan scored 21 points to go with eight assists and six steals in the Macks win.
In the early going, Clarence ran with the Macks. The first quarter was thrilling, fast-paced, and equally back-and-forth. The two teams literally went basket for basket with each other. Both teams led in the quarter. Only once did McKinley extend to a four-point lead in the opening quarter, and back-to-back 3-pointers from Clarence's Ryan Funk quickly evened that out. The teams were locked at 18 apiece after eight minutes, in one of the best quarters I've watched this year.
McKinley jumped out to a five-point lead in the first minute of the second quarter and held that advantage until about the midway point of the stanza, before surging ahead with 11 straight points to go up 40-24. The Red Devils managed to get the last five points of the half, all on free throws, and trailed 40-29 at halftime. As the teams headed to the locker rooms, there was a sense that Clarence was hanging on – that the dam could break at any moment. It was about to.
Less than two minutes into the second half, McKinley had scored 10 unanswered points and had increased its lead to 50-29 . Clarence took a timeout and regained some of its composure, but overcoming a 20-point deficit against the Macks may be an insurmountable task. It certainly wasn't in the cards for the Red Devils on this night. If not for a pair of 3's late in the third quarter from Clarence's Bobby Florio, things may have really gotten out of hand. Instead, the Red Devils continued to battle the rest of the way, and while they never got back into the game, Clarence never quit and had a respectable finish.
Florio and Funk led the Red Devils in scoring with 17 points each. Marcus Morris scored 12 points for McKinley, one of 11 different Macks that got in the scoresheet on the evening.
-centercourt
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