Quick Start Propels Maryvale Over Depew

After a home loss to rival Depew earlier in the season, the Maryvale High School boys basketball team visited its ECIC III rival on Friday with hopes of setting the tone with a quick start.

Mission accomplished.

Maryvale buried its first four 3-point attempts to build a quick double-digit lead and went on to a 66-41 win over shorthanded Depew in front of a packed gym on both sides.

“We wanted to come out playing as hard as we could because I know Depew always plays hard and we don’t want to back down,” Flyers coach Mark Kensy said. “We came out shooting better than we have in a long, long time. It was nice to see that.”

The early 3-pointers – two by Brian Sullivan and others by Ray Blackwell and Dylan Casey – helped the Flyers build a quick 14-2 lead halfway through the first quarter. The Wildcats battled but never got closer than four points – the lead was in double-digits for most of the second half.

Blackwell led all players with 18 points for the Flyers (13-5 overall, 6-4 ECIC III) All told, 11 different players scored for Maryvale. Sullivan added 14 and Ted York-Brown and Adam Meyerhofer contributed 10 apiece.

“”It feels great to take this win as a team,” said Blackwell, a junior guard in his third varsity season.”Teammates all played very well and I’m proud of all of them. It’s just beautiful. We’re all one team and we act like one team.”

Meanwhile, Depew was without the injured Chad Biersbach, the team’s leading scorer. The standout junior forward, who averages 17.8 points and 10 rebounds per game, turned an ankle in practice. Coach Larry Jones said he might miss next week’s games against John F. Kennedy and Cheektowaga Central but should be back for the postseason.

“Nothing severe but he’s never been hurt before,” Jones said. “It always takes a bit longer to come back from that first injury.”

The Wildcats, who have struggled offensively at times throughout the season anyway, had trouble getting things going on Friday without the man that averages more than double anyone else on the team.

“We passed up too many shots,” Jones said. “We moved the ball in the perimeter and had the chance to take a shot that Chad would’ve taken regardless, we had two or three guys back down from taking the shot. If you don’t shoot it, you can’t rebound it. But that’s not the first time we’ve struggled offensively.”

Tyler Biersbach had 10 points and Austin Pilley had seven for Depew (12-6, 6-5 ECIC III)