By Rob Potter
LAKE HUNTINGTON — December 7, 2010 — The 2010-2011 basketball season got off to a rough start for the Sullivan West Bulldogs.
On Friday night, the visiting Ellenville Blue Devils took an early lead and never looked back on their way to defeating the Bulldogs, 74-23, in a non-league game at SW High School in Lake Huntington.
With 4:50 remaining in the first quarter, SW’s John Masten scored inside the lane to bring his team within a basket at 4-2. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, that was as close as they would be for the rest of the game.
Ellenville (2-0) responded with an 11-2 scoring run to close out the period. Johnny Paulsen scored six of those points for the Blue Devils on successful shots close to the basket.
Mark Candelaro pushed the Blue Devils’ advantage to 20 points at 26-6 midway through the second period. He stole the ball, dribbled toward the basket and banked the ball off the backboard so it could fall easily through the net.
Ellenville held SW (0-1) scoreless in the third quarter to increase its lead to 60-13.
However, the fourth period was more evenly matched. The Blue Devils outscored the Bulldogs by a 14-10 margin in those last eight minutes of play.
Ellenville had a balanced scoring attack as four players finished in double figures. Michael McGriff led the Blue Devils with a game-high 13 points. Candelaro and Paulsen each scored 12 points and Adrian Echols added 11 points.
“We have a motto: Play harder, play faster, play smarter, and that’s what you saw tonight,” Ellenville Coach Bryan Bonitz said. “I love the tempo of the game and the way the kids are pushing the ball up the floor.”
Bonitz praised several of his players for their performance during the game.
“I really liked the hustle of Frank Bauer and Andres Rojas,” he said. “Our starting guards, Johnny [Paulsen] and Adrian [Echols] played a strong game and Preston Bazemore was great off the bench.
“I am proud of all of these guys,” Bonitz added. “Everybody got in the game tonight. We go 14 or 15 [players] deep. Getting everybody in the game was good.”
Alex Manzi led the Bulldogs with six points.
SW Coach Cliff Kelly was surprised by the final score. In a scrimmage between the teams at Ellenville a couple of weeks ago, he noted that “we split the quarters with them.
“I thought we would play better,” he said. “They didn’t allow us to get into our offensive sets. It was one [shot] and done.”
Kelly noted that his team had to look for contributions from other point guards after starting point guard Michael Durkin picked up three early fouls and spent much of the first half on the bench.
“I think we’re better than we showed here and the team does, too,” Kelly said. “It’s back to the drawing board.”
The Bulldogs’ next chance to record their first win of the season is tonight. SW will play the host Livingston Manor Wildcats in a non-league game at 7 p.m.