TORIN O’BRIEN
Special to The Leader
The men’s basketball squad made the journey to Meadville, PA, this past weekend for the third annual Greg Richards Memorial Tournament at Allegheny College. Proceeds from the tournament will go toward the V foundation and Coaches versus Cancer.
The Devils would start the weekend against the SUNY Canton Kangaroos, a sub-par team, at least judging from last year’s record. The Roos finished the 2013-14 season with a 9-13 Record.
You know what they say, though — with a new year comes a clean slate, and SUNY Canton proved that on Saturday. They had Fredonia down by as many as 18 during Saturday’s matchup.
The Devils did make a late push. The almost-comeback was led by freshman forward Ian Helps with 23 points on a superb .670 shooting percentage. He had help from two of his guards, who also shot over 50 percent from the floor. Kyree Hull helped out with 22 points, and his fellow junior in the backcourt — Robert Lyles — added another 13.
Despite the late game push, the Devils would fall by a score of 80-72. Even though Fredonia shot better than Canton, the big difference in Saturday’s matchup was turnovers. The Blue Devils finished the game with 17; 15 of those came off steals by a very opportunistic Canton defense.
After a disappointing loss to SUNY Canton, the Devils bounced back in a big way on Sunday. They faced off against Pitt-Titusville in the consolation game, and the Panthers never stood a chance.
The score at the end of the first half saw Fredonia leading by 11 points, and the Blue Devils never looked back.
With a final score of 75-50 in favor of Fredonia, it’s a good sign that the team was able to respond in that way following a tough loss.
Freshman, Ian Helps, stepped up in a big way with a double-double on Sunday. He racked up 19 rebounds to go along with 22 points. Robert Lyles and Kyree Hull each had 12 points. Hull got himself a double-double as well with 11 boards.
Speaking of rebounds, that’s where Sunday’s game was blown open for the Devils. They out-rebounded Pitt-Titusville 68-35.
With the win on Sunday, Fredonia moves to an even .500 record to start the season. Their next game will be against the Medaille Mavericks on Friday in Buffalo, during “The Knee Center of WNY Tournament.”