Falcons Win Battle of the Birds
As the calendar turns to February, High School Basketball teams all-around WNY must begin to get ready for the playoffs.
On Wednesday night, both the Health Sciences Falcons and the Tapestry Charter Thunder Hawks boys basketball teams had a huge opportunity to get ready for the playoffs. In a battle of the top two charter schools in WNY, Health Sciences beat the Thunder Hawks 48-32 at Tapestry in Charter Cup action.
Top-ranked small school team Health Sciences was down 13-11 at the end of the first quarter, it didn’t last for long. Tysheen Lott started the second quarter by hitting a 3-pointer and the Falcons never looked back.
Tysheen’s older brother Tyron came down the court next possession and knocked down a 3-pointer of his own. Twice in the quarter Tyron stole the ball and took it the other way for the score. The Falcons rode the momentum from the Lott brothers to take a 27-22 lead at the half.
Tyron Lott lead his team with 19 points.
“He’s the leader”, Health Sciences Head Coach Tyree Parker said. “The key is putting players in the best positions and he does that very well.”
Kameron Briggs hit a 3-pointer early in the third. Soon after the sophomore guard came up with a steal and it took to the hoop for a bucket to extend the Falcon lead to 11 points.
Briggs made three 3-pointers scoring a total of 15 points in the win.
After a timeout, Tapestry got into a bit of a rhythm. Jaylin Curry and Dorian Pummer made back-to-back layups. As the home crowd got into the game, the Thunder Hawks defense forced a shot clock violation. Tapestry clearly had the momentum for most of the third quarter but could not convert their chances.
Briggs hit another 3-pointer toward the end of the quarter to get the Falcons a 38-30 lead heading into the fourth.
Davonte Gains made a layup early in the fourth quarter to help his team go on a 10-2 run to end the game.
Tapestry knew Wednesday night’s game was going to be tough.
“I told the guys to make sure we take care of the ball, to rebound and get up and down the court. We did that well”, Tapestry assistant coach Mike Ester said. “We just went up against a tough team.”
For the Falcons, the game against Tapestry was a big test. Last week, Health Sciences lost to Bishop Timon and Middle Early College. According to Parker, the losses taught the Falcons, who are the top ranked small school in the area, a big lesson.
“The kids got a little big headed. We had to take some losses to learn from that”, Parker said. “I always tell them the best way to learn how to win, is to know what it’s like to lose sometimes.”
Health Sciences has also had trouble playing in front of big crowds this season, as all of their four losses have come on the road in front of big crowds.
Parker was proud of the way his team played in front of the large crowd at Tapestry.
“In big crowds the kids want to show what they can do, that’s where selfish basketball comes in”, Parker said. “Today was another opportunity to play in front of big crowds to see how they would handle the adversity. They did a good job.”
Tyron Lott agreed with his Head Coach and said that his team came into the game a little more focused then usual.
“We played together today”, Lott said. “We’ve been on losing lately. So, we took this game a little more seriously and played the right way.”
The Falcons will play Oracle in their regular season finale on Monday at 7 p.m. The game will take place at South Buffalo Charter School. Tapestry is back in action on Tuesday as they host Global Concepts for a 7 p.m. tipoff.