H.S. Boys Basketball: St. Francis, Hoak get chance at second upset of St. Joe’s

Frontier, Hamburg, Lake Shore, Eden and N. Collins begin Section VI playoffs

For Ed Hoak, there is nothing quite like beating St. Joe’s on the hardwood.

The 1968 graduate of St. Francis has watched as all four of his sons struggled to accomplish that feat during the 1990s and mid 2000s, then dealt with it himself as the varsity head coach the past five seasons.

So it couldn’t be more special than to have his team send him off in his final regular season game as head coach with a 51-50 win at St. Joe’s on Feb. 16. The win was also one of the bigger upsets of the Western New York season with St. Francis improving to 3-8 in Monsignor Martin play and top-ranked large school St. Joe’s falling for the first time in league action.

While Hoak and his Red Raiders teams have beaten the Marauders twice at home over the past four years, the win at St. Joe’s was the program’s first since 2000 when now assistant Brian Ferris was a member of the varsity.

“You’re talking about years of frustration,” Hoak said. “Watching all four of my kids (Ed, a 1993 graduate; Matt, Class of ‘97; Kevin, a 1999 graduate; and Chris, Class of ‘07) never win there was tough. They were so close at times...To win there for the last time with my team was surreal. It’s definitely a tough place to play.”

St. Francis won’t have much time to sit around and celebrate, though. The Red Raiders will be right back at St. Joe’s on Saturday (Feb. 25) trying to pull off the same feat in the Monsignor Martin Manhattan Cup quarterfinals. The Marauders, who fell to the tournament’s second seed after losing to Canisius two days later, will host No. 7 St. Francis at noon.

“I expect St. Joe’s to be much more focused,” Hoak said Monday (Feb. 20). “Our kids are definitely feeling good about themselves. I wish the game was tomorrow and we didn’t have to wait. I told them to embrace the opportunity. We watched the game film and we did a lot of good things.”

Some of the most important of those good things was drawing three charges and sinking 10 of 13 free throws. St. Francis got out to a 26-22 lead at halftime and then overcame an eight-point deficit early in the fourth quarter.

“Taking those charges was huge. If we can do that again and make some key shots than maybe we can pull this off again,” Hoak said.

Senior guard Tyler Wagner finished off the victory sinking both of his free throws with 1.1 seconds remaining in the game. After St. Joe’s missed both free throws at the other end, St. Francis came out of a timeout with six seconds left and found Wagner, who got the foul call after contact was made a few times, according to Hoak. Wagner finished with 11 points.

St. Joe’s actually missed its final four free throws of the game, losing a chance to extend its 50-49 lead. With 32 seconds remaining, the Marauders missed the front end of a one-and-one, then after a St. Francis turnover, returned to the charity stripe but again missed the first of a one-on-one opportunity. St. Joe’s got that rebound but then missed twice at the free throw line, setting up a final opportunity for the Red Raiders down by only one.

“I was thinking we were going to need a three-point play but they missed both and we took it up to half court and called our last timeout,” Hoak recounted.

Junior guard Cory Cullen finished with a team-high 17 points, while senior forward Miles Bartholomew added 14 and was the main defender in a double team of Division I bound St. Joe’s forward Reggie Agebko, who finished with 17 points, scoring only two of those in the first half. St. Francis sophomore forward Dave Kennedy added 10 rebounds in the win.

The Red Raiders seem to be rounding into shape in the season’s stretch run after suffering early-season blows in losing two starters, including their leading scorer, to season-ending injuries. St. Francis goes into the playoffs at 11-13 overall.

“It seems like we’ve been up on St. Joe’s before and then when they start coming back you’re saying to yourself, ‘here we go again,” Hoak said. “Losing those guys at the beginning of the year was a big blow, but we’ve gotten used to playing without them and you can see that in our play.”

The Manhattan Cup continues Monday, Feb. 27 with semifinals at 6 and 7:45 p.m. and two days later with the final at Canisius College.

Around Section VI playoffs

Frontier enters the Section VI playoffs the hottest team among the locals. The Falcons sport a 15-3 record after finishing the season winning its ninth straight, beating crosstown rival Hamburg, 52-29, on Feb. 17.

Senior forwards Matt Taylor, Derek Lee and Alex Warren led the way for Frontier. Taylor finished with 15 points; Lee added 14 points and 10 rebounds; and Warren notched 12 points and 10 rebounds. Hamburg was led by 17 points from senior guard Nick Benningfield.

The Falcons, who will be a four seed in Class AA, finished second in ECIC Division II at 10-2, only a game behind Jamestown. Frontier will host a quarterfinal on Friday, Feb. 24 in trying to get back to Buffalo State for the third time in five seasons. There, the Falcons could potentially meet top-seeded Jamestown, who they upset 52-51 on Feb. 9. Frontier’s last loss this season was to Jamestown 87-41 on Jan. 10.

Hamburg will host its first playoff game in four seasons after a 9-9 campaign which has it seeded sixth in Class A-1. If the Bulldogs defeat the NFL’s Grand Island, the 11th seed, they’ll play at No. 3 Williamsville East, ECIC II co-champions (with Williamsville South), on Feb. 24. Also in Class A-1, No. 8 Lake Shore hosted a pre-quarterfinal on Feb. 22 with a win taking the 5-13 Eagles to top-seeded McKinley two days later. The Eagles did finish their season winning three of five games.

No. 12 Eden hosted 13th-seed Springville on Feb. 21 in a Class B-1 play-in game. The Raiders just beat Springville 47-32 on Feb. 13 in non-division action for one of its two wins this season. In Class D, sixth-seeded North Collins, which finished 10-8, will be tested right away in a quarterfinal at No. 3 Clymer.