Gryphons advance to consolation final
It’s all about depth for the Greater Fort Erie Gryphons.
The Gryphons dressed 11 players for their matchup versus the Grimsby Eagles Friday and the timing was perfect.
Seven players hit the scoresheet as the Gryphons defeated the Eagles 65-41 in a consolation semifinal game at the 64th Annual Welland Tribune Basketball Tournament.
The Gryphons take on the Lakeshore Catholic Gators Saturday at 5:30 p.m. for the consolation crown.
“It’s massive,” Fort Erie coach Dave Adamek said of his teams’s deep bench. “We’ve been in so many tight games in our league and guys haven’t been able to get in as much.
“It was awesome we could get in a game like that today. It was really nice to get everybody in like that.”
The Gryphons receive the bulk of their scoring from Ethan Van Natter, Austin Ladouceur and Micah Stewart, so Adamek doesn’t necessarily need offence from his depth players.
“Defence and rebounding,” Adamek identified as key areas of contribution for the bench players. “I told a couple of them I don’t even care if you score all year. We need rebounding from you and you have to own it under the net and set hard screens and communicate.”
Adamek said the players have accepted his philosophy, which is key.
“We have to be good teammates. We all have to be working together,” he said. “We’re buying into it. We all have to work together and we are.”
One player who has given Adamek quality minutes off the bench is Grade 11 guard/forward Zachary Tyrell.
“He started as our No. 6 or No. 7 guy and last year on the junior team, he was probably number nine or 10,” Adamek said. “He has been playing fantastic the last month.
“Initially, Zach was getting minutes as the sixth guy and the one day someone was sick and Zach filled in and hasn’t looked back.”
Tyrell does a little bit of everything.
“He scores as needed and is the guy setting the screens a lot of the time. He’s not the biggest but he rebounds so hard.”
Tyrell is thrilled how he has been able to work his way into more playing time.
“It’s been great,” he said. “I love playing in the starting lineup. I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help the team — defence, scoring, whatever.
“I guess the hard work has paid off.”
Tyrell, who plays club ball for the Port Colborne Hornets, admits it’s hard to watch from the bench.
“It’s easy for sure but you just try and keep that good attitude and play as hard as you can.”
While the Gryphons had players to spare, the Eagles have just nine players on their roster and dressed only six. To make matters worse, Ben Tschovsky was injured in the third quarter forcing the remaining five players to finish the game.
“I run them all the time,” Grimsby coach Tom Dykstra said. “I tell them they’re going to be either a good team or a fit team. Somedays we’re both but some days we have our off days.”
Mountainview Homes Stars of the Game: Fort Erie’s Zachary Tyrell with three points off the bench and Grimsby’s Jake Barker with 19 points.
Fort Erie Gryphons: Tyrell 3; Ethan VanNatter 23; Novontay Brown 11; Micah Stewart 10; Austin Ladouceur 8; Avery Steinback-Parker 7; Kiernan Connelly 4.
Grimsby Eagles: Barker 19; Nick Pasaluko 10; Corey Stewart 4; Adrian Scocchia 3; Ben Tschovsky 3.
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