BUFFALO — With his school’s first ever trip to the state final four on the line, Andy Herrick made the kind of shot young basketball players dream of.
Herrick, a junior starter for the Salamanca boys basketball team, made a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final 30 seconds of Saturday’s Class C Far West Regional on Saturday. It was the last spark of offense the Warriors needed to get past Section 5 champion Avon in a 61-59 victory.
Salamanca held a lead for most of the afternoon, emerging from a back-and-forth first quarter with a 22-21 lead and stretching it out to 40-33 at halftime and 54-41 after the third. But Avon crawled back in the fourth with a 18-4 run to finally take its first lead since the early stages with 1:29 remaining. And that set up Herrick's game-winner.
After the teams traded turnovers, Salamanca took a timeout with 49.8 seconds remaining down one. Sophomore Lucus Brown had the hot hand most of the afternoon for the Warriors, scoring 24 points in the first half and 30 total. But facing a double-team well beyond the 3-point line, Brown passed the ball off to point guard Hayden Hoag, who quickly fired a pass to Herrick, right on his hands and out for a clean look at a triple. Without hesitation, Herrick launched the shot of his career and Salamanca’s season to date. Bang.
Salamanca coach Adam Bennett beamed about Herrick afterward. The 6-foot-3 forward was already an inspiration to many in the Salamanca community for his lifelong perseverance through cystic fibrosis.
“For Andy Herrick to step up and hit that shot, I don't think you could write a better movie script than that,” Bennett said. “The kid, with all that he's suffered through and he never complains and all he's ever dreamt about is moments like these. He steps up and hunts down that shot to go to Glens Falls. It brings tears to your eyes.”
After a 13-point lead disappeared in seven minutes, the Warriors were back in control with 30 seconds left. But Salamanca needed two defensive stops to clinch the victory from there. It got the first on a traveling call against the Braves with 11.7 seconds remaining, but a missed Salamanca free throw on the front end of the bonus kept Avon within two points.
The Braves dribbled across halfcourt and took a timeout with 2.4 seconds left for their last chance at a tying or winning basket. But Warriors senior Cole Hedlund deflected the inbound pass, intended for Avon forward Zach Colvin, causing a loose ball scramble that ticked away the precious final seconds before Avon could get a shot off.
“We figured it was going to go to 15 (Colvin). We didn't anticipate him coming out on the wing to get it,” Bennett said. “Our biggest thing, being up by two, was we didn't want give up 3's, so we were going to overplay anything on the perimeter, if they got by us we'll take our chances and help and Cole did a great job of jumping the ball and getting his hands on it, making a stop that we need to.
"We try to build our program on defense and (in) the fourth quarter we struggled keeping them in front, but we made the play that we needed to make when it counted the most.”
Brown went 11-for-23 from the field, including 5-of-11 3-pointers. He also grabbed six rebounds in his second consecutive 30-point playoff game, following up 32 in the sectional championship against Holland.
“That's Lucus,” Bennett said. “No environment's too big … he’s a special kid, he's a special player. I love to see his confidence. He's a great teammate. He gets other guys involved too, which is what I love. With the way he shot in the beginning, he had a right to take 50 shots tonight. He got other guys involved and he's committed to playing the best offense and being the best teammate that he can. He's just a special player.”
Herrick finished with 15 points and two blocks. Hayden Hoag handed out 12 assists and took three steals while R.J. McLarney grabbed six rebounds.
Colvin led Avon (22-4) with 31 points, making 10 field goals and going a perfect 10-of-10 at the free throw line.
After making the biggest shot of the game, Herrick’s thoughts turned to crediting his teammate. Brown was the first option on Salamanca’s after-timeout possession, but made the unselfish play to find an open man with the game on the line.
“The play was for Lucus,” Herrick said. “One thing that Coach said is, if he was a selfish player, he would have taken that shot contested, three guys in his face or whatever. But he's such an unselfish player and he knows that he can trust his teammates, he got it to me and (it was) just confidence. I'm glad I stepped up and knocked it down, but I give the credit to Lucus on that one because he found me.”
Brown noted, ”I just believed in him. I was talking to him the whole game like, ‘confidence, confidence, confidence.’ He stepped up and shot it.”
Brown also pointed to a big 3-pointer by Harley Hoag amid Avon’s run, which put the lead back up to 58-49 with under six minutes to play.
Salamanca (17-7) will now play a Class C semifinal at the Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls. The Warriors will face the winner of Sunday’s regional between Moriah (Section 7) and Stillwater (Section 2) on Friday at 2:45 p.m.
These Warriors have already accomplished so many practically unheard of things for this program. They made their first sectional final since 2001, won their first sectional title since 1968 and made their first regional in program history. Now they will compete for a state title in Glens Falls for the first time.
“We've been together since we were kids and we've been working since we were kids,” Herrick said. “So we've got that chemistry, our coaches push us every day to be the best we can and it gives us a lot of confidence in what we can do.”
Brown added, “They’re the best coaches ever. We wouldn't be here if we didn't have them.”
On Friday, Salamanca got a visit from a coach who knows regionals and trips to Glens Falls as well as anyone in the area: legendary former Olean coach Jeff Anastasia. Anastasia’s words rang true after the game.
“His advice was just to take another step, to play defense, to rebound, to enjoy this ride and take another step,” Bennett said. “He challenged our guys whether you score or don't, what are you going to do in the game to make an impact? I thought we had multiple guys who did that, maybe didn't score a ton ... but look at Cole, Cole makes that huge play down the stretch. He's the greatest of all time to do it and I'd like to think his message helped yesterday.”
AT BUFFALO
Avon (59)
Browne 3 1-2 7, M. Rowland 2 0-0 6, Hartke 1 1-2 4, Volpe 1 0-0 2, A. Rowland 4 1-1 9, Colvin 10 10-10 31. Totals: 20 13-15 59.
Salamanca (61)
Hedlund 1 0-2 2, Brown 11 3-4 30, Har. Hoag 3 0-0 7, A. Herrick 5 2-4 15, McLarney 3 0-0 7. Totals: 23 5-11 61.
Avon 21 33 41 59
Salamanca 22 40 54 61
Three-point goals: Avon 3 (M. Rowland 2, Hartke); Sala. 10 (Brown 5, A. Herrick 3, Har. Hoag, McLarney). Total fouls: Avon 13, Sala. 17. Fouled out: None.
