Box Score Buffalo, NY – The D'Youville Men's Basketball Team closed out their regular season with a second straight win, defeating the Franciscan Barons Saturday afternoon by the final score of 76-58.
Before the game, senior Julian Reed (Cheektowaga, NY/Union-Endicott) was honored for all of his hard work and dedication to the D'Youville basketball program over his 4 year career by Head Coach Earl Schunk.
Reed came out of the gate on his senior night showing that he wasn't ready to give up playing just quite yet, scoring the first two baskets of the game for the Spartans, including a ferocious put-back dunk. Two Bayani Salinas (Antioch, CA/Antioch) free throws were followed up by another basket from Reed, giving the team an 8-3 lead just over 2 minutes into the game. For the next 5 minutes of the game, D'Youville's offense would go cold, only scoring 1 point thanks to a Reed made free throw, giving the Barons the opportunity to take the lead.
Back-to-back baskets from Zach Blask (Portville, NY/Portville) would give the Spartans some life. Steve Kunelius (Oswego, NY/Oswego) drilled a three-pointer, followed by another layup from Blask to give D'Youville ownership of the lead once again with the score 18-16. A third freshman stepped up for the squad with Adam Ibrahim (New Port Richey, FL/Ridgewood) nailing a corner three to extend the Spartan lead. With 6:28 remaining in the half, Franciscan tied the game, but 4 straight points from Matt Insley (Wellsville, NY/Wellsville) put D'Youville back up. A Conor Gallivan (Elma, NY/Iroquious) steal and behind the back pass to Insley dazzled the crowd and extend the Spartan lead to 8. In the final 4 minutes, Jon Gemerek (Cheektowaga, NY/Depew) scored 7 straight points coupled with another Kunelius three to send D'Youville into the half up over the Barons by the score of 39-29.
D'Youville opened up the second half with the mentality to put the game out of reach, and that they did. Salinas hit a three-pointer followed by a three-pointer from the big man, Julian Reed, before the Barons could put a point on the board. D'Youville's ability to make free throws came in clutch as the team hit 5 in a row to keep their hold over the game. A Nate Sweetman (Johnstown, NY/Johnstown) made layup sent D'Youville up by 19 with 11:46 left in the game.
Three three-pointers were scored by the Spartans, including 2 from Kunelius and one from Marcus Clarke (Olean, NY/Archbishop Walsh Academy) were scored over the next minute to extend the team's lead. For about the next 3 minutes, no points would be scored between the two teams until yet another three-pointer was sunk by Insley. With 3:20 left in the game, Reed was taken out to a rousing applause from the crowd, thanking him for all he's done for the program in his last home game. James Cortez (Bitburg, Germany/Bitburg) added the icing on the cake to the evening for D'Youville, scoring a layup in the final 3 minutes. The Spartans would close out the game by the final score of 76-58 in their last game of the regular season before heading to the postseason and AMCC playoffs.
"I was really pleased with how well we came out defensively today," said fourth year Head Coach Earl Schunk. "We wanted to treat this like a playoff game and I think the guys, for the most part, had that playoff intensity."
On his night, Julian Reed was a dominating presence on both ends of the court. Leading the team with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 6 blocks, Reed said farewell to the College Center Gym in memorable fashion. Jon Gemerek once again had a stellar all-around game for the Spartans, scoring 11 points, grabbing 6 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists, a team high. Steve Kunelius played a big role for the team, scoring a team high 12 points off the bench, all three-pointers.
Freshmen Zach Blask and Bayani Salinas had 8 and 5 points themselves, with Blask recording a team high 5 points off the bench. Adam Ibrahim had 3 points and 2 assists; with Conor Gallivan recording a team high 3 steals to go with his 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Matt Insley had 9 points and 5 rebounds. Nate Sweetman had 5 points.
Marcus Clarke had 3 points with James Cortez adding 2. Gene Smith (Buffalo, NY/CSAT) and Anthony Malone (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) both saw minutes for the Spartans as well.
"We had a great defensive stretch midway through the game that turned the game in our favor," said Schunk. "Conor (Gallivan) especially stepped up."
Schunk delivered a heart-felt speech about his 6'8" center before the game, and was proud of the senior and the way he played in his final home game. "I was really pleased with Julian (Reed) today. He stepped up and played great in what was an emotional game for him."
The Spartans have a current 2-game winning streak with a combined margin of victory of 34. Coach Schunk looks to bring their current success into their playoff game this coming Tuesday. "We look forward to continuing our season in the playoffs."
The six D'Youville Spartans will head to third Pitt.-Greensburg on Tuesday, February 24th to play the Bobcats at 8pm as part of the first round of the AMCC Playoffs. D'Youville split the season series against the Bobcats losing to them the first time at home 87-77, but defeating Bobcats in Greensburg exactly one month prior to Tuesday's game by the final score of 96-80.
