By Rob Potter
DOWNSVILLE — January 5, 2010 — After trailing by as many as nine points, The Family School Falcons rallied in the third and fourth quarters to register a 46-33 victory over the Roscoe Blue Devils last Tuesday evening in the consolation game of the 22nd annual Downsville Central School Holiday Basketball Tournament.
Just 15 seconds into the third quarter, Roscoe’s Nathan Brock made a 3-point shot to extend his team’s lead to 26-17.
But The Family School (2-6) outscored the Blue Devils by a 16-3 margin for the remainder of the period.
At the 3:37 mark, Falcons’ forward Evan Hesekiel stole the ball near midcourt and drove to the basket for a layup while being fouled. The layup was good and evened the score at 26-26.
Following a timeout, Hesekiel made his free throw to give The Family School its first lead since early in the opening quarter.
The Falcons stretched their advantage to 33-26 before Brock made another 3-pointer to bring the Blue Devils to within four points with 1:50 remaining in the period.
Following Brock’s successful shot from beyond the 19-foot, 9-inch mark, neither team could manage a basket before the quarter concluded and The Family School held a 33-29 advantage entering the fourth period.
The Family School outscored Roscoe by a 13-4 margin in the final quarter on its way to victory.
The Falcons’ advantage reached double digits at 41-31 when junior point guard Kevin Gary made a jump shot with 1:40 to go.
Jens Jensen Reinke and Gary each scored 13 points to lead the Falcons’ offense, while Hesekiel finished with nine points.
“It was a good win for us,” Family School Coach Ted Towsley said. “Anytime you can beat [Roscoe Coach] Fred Ahart and his team, it’s a good thing.”
Towsley noted that the keys to the Falcons’ victory included getting better shots at the basket in the second half and using their press defense to cause turnovers and scoring opportunities.
“We only had seven guys tonight, but they all stepped up and played well,” Towsley said. “In particular, Kevin Gary did a great job at point guard and Jason Dabrowski had a solid game on defense and the boards. Jason had 10 rebounds in the first half alone.”
Brock led Roscoe (1-6) with 13 points and junior guard Adam Hendrix added nine points.
“Give credit to The Family School, they really took control of the boards in the second half,” Ahart said. “The Family School played well and Ted [Towsley] does a great job of coaching his players.”
Ahart noted that his players “did a great job of competing.
“We’ll keep improving,” he added.