Holley rallies to edge rival Kendall in thriller

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Holley’s Destin Kuyal puts up a shot against Kendall defender William Kludt during the Hawks exciting home court win over the rival Eagles this evening.

Rebounding from as much as a 16 point deficit early in the second quarter, Holley came battling back to edge rival Kendall 61-58 in a  thrilling down to the wire Genesee Region League boys basketball game this evening at Holley.

Trailing 48-47 early in the final period, Holley used a key burst of 8 points by Josh Silpoch, including two threes and a layup, to regain the lead for good at 55-50 with 3:45 remaining.

Kendall rallied back to within one at 56-55 after a two and a three by Jacek Kwiatkowski and a two by Louis Conte but Holley answered with a key jumper by Ben Cox with 30 seconds to go and a free throw by Destin Kuyal with 16 seconds remaining to up the Hawks lead to 59-55.

Kendall’s Louis Conte drives in for a layup.

The Eagles made the finish interesting as Austin Wakefield hit a three with four seconds to slice the deficit back to one at 59-58 but the Eagles would get no closer.

Vinny Golisano then closed out the exciting win for the Hawks by making two key free throws in the final second.

Silpoch finished with a game high 19 as Kuyal and Golisano both added 14, Cox 6, Chris Mosier 5 and Lance Babcock 3 for the Hawks.

Hunter Richards scored 17 and Kwiatkowski 14 to lead the Eagles as Conte added 8, Wakefield 7, William Kludt and Jonas Rhodes 5 and Austin Werth 2.

Kendall jumped out to a big 15 point, 22-7, first quarter lead as Richards scored 11 and Kwiatkowski hit a pair of threes.

The Eagles upped the advantage to 16, 28-12, early in the second period after two baskets by Richards and one by Rhodes.

However, Holley came storming back with a big 17-2 scoring surge to close the period and cut the deficit to just one, 30-29, at the half.

Kuyal scored 7, Silpoch 6, Golisano 4, Mosier 3 and Cox 2 in the second quarter to key the Hawks rally.

Holley finally pulled even at 34-34 early in the third period on a three-point play by Golisano. The Hawks then took the lead for the first time at 36-34 on a basket by Kuyal.

Kendall though regained a 47-43 lead, by closing the third period with a 13-7 run including two baskets by Conte and threes by Rhodes, Kludt and Kwiatkowski.

The decisive fourth quarter and the win though belonged to the Hawks which outpointed the Eagles 18-11 down the stretch as Silpoch had 8 and Cox 4 to lead the way.

Holley is now 2-2 overall and Kendall 1-2.

Holley’s Vinny Golisano and Kendall’s Jonas Rhodes go up for a rebound.