The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
VanDreason leads VVS past Canastota
CANASTOTA, N.Y. >> Playing an opening round sectional game on the road for the first time since the 201415 season, No. 19 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill did not appear fazed against No. 14 Canastota on Thursday.
Trailing the hosts 8-7 at the 3:40 mark in the first quarter, VVS caught fire, using three straight 3-pointers fromsenior guard Blake VanDreason to spark a 22-0 run to take control of the contest en route to a 74-38 win.
“Honestly, I thought the way we have been playing at the end of the year that we could compete with Canastota,” VVS coach Andy Cossette said.
The Red Devils had four players reach double figures in the victory.
VanDreason poured in 22 points, connecting on six shots from beyond the arc to lead VVS in the win. He also posted team-highs in steals and assists with five each.
“[Blake] refused to lose tonight. He stepped up big time. I kind of expected that most of the season, and the last four games, he has played like he is really focused, doing the job,” Cossette said.
Junior Bailey Janowski followed with 13. Fellow junior Phoenix Weydig netted 12, and sophomore Sam Donnelly, typically the Red Devils’ defensive stopper, added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Canastota sophomore Nate Wood matched VanDreason with a game-high 22. Senior Edquen Brooks, who went to the bench with three fouls in the closing minutes of the first quarter, ended up with 15.
“He’s a very good player,” Cossette said of defending Brooks. “Very strong inside. Wewere trying to double him every time he got the ball. We did dig in on him and got some steals off of him, but once he gets so close to the basket he could just jump over the top of us. I thought Bailey [Janowski] did a good job of boxing him out as big as [Brooks] is. Same thing with Brayden Yauger and Alen Dedic.”
Midway through the first, Wood cashed in from distance to give Canastota an 8-7 lead. After VanDreason’s trio of 3-pointers put the Red Devils up 16-8 and prompted a Canastota timeout, Brooks picked up his third foul of the game trying to stop a Weydig fastbreak. Weydig converted the ensuing free throw attempts before coming up with a steal and another layin on the ensuing Canastota inbounds play. VVS closed the frame with a Janowski offensive rebound and putback to carry a 22-8 lead into the second.
Janowski picked up where he left off, netting the first three points of the quarter before Red Devil Bryce Palmer came up with consecutive steals off the press, turning both thefts into easy layups for a 29-8 visitor advantage.
Brooks scored on an offensive rebound to halt the VVS run and trim the lead to 29-11, but VVS continued its break-neckpace to take a commanding 41-18 lead into the half.
Wood began to heat up in the third, notching nine points in the period to breathe life into the Canas- tota crowd, but Donnelly helped the visitors keep the Raiders at bay with eight points of his own.
Down 58-33 at the beginning of the fourth, Wood scored on Canastota’s first three possessions to cut the VVS lead to 60-41 with six minutes left in the contest, but VanDreason dispelled any notion of comeback seconds later. The senior guard split a pair of Raider defenders for a layup and followed that with his fifth triple of the night to grow the Red Devil lead back up to 65-41 as VVS coasted the rest of the way for the victory.
VVS’ ensuing contest against No. 3 General Brown tipped off at deadline. To find out how the Red Devils fared, visit www.oneidadispatch.com/ sports.