Blue Devils Triumphant Against Rival Bulldogs in Rematch

By Joseph Saeli

  For the second time this season, the crosstown rivalry between Kenmore East and Kenmore West boy’s basketball ended up decisively in the favor of the Blue Devils, who put up a convincing 77-36 win on their home court.

Early on, both teams played sloppily, with numerous fouls and turnovers. The Blue Devils managed to go up 4-2 about halfway into the quarter, which was when Kenmore West coach Mike Meetze made the decision that swung the game his way.

“After the first four minutes, I took a timeout, and said, ‘if you’re not playing defense, you’re coming out,” said Meetze. “I took out two of the starters. One of bench players took a charge immediately, which got everyone excited, and after that we played Kenmore West basketball.”

The player who took the charge was Robert Burns, who was feeling the energy as well.

“We were overconfident, we were cocky,” said Burns. “When Coach took those guys out, it was a wake-up call, I think. We really needed that.”

The Blue Devils certainly “woke up” from there, going on a 14 point run to go up 18-2 lead. Led offensively by Kyle LaPlante (14 points), Tyler Aquilina (12 points), and Tal James (11), Kenmore West shot 8 three-pointers and controlled the tempo from there on out, including a 4-point play from bench player Jack Stoerr (7 points), giving the Devils a commanding 48-12 lead into halftime.

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, were led offensively by Konner Flynn (11 points), Austin Petty (8 points, and D’Anzo Young (7 points). Impressive defense early on allowed Kenmore East to keep it close for the first few minutes, but then turnovers eventually caught up to them.

“We’ve been playing well lately, but I think we got exposed [by them],” said Kenmore East coach Jay Robbins. “It wasn’t for lack of effort, though. I think we tried to out-talent them when we should have tried to out-team them.”

As for the Blue Devils, they needed a performance like this to get them back on track.

“On Wednesday night, we did not play well against Sweet Home,” said Meetze. “After the game, we talked about loose balls, dirtiness, taking charges… once we got on our little run there, everything went smoothly, and we finally saw the improvement we were looking for.”

The improvement couldn’t come at a better time for the Blue Devils, who now must consider what awaits them in the postseason.

Kenmore West, riding a seven-game winning streak, improves to 10-3 in league play. They close out their regular season on 2/15 hosting Niagara-Wheatfield. Kenmore East drops to 3-11 in league play and will also close out their season on 2/15, as they visit Grand Island.