Mustangs rally late to nip Trojans

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 15 December 2022 at 9:12 pm

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Cayden Lilleby tries for a scoop shot as Josh Prude defends for West Seneca East during the Mustangs win over the visiting Trojans this evening.

Putting together a clutch late scoring spurt, Medina nipped visiting West Seneca East 55-54 in a non league boys basketball game this evening.

Trailing by five, 52-47, Medina rallied with an 8-2 scoring run to close the game and snap a brief season opening two game losing streak.

A layup by Aiden Pitts followed by a layup off a steal and a rebound bucket, both by Jerrell Nealy, pulled Medina to within one at 54-53 with 56 seconds to go.

Nealy then scored what proved to be the game winning basket on a jumper with 17 seconds remaining for a 55-54 Medina lead.

The Mustangs defense then came up huge holding the Trojans without a shot over the final seconds to preserve the narrow victory.

Nealy finished with a game high 22 points as Cayden Lilleby added 11, Aiden Pitts 9, Justin Pitts 7, Roosevelt Mitchell 4 and Cole Callard 2.

Daniel Gospodarski and Devin Madding both scored 15 and Brian Kabel 12 for the Trojans.

Medina grabbed a 14-11 first period lead by closing with a 7-0 run on two baskets by Mitchell followed by a three by Justin Pitts.

The Trojans answered with an 18-12 scoring edge in the second period to grab a 29-26 lead at the half and maintained a 44-39 advantage at the three-quarter mark.

However, the Mustangs rallied with a 16-10 scoring edge in the final period, including 8 by Nealy, to claim the win.

Medina next hosts Holley at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in another non league contest.