Shooting Stars

In front of fellow students, faculty and family, the Trojans were able to secure the 39-23 victory at the Southwestern Central School Gym.

“This was our first home game, so it was exciting,” Southwestern head coach Aaron Emley said. “We got the video board going for them and everything. I think they were appreciative to have so many of their teachers and family be able to come, so it was a lot of fun.”

Prior to the game each lineup was announced and the Southwestern players were featured on the video board.

Announcing continued into the contest when baskets were made and several Trojans heard their names called. Southwestern jumped out to the early lead and was up 10-5 by the end of the first quarter.

Jamestown’s Brendan Brightman dribbles between Southwestern defenders Isaiah Caceres, left, and Jade Jones.
P-J photo by Christian Storms

“It’s about enjoying each other’s company and learning to be better teammates,” Emley said about the goals of his team. “As far as gameplay, we are working on that passing, less dribbling and more passing. Just making sure that if we can get everybody to score in a game, that would be the ultimate goal.”

Both teams displayed their basketball skills and worked to spread the ball around as a team, but it was the Trojans seeing buckets fall more frequently in the first half.

“We talk about a total team game,” Emley stated. “You hear us say a lot ‘let’s try to get two passes’ or try to get three so that we’re making sure everybody is touching it or involved; that’s the biggest thing.”

When either team scored, the crowd cheered and several of the athletes fed off the excitement of the fans.

“A lot of the kids know each other,” Jamestown head coach Karen Drake said. “We see them and play them each season in some different unified sports. It’s nice camaraderie amongst those schools and really a lot of fun.”

Southwestern’s Easton Rapp makes a pass to a teammate in Monday’s unified basketball game against Jamestown at Southwestern Central School.
P-J photo by Christian Storms

The Red & Green came out stronger in the second half, nearly doubling their points in the third quarter. Charleigh Saegar, Brendan Brightman, Jampielle Gonzalez, Gavin Spitz, Antoine Hamson, Jaymin Carlson and Alex DeJesus all scored baskets for Jamestown in the contest.

“It was nice, Southwestern has a very good team,” Drake added. “It was a good challenge for us. I thought that we made some good adjustments in the second half. We talked a lot about our defense, we needed to get back and find the person we’re guarding. I felt like we did that and closed the gap a little bit, not enough to secure the win, but they’re a good team and it’s just nice.”

Despite the offensive uptick in the second half, the Southwestern lead was too much to overcome for the Red & Green. Southwestern scored 12 more points in the third quarter and 6 points in the fourth to claim the victory.

“Obviously the kids talk about that and care about that,” Emley said about winning the game. “That’s not the main priority, but it always feels good if you get a win on top of it and can play good basketball.”

The main focus was not on winning the game, but several of the Trojans leaped with joy after securing the win. Southwestern sophomore Joey Reyes tossed his jersey into the air in celebration as teammate Ernie Confer caught it.

“I get a lot of enjoyment coaching this,” Emley added. “It’s a lot of fun as you can see and I hope it continues to grow in the area.”

Southwestern’s Jayden Raynor, Chase Decker, Blaine Dunn, Joey Reyes, Josiah Hartmann, Jade Jones, Shaylynn Lane, Ernie Confer, Easton Rapp, Kaydance Barton, Isaiah Caceres, Summer Hartmann, Josef Hartmann, Jose Martinez and Kenji Walters left as winners. They will get a chance to do that again Friday when they host Pine Valley.

Jamestown has a busy week with two more chances to grab a win when it travels to Allegany-Limestone on Wednesday and hosts Salamanca on Friday. Searching for that win will be Saegar, Brightman, Gonzalez, Robert Shane, Gavin Spitz, Julian Gordon, Alexis Gonzalez, Hamson, Carlson, Kaden Secrest, DeJesus, Sara Spitz and Skylar McGough.

“So far we’re 1-1 which is decent,” Drake said about the season. “I think that we were missing a couple of our players tonight, their lack of presence was felt. We are continuing to do better, I see some more people understanding some concepts of the game and we talked a lot about teamwork. Not just trying to come down and shoot, so that was good. We have a really nice group of kids, everyone has good sportsmanship, rooting for each other and we’ll keep building on that.”