Senior guard Zach Gilebarto drilled his first 10 shots from the field – including six three-pointers – on his way to 38 points to power the host Batavia Blue Devils to a 70-58 victory over Palmyra-Macedon in a Section V Class B1 boys’ basketball tournament semifinal game that was closer than the final score indicates.
Batavia’s win sets up a matchup of 14-0 teams at 6 p.m. Friday, with the top-seeded Blue Devils hosting second-seeded Wayne for the title. Wayne defeated No. 3 Livonia, 59-50, in the other semifinal contest tonight.
Blue Devils Head Coach Buddy Brasky had high praise for Gilebarto's accomplishment.
"I’ve been varsity coach here for 32 years and that goes up there as one of the best shooting performances that I’ve ever witnessed," he said. "I can think of Jeff Redband when he scored 52 against Irondequoit and Jalen Smith had one of those at Pittsford Mendon where he scored 35. But I haven’t witnessed a shooting performance like that in a long, long time."
Brasky said Gilebarto, who made 14 of his 20 shots in the game, is the team's leader on and off the court.
"He's been our ‘go to’ guy all year. He’s a hard worker -- a gym rat -- and he deserves everything that he gets," he said.
With Gilebarto on target from the outside and senior forward/center Stone Siverling finding success near the basket, Batavia took a 16-11 lead after the first quarter. Gilebarto was 3-for-3 from deep while Siverling hit a pair of buckets inside in the period.
Gilebarto was a one-man show in the second quarter, connecting on three more three-pointers and three other shots for 15 of the Blue Devils’ 17 points. He scored 26 points in the half on 9-for-9 shooting.
Despite Gilebarto’s heroics, the Red Raiders hung in there and trailed by only four at 33-29 at halftime behind junior guard Paul Goodness’ 11 points, including three three-point shots, and sophomore forward Sage Hunter’s 10 points.
The third quarter proved to be an exciting back-and-forth affair with Siverling, Gilebarto and senior guard Faraz Idrees leading the way for Batavia while sophomore guard/forward Ian Goodness kept Pal-Mac in the game with four three-point shots.
Two of those long distance baskets by Goodness offset another three-pointer by Gilebarto to knot the score at 37-37. Siverling then took over, hitting a three-pointer, grabbing an offensive rebound and passing to Alex Hale for a layup, swishing a left-handed hook shot and scoring on a drive to the hoop to put Batavia up 46-40.
Ian Goodness connected again from deep, pulling the Red Raiders within 46-45 with 55 seconds left in the quarter before Idrees drained a corner “3” to make it 49-45. After Paul Goodness scored inside, Gilebarto beat the buzzer with his eighth three-point shot of the game to make it 52-47 entering the final period.
Batavia’s defense was the story in the fourth quarter as it held Pal-Mac to 11 points – only three in the final five minutes.
Another three-pointer from the right corner by Idrees gave the Blue Devils their biggest lead at 55-47, but a couple more three-point shots by Paul Goodness narrowed the gap to 59-55.
From there, Batavia forced a couple turnovers and rebounded three straight missed shots before Gilebarto hit a two-pointer from the side to make it 63-55 with 2:30 to play. Idrees then took a charge on the defensive end – the fourth time he got in position for an offensive foul – before Gilebarto hit a running shot in the lane at the 1:00 mark to secure the victory.
"They did a good job breaking down our defense, getting a lot of ball reversals and handoffs and screens, and then number zero (Ian Goodness) caught fire in the third quarter to keep them in the game," Brasky said.
"We went zone for three to four minutes to try to change it up on them and I thought that stymied them for a little bit. Then we switched back to our man-to-man early in the fourth and our defense really shut them down the rest of the way."
When it was mentioned that Idrees was the "unsung hero," Brasky wholeheartedly agreed.
"For sure, he drew four charges and he hit two big threes in the second half while they were making runs at us. He was the unsung hero of the game – he took four charges and that was a key," he said.
Brasky also credited Siverling for his play when Pal-Mac stepped up its defense on Gilebarto.
"We knew they were going to start to try and take Gilebarto away so we went inside with some of our sets to get Stone going and he produced, for sure," he said.
Siverling finished with 20 points.
For Pal-Mac, 9-5, Paul Goodness tallied 24, Ian Goodness 14 and Hunter 10.
Next up for the Blue Devils are the Wayne Eagles, described by Brasky as a "solid all-around team" that plays the Syracuse 2-3 zone.
"They’ve got length on their back line so it makes it very hard to find openings in their zone; they play it very well," he said. "And they’ve got two dynamic guards who both average 20-plus per game – (junior Mason) Blankenberg, number 25, and (senior Tyler) Reynolds, number 15. They’re just a solid all-around team so it should be a good one."
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Photos by Steve Ognibene.
Photo at top: Zach Gilebarto launches one of his eight successful three-point attempts.
Stone Siverling soars high to grab a rebound as Gilebarto and Pal-Mac's Robert Kinslow battle on the boards.
Alex Hale drives to the hoop.
The winning Blue Devils celebrate, knowing they're one win away from a sectional crown.
Zach Gilebarto's father, Phil, capturing some digital memories of his son's terrific night.
