By: Dylan O'Loughlin
WHEATLAND, N.Y. --- The No. 3 Wheatland-Chili Wildcats tipped off its road to a sectional title Friday night, playing host to the No. 6 Arkport-Canaseraga Wolves. After allowing 14 points in the first quarter, Wheatland-Chili held the Wolves to just 22 points the rest of the way to advance to the semifinals with a 50-36 victory.
"You got to have some accountability, and you got to have some responsibility on defense," Wheatland-Chili head coach Matthew Cook said. "A lot of times you'll find guys' mentality where he'll say, 'Well my guy didn't score so it's a successful possession,' absolutely not. If they don't score and we end that possession with a rebound or a turnover, that's a successful defensive possession. They got to their spots way too many times in that first half. We really locked it down in the second half and that second quarter, that's what really helped us out."
The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle. Four of the six lead changes on the night happened in the opening eight minutes. After the Wildcats pulled out to an 11-6 lead, Wolves sophomore guard Caden Carey tallied six points to take the lead with about 10 seconds left in the quarter. The frame ended with a buzzer-beater as Section V leading active scorer and all-time leading scorer in Wildcats history senior Leighton Williams Jr. knocked down a deep triple to take a two-point lead. The senior netted 11 of Wheatland-Chili's 16 first-quarter points.
"I felt like I got in my groove, but in all honesty, I was not comfortable," Williams said. "The game's not over in a sectional game. The atmosphere, the environment, the game's never over. You got to push to the end all the way to triple zero."
That's the mindset the Wildcats had the rest of the way.
In the second quarter, Wheatland-Chili held the Wolves to just six points, all from Carey. Great defense turned into more scoring opportunities and the Wildcats capitalized.
Leading the way in the frame was senior guard Jackson Semmel. The senior poured in seven of his 14 points in the eight minutes while three fellow Wildcats put points on the board as well. Wheatland-Chili outscored Arkport-Canaseraga 13-4 in the quarter to open up a nine-point halftime lead.
"His performance was big tonight," Williams said. "In all honesty, without him we do not win tonight, so I'm grateful for his presence on our team."
For Semmel, it comes easy when you have one of the best players in Section V on your squad.
"In the first quarter with Leighton getting all the points, they prioritized them defensively," Semmel said. "It just led to me being open and I had to take advantage of my opportunities."
The defensive intensity only picked up in the second half. Full-court pressure was applied from the Wildcats and proved to be too much for Arkport-Canaseraga as the Wolves tallied just five points in the third quarter. To go along with great defense, Williams took over again as the senior went on to score eight of the Wildcats 11 points in the frame. The St. John Fisher commit finished with a game-high 23 points for 1,822 points and counting on his career.
In the fourth quarter neither team could buy a bucket. Only three field goals were made combined from each team as the Wolves outscored Wheatland-Chili 9-7 in the frame, but it was too little too late.
To go along with Williams and Semmel, A'nari Trotter connected on a triple and a floater for five points while Kiev Elzey picked up four points. Junior Kamara recorded two points while seventh grader Tremane Mcnair-Scales scored his first varsity point. It's the eighth time this season where the Wildcats held its opponent to under 40 points.
Wheatland-Chili knows that the key to the Class C3 sectional title is defense. It will be a tall task as next up on the bracket for the Wildcats is No. 2 South Seneca (19-2).
"C3 is a loaded bracket this year, but defense; Defense I believe travels, so we have to play some defense," Cook said. "We can have nice scoring from the free-throw line, the three-point line, on our layups, but it won't matter if you play defense and that's what showed up tonight. Only scored 50 points, but when you give up only 36, you win a lot of games."
For Arkport-Canaseraga, Carey led the way with 17 points while senior Alex Vilkhu added six points. Junior Micah Marvin followed with four points while senior Devin Moran knocked down a three.
The Wildcats take on South Seneca at a neutral site Monday, March 3 in the class C3 semifinals. Tip-off time is still to be determined.
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