The Williamsville South Billies have won the Section VI Class A1 championship for a second year in a row after taking down the Grand Island Vikings 66-45 at Buffalo State University on Friday night.
The back-to-back titles have been well-deserved by the Billies – especially this year’s, according to coach Mike Trzybinski.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” Trzybinski said. “The leadership from Carter Lampke and Nate Wilemski, they got the guys together and said they were going to take another step, and that's what we did tonight.
“It was building through the year while playing, for my money, the toughest schedule in Western New York. We beat a really good team, Grand Island’s very well-coached and had an outstanding season, fortunately we made a couple more baskets than they did and I thought we really did a good job on the defensive end of things.”
Lampke and Wilemski echoed those sentiments.
“Sharing this joy with every single one of our teammates is a great feeling,” Wilemski said.
“All of our hard work pours into just this night, and we’re just really excited to see where we go after this. I think we have a good chance going deep into the New York State playoffs.”
“I think going through the process is the best part of it,” Lampke said. “There’s been a lot of roller coasters. Having had a tough schedule this season, I think definitely prepared us for this, a lot of ups and downs, and I'm loving this moment.”
The first two quarters of the matchup saw the Billies come out hot and take a 17-point lead going into the half. But in the third, the Vikings came back with a vengeance as they cut Will South’s margin down to just six and possessing momentum entering a critical fourth quarter.
The biggest question in that moment was, would the Billies flinch in the face of adversity?
Being the reigning champions and having been in similar situations earlier in the season, the resounding answer turned out to be no.
“We were down 16 or 18 in the first quarter against Bishop Timon early in the year and guys came off the floor, sat down on the bench, and they were poised,” Trzybinski said. “They said, ‘We'll be fine. All right, one quarter. Let's keep it going,’ and really from there our guys who have been there before really did a nice job of keeping the group together.
“They said the same thing today. We want to play with emotion and not become emotional, and were able to do that and finish it out.”
“We just stayed composed,” Lampke added. “Being bought in with the coaches and players, trusting each other, not getting too hard-headed, or directing our emotions in the right way – I think all of that definitely helped us get some stops.”
Reigning in their emotions did prove to be the difference, as Will South was able to reassert their dominance in the fourth quarter and pull away with the win. While winning back-to-back titles will be savored, the Lackawanna Steelers await the Billies as their next opponent in the crossover round, and they know not to take them lightly.
“I think it'll be a good game,” Lampke said. “They're strong, physical and a bigger team. But with our schedule that we had this year – having gone through a lot of adversity and playing teams like Niagara Falls, Timon and Canisius – we should go in with a good head on our shoulders and go out there and ball.”
Photo Gallery Courtesy of Mayfield Media/Damone Mayfield
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