(South players gather around assistant coach Tim Paul)

How much of the game is mental and how much of the game is physical is certainly debatable.  I think it always varies, depending on the specific circumstances of each game.  To take nothing away from the physical talent that South has had on display all season, last night was a mental victory.  The Billies came into their game against Williamsville East with a lot on their minds.  They were thinking about a rivalry game, they were thinking about revenge, and they were thinking about saying goodbye.  Ultimately, the mental aspect of their game served them very well against the Flames.

 

The Billies channeled a range of emotions into their most spectacular outing of the season, and handed ECIC II and district rival, Williamsville East, a lopsided 85-49 defeat.  The bittersweet twist, however, was that following the game, South had to say goodbye to assistant coach and defensive specialist Tim Paul.  Paul, who formerly worked with South head man Gabe Michael on the coaching staff at Canisius College, has accepted a position with NJIT in New Jersey, where his wife had already been living and awaiting him to join her.

 

"When Gabe asked me to help out at South, I knew it would be a good fit for me", said Paul.  "We knew each other well and I knew what these kids could do and their potential".

 

Watching the players come back out of the locker room following the game to take a photo with Coach Paul and then seeing them huddle around to embrace him spoke to the bond that had formed between he and the team.

 

"These kids have been special – they want the knowledge, they want to learn, they want to get better, they want to play at the next level", Paul said following a farewell with the players.  "It's their thirst for learning that made it fun for me.  Everyday was a new adventure, they wanted to be so much better than when they started out".

 

On Thursday night, in the first of two meetings between the teams, the strides South has made as a team were on full display.  The last time the two teams had played each other was January 21, 2014, when the Flames knocked off South by 17 points to earn a series sweep after downing them by 12 points a month earlier.  This time around, the Billies absolutely erupted, and played the type of team game that everyone at South will look back on in weeks, months, even years, and talk about just how fondly they remember the way they played that night.

 

"This game has been circled since 353 days ago when we played there and I was in a hospital in Columbus getting updates" Michael said.  "They've been hearing about it from me – we've been looking forward to it".

 

The Billies got off to a solid start – a game-opening 3-pointer from Sam Castronova which led to an 11-4 lead midway through the opening quarter.  Then Jordan Buell checked in, and as per usual, wasted little time drilling one from downtown.  Two more treys followed, one by reserve Myles Hall, and then another from Buell.  It was all part of a 17-1 Billies' run to end the quarter, capped by a pair of steals converted for buckets by freshman floor general Greg Dolan.

 

Leading 28-5 heading into the second quarter, the South surge continued.  Buckets from Matt Foster and Greg Dolan preceeded a pair of long-range bombs from Graham Dolan, stretching the South run to 28-3 and pushing its lead to 39-7 before the game was 11 minutes old.  The Billies would get eight more points out of Graham Dolan in the third quarter, and three more treys (Hall, Buell, and Kam Varner) to take a 69-29 lead into the final stanza.  South's advantage reached as high as 44 points with about six minutes remaining in the game.

 

Greg Dolan finished with a game-high 16 points, along with seven assists, six boards, and four steals.  He was perfect from the charity stripe and went 6 of 8 from the field, after a perfect 9 of 9 in the game prior.  Graham Dolan and Varner each scored 14 points, and Buell added 11 points.

 

Mike Shanahan led Williamsville East with 13 points, Nicholas Clough scored 12 points, and Cort Williams added 11 points.

 

-centercourt