Hornell Basketball: Girls GALLERY, Boys WIN!!

Red Raiders win, “PJ was an absolute beast!” Hornell – 71, Haverling – 60

From Hornell High School Athletics, GALLERY by JC’s Photography

The Hornell Red Raiders improve to 12-7 and are currently seeded #4 in Section V Class B1 action with their 71 – 60 win over the Haverling Rams Monday night in Bath.

Coach Scholes commented on his team’s performance, “PJ was an absolute beast tonight. He just made the right play all night. The middle of the floor is where he did most of his work. They played some 1-2-2 and extended the point, and PJ just ate off high post cuts. Once he catches it there, he’s tough to stop. He has great touch and is a really good finisher from that area of the floor.” PJ Picco had a season high 30 points and added 6 rebounds and 6 assists in the win.

Austyn Gollnitz also grabbed 6 rebounds and had 7 points. Scholes continued, “I thought we did a good job containing (Jacob) Hagadone. Austyn got the assignment and did a really nice job of not giving him the 3 and battling him in the post. AG is very quietly putting together a great 2nd half of the year! I’m seeing a kid that is really starting to understand who he is and how he can be productive. He’s doing it in practice, and we are seeing it translate. I’m just so proud of him!!

“Overall, I was happy with our effort. We missed some rotations defensively and were a half-second slow a bunch of times, but those are things I hope we can fix.” Demayne Dixon scored 13 points in the win. Dixon, Marco Picco (9 points), & Aaron McInerney (7 points) each had 3 steals.

Eight players scored for the Rams. Jacob Hagadone and Lawrence Duncan led their team with 14 apiece.

The Red Raiders are the #1 seed in LCAA D1 with a 6-0 league record. They travel to Livonia for their final regular season game against the Bulldogs Wednesday night. Livonia is the #2 seed (5-2) in LCAA D1. Hornell beat Livonia 78-47 in their first matchup this season.

“We are a team that I still believe can play our best basketball at the end of this year,” said Scholes. “We are still growing and are figuring out some stuff as we go. I’m hoping that we can put together a run here at the end of the year, I know we have enough talent. It’s going to take everybody pulling the rope together. We need to do it collectively. If we trust each other on both ends of the floor to make the right play and help each other, I know a deep run is possible.”