Drake’s Game-Winner Moves Jamestown into First Place in ECIC 1

After losing to Williamsville North on Saturday February 8th, Jamestown Red Raiders head coach Ben Drake wanted to get his team back on track as playoffs are around the corner. 

Drake’s squad came into Orchard Park high school Wednesday night to take on the Quakers; their opponents have been hot since losing to Park School last month. After losing to the Pioneers, Orchard Park has won eight of their last nine games, which pushed their record to 12-4 overall.

The first quarter saw dominance in the low post from Jamestown’s Demarri Jones and Orchard Park’s Bradley Fowler. Jones got the first eight points for his squad while Fowler scored three consecutive buckets in the paint. Elijah Rojas picked up five points for the Red Raiders and ended the quarter on top 14-13.

Second quarter saw Rojas picking up his game, adding five points to give him 10 in the first half, while Jones hit a bucket to give him 10 as well. Jones ended the game with 17 points along with 14 rebounds to give him a double-double; Rojas had seven assists to go along with 16 points.

Scoring from the Quakers came from Tino Mancabelli and Jackson Roskow as Fowler was being double teamed multiples times in the paint. Mancabelli put up six points in the quarter while Roskow hit a big three-pointer to keep his team close, he finished with seven first-half points. However, Orchard Park remained down at the half 27-24.

Third quarter saw both squads not finding an edge in terms of points, each ending up with 12 points, keeping Jamestown up at the end of the quarter 39-36.

Jaral Farmer hit a nice jumper to give the Red Raiders a six-point lead late in the third, but Orchard Park’s Ethan Swiatek swished home a three as the clock expired to cut that lead down to three.

As the fourth quarter progressed along, The Quakers were able to come back and take the lead for the first time since the second quarter. From there, the lead would flip back and forth all the way into the last minute of the game. With 49 seconds left to go, Jones grabbed an offensive rebound and a putback to give Jamestown a 54-52 lead.

Ensuing possession the Quakers tried to tie the game with a layup but couldn’t convert. After a timeout from Jamestown, the Quakers went into a full-court press and their pressure caused a turnover. Roskow stripped the ball away and went up with the layup to tie the game at 54.

The Red Raiders brought the ball up court; Jordan Crofoot went up for a three-point attempt along the right wing. The shot was long, but Trey Drake came from the left side, caught the ball in mid-air and was able to get the putback, giving Jamestown the lead and the 56-54 win over Orchard Park.

“It was a broken play,” said Jamestown head coach Ben Drake. “You’ve got to get Trey credit, he saw it coming. He anticipated it and he got to the spot.”

Jamestown now sits in the first-place slot in ECIC 1. Coach Drake loved the way his team came out and played after falling to Williamsville North on Saturday.

“We played half a game on Saturday against Williamsville North and we were disappointed with how that game went,” Drake said. “Just really glad to see just how hard we played tonight, I thought we played really hard the entire game and every time Orchard Park counterpunched, we answered.”

The Red Raiders improved to 12-6 on the year and 8-2 in league play. Their final two games of the regular season will both be league matchups, facing Clarence Friday February 14 and Orchard Park again on Monday February 17.

The Quakers’ record now moves to 12-5 overall and 7-3 in ECIC 1.