JAMESTOWN — Tyler Hind brought the offense, Gabe McCoy and Andrew Bernard controlled the glass, and the Randolph Cardinals returned to another Section 6 boys basketball championship game.
Hind poured in 30 points to lead No. 2 Randolph (17-5) to a 62-39 victory over No. 3 Holland (11-11) in the Class C-2 semifinals Tuesday at Jamestown Community College. The junior guard paced the Cardinals to a third consecutive sectional final game after winning the C-2 bracket in 2016-17 and falling in the C finals in 2017-18.
Hind made six of the team’s 10 three-pointers also made four steals. McCoy led the team with 11 rebounds to go with his nine points, while Bernard had five offensive rebounds (four in the first half).
“That was Andrew’s best game. He just brought great energy,” Cardinals coach Kevin Hind said. “I thought Andrew was really active. Gabe played a lot of minutes and looked a little tired out there and probably needed a rest and I didn’t give him one, but overall just his pure size, 6-5, that gives us 11 rebounds. That’s the difference in the game.”
Kevin Hind thought McCoy brought “good energy early,” but may have needed a rest playing on the big JCC court.
“You’re not satisfied with that,” Kevin Hind said of McCoy’s 9 and 11 stat line. “I really think that there’s more in there. I think to beat a good team, we’ll need to get more, but that’s a good night for him. He battled through while he was tired, he kept playing.”
Branson Morrison added 11 points for the Cardinals. Kaleb Steward marked six assists, five rebounds and three steals.
Tyler Scheffler led Holland with 10 points. The semifinal marked the fifth game Randolph has held its opponent under 40 points this year.
“”Defense wins championships and our defense has been great all year and we’ve been able to stay in games because of it,” Tyler Hind said. “We play really, really hard and have the best effort every game and it just keeps us in everything.”
Randolph led 8-0 after 2:30 and 13-4 at the end of the fourth. Then the game “just got really physical out there,” and slowed down, Kevin Hind said. But he said the Cardinals will need to play that physical kind of basketball to advance in the playoffs.
“One of the kids at halftime made a little comment about, we’re up 15, and he turns to the assistant coach and makes a comment about the official or a missed call,” he said. “I just kind of lost it. It’s the playoffs. It’s playoff basketball. You’re going to get bumped, you’re going to get fouled, you are not going to get every call. That is not what you’re focusing on, you are focusing on the next play and you being physical and you taking care of the ball and you just have to understand … you have to go take care of business, you can’t worry about anything else other than what we can control.”
Randolph plays No. 5 Bennett on Friday at JCC in the C-2 finals at 6:45 p.m. The Tigers upset No. 1 Ellicottville in the finals, 63-59.
“They’re athletic, they’re big, they can all play, every one of them, no fear,” Tyler Hind said after watching Bennett. “We’ll just have to go out and play, play our game and be physical and go out and get it done.”
Holland (39)
Perry 2 2-2 7, Kirsch 1 0-0 2, Ostrowski 2 0-0 5, Scheffler 5 0-0 10, Rivera 3 1-2 9, Lewandowski 2 0-0 6. Totals: 15 3-4 39.
Randolph (63)
Steward 2 0-0 5, T. Hind 9 6-7 30, Morrison 3 0-0 11, Rosengren 1 0-0 2, Bosley 1 0-0 2, McCoy 3 3-8 9, Bernard 1 1-2 3. Totals: 21 10-17 62.
Holland 4 18 30 39
Randolph 13 33 45 62
Three-point goals: Holland 6 (Perry, Ostrowski, Rivera 2, Lewandowski 2), Randolph 10 (Steward, T. Hind 6, Morrison 3). Total fouls: Holland 18, Randolph 11. Fouled out: None.
