Eagles ride Samol’s 30 points past Frazier
CLAYSVILLE — Brandon Samol rang up a game-high 30 points to help lead Avella over Frazier, 66-48, in the McGuffey Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday afternoon.
Westley Burchianti followed with 17 points KJ Rush added eight points as the Eagles evened their record at 1-1.
Brennen Stewart led the Commodores with 14 points and Noah Usher added 10 points. Zane Whitehead pulled down 11 rebounds.
Both teams were shorthanded as the Eagles were playing without starter Colton Burchianti, who suffered an ankle injury in a loss to McGuffey on Friday night, while the Commodores were missing four of their varsity players.
“We’ve got four who aren’t with us for this opening tournament for a variety of reasons, and three of them are starters,” Frazier coach Zach Keefer said.
The Commodores were already playing with an inexperienced squad as they graduated five starters from last season’s section championship team.
“That’s not an excuse,” Keefer said. “That’s just how things have transpired so far. Most of those kids won’t be available until next week.”
Avella held a 17-12 advantage after one quarter then exploded for 25 points in the second in surging to a 42-21 halftime lead.
“No. 2 shot the lights out in the first half,” Keefer said of Samol, who hit four 3-pointers in the game. “We had to adjust a few things there.”
Frazier out-scored the Eagles, 27-24, in the second half but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“I thought we played better, but every time we gained a little bit of traction it felt like then took three steps backwards on turnovers and missed shots, empty possessions,” Keefer said. “We’ve just got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball.”
Frazier was coming off a 73-20 loss to Fort Cherry on Friday night.
“That’s two tough games in a row for us, however it was a great opportunity for our young guys to get some experience,” Keefer said. “I thought we made some progress today from last night. There’s things to work on for sure. We’re not where we want to be but they’re improving.”
One thing Keefer always demands from his players is maximum effort and he felt he got that against the Eagles despite being outmanned.
“Absolutely,” Keefer said. “I don’t accept anything less, and I think they know that. If your name or number is called and you’re out on that floor I expect you to give me 110 percent effort. You better be diving on the floor, boxing out, getting rebounds, taking charges.”
Keefer feels playing shorthanded now will help his team down the road.
“We’ll be better because of it,” he said. “This will help build our depth. Hopefully, we get some guys back next week and we’ll be ready to move forward.”