For Davenport, offense was hard to come by on Saturday. For New York Mills, it was as easy as a pick-and-roll—literally.
Behind deadly pick-and-roll combinations and a suffocating zone defense, New York Mills crushed Davenport, 55-38, in the Class D state quarterfinal at the SRC Arena.
With its bigs setting effective high-ball screens, New York Mills could shoot over the top, drive and penetrate or continue to the wing and reset. The combination of Nick Comenale and Zach Vennaro proved to be an unstoppable pick-and-roll duo, and New York Mills coach Mike Adey says it’s because of the familiarity between the two.
“They have been very close friends for a long time,” he said. “They know what each other will do and that’s a great thing to have.”
With Comenale as the pick-and-roll ball handler and Vennaro as the screener, the Davenport defense was forced into a lose-lose situation: go under the screen and Comenale can shoot over the top—he leads the team with 58 3s this season—or go over the screen and allow Vennaro to sink into the paint and bully his way to the basket.
“Me and Zach have a lot of chemistry,” Comenale said. “There’s a lot that we can do.”
While New York Mills scored in a variety of ways, the Wildcats scored just nine first-half points.
The Marauders used a press and a 2-3 zone in the half court, giving multiple defensive looks on a single possession. Vennaro says it’s the length of the zone’s backline that makes the difference.
“It’s a major thing,” he said. “Even if you look at our guys up front. They are long.”
Before Saturday’s game, the Marauders were shooting 35 percent from 3 with 122 makes. The Wildcats held New York Mills to just two 3s on Saturday, but Adey says that’s not all his team is.
“I think we have a good inside game, too,” he said. “I think we want to be as balanced as we can. We don’t shoot 3s right off the bat.”
The lack of 3s was simply a byproduct of a dominating presence in the paint. Comenale finished with a game-high 20 points, many of which came in the lane, while Vennaro added 12. Adey says the team got a boost from the bench, too.
“We had a lot of help coming off the bench,” he said. “Ali (Hassan) played well and (Zach) Griffith had three or four really good plays.”
After turning the ball over just twice in the first half, the Marauders turned it over five times in the third quarter. Adey says the second-half struggles are just part of the game.
“We played really well in the first half and we were down a little bit in the second half and that’s just part of it,” he said. “Luckily we were able to call a timeout and we picked it up.”
The Wildcats were never able to pick it up after a tough first half that saw just nine total points and 10 turnovers. Davenport head coach Lee Fisher says his team was just outmatched in a variety of areas.
“That’s just not our style [the press],” he said. “They have a very good team. They have size. They have shooters. What more can you have?”
Fisher added New York Mills’ ability to score—the Marauders led at halftime, 34-9—was just too much for his Wildcats to handle.
“We always play hard on defense,” he said, “but they had to shoot at least 60 percent.”
With the win, New York Mills advances to face Moriah in the Final Four at Glens Falls on Friday. Moriah defeated Madrid-Waddington, 51-41, on Saturday.