Albion cagers down St. Francis

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Alex Bison (23) battles for a rebound against Cody Smith (23) of St. Francis during the Purple Eagles victory over the visiting Red Raiders this evening.

Moving on top to stay with a late first quarter scoring burst, Albion went on to defeat visiting St. Francis 62-56 this evening in a non league game.

Austin Loyd scored 17 and Des Blackmon 10 to lead a parade of nine Albion point getters. Clayton Stanton and Gary Moore both added 9 Manny Thompson 7, Alex Bison 5, Kory Reynolds and Manwell Taylor 2 and Tommy Mattison 1 for the Purple Eagles.

“Defensively we played very well and we owned the glass which was big,” said Albion Coach Brennan Meakin.”We played real well on the boards.”

Cordell Holiness-Lightbody took game high honors for St. Francis with 23.

Trailing 10-5, Albion grabbed the upper hand for good with a 13-1 scoring burst late in the first quarter. The rally included a three and two layups by Loyd, a pair of baskets by Stanton and a three by Moore as the Purple Eagles took a 18-15 lead at the end of the period.

Two threes by Moore and one by Loyd in the second period helped Albion maintain a 35-29 lead at the half.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Gary Moore (15) looks to shoot against Robert Welch (4) of St. Francis.

The Purple Eagles upped the lead to nine, 40-31, early in the third period after two free throws and a three by Loyd.

St. Francis answered with a 10-4 run to cut the deficit to three but a late layup by Blackmon kept the Purple Eagle up by five, 46-41, at the three-quarter mark.

Keeping the hot hand, Blackmon then hit two quick threes and Loyd added a layup off a steal to boost the Purple Eagles advantage to 11 at 54-43 two minutes into the final period.

St. Francis did rally back to within four at 55-51 with 2:40 remaining but the Red Raiders would get no closer.

Stanton made a big layup off a missed free throw, Bison hit two clutch free throws and Thompson broke loose for a fast break layup to help boost Albion back out to a nine point, 62-53, lead in the final half minute to put a lock on the Purple Eagles victory.

“We had some kids make some big shots at big times and we had some key stops,” said Meakin. “It’s a big win for us.”

Albion, which is now at 1-1, next hosts Oracle of Buffalo at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Kory Reynolds tries to grab a rebound from Rick Grant (12) of St. Francis.

Wilson Tournament

Brunswick, Ohio 65, Wilson 29
Kyle Bradley scored 21 for the host Lakemen in a 65-29 loss to Brunswick, Ohio in the opening round of the Wilson Tournament.

Brunswick led 34-16 at the half.

Wilson will now face Niagara-Wheatfield in the consolation game Saturday while Brunswick will take on South Park in the title contest.