BUFFALO — Heading into this season, Grand Island had high hopes for this campaign. One year after losing in the sectional title game they did not want to feel that pain again.
They checked that goal off on March 5 but they were not happy with just winning the Section VI A1 title.
They wanted to make program history and they have done that with a 69-37 win over No. 4 Fredonia in the Section VI Class A crossover game, Sunday, at Buffalo State’s Sports Arena.
But that is still not enough to quench their thirst. They want more.
“It don’t mean anything. I want to go to states and I want to beat Monroe next week, who’s 6-6, 6-7, 6-5, 5-11, and then see what happens,” Grand Island head coach Chris Simpson said. “It’s very exciting. I’m happy for our guys. … I’ve been through it a lot. We had a lot of success at La Salle both playing and coaching and I want these guys to get a taste of it.”
The win pushes Grand Island’s winning streak out to 11 games during which they have outscored their opponents 743-492.
The Grand Island defense led the way throughout as they held Fredonia to their lowest point total of the season and lowest point total since they scored 37 on Dec. 19, 2024.
“We said we’re just gonna play them straight up man, you can’t help as much,” Simpson said. “You got to help a little bit and you got to cover a guy. We didn’t give up too many open looks, we gave up a few and we stuck with our principles and play man and didn’t change at all, not once.”
The first quarter saw Grand Island start quickly and take a 15-6 lead into the second quarter. In the opening frame, Jon Neville set up a teammate and finished the day with four assists to break the program record for most career assists of 225.
The senior finished with zero points in this one but the Vikings had three players with double-digit points, Chase Uribe (24), Dane Brown (20), Jake Castiglia (17).
“It’s pretty cool,” Neville said. “But I’m just focused on winning right now and getting to the state championship and winning that.”
The opening eight minutes did also have one humorous moment when Grand Island’s Dane Brown broke through the front of his left shoe and had to have it taped by a trainer on the bench.
Despite the shoe issue, it did not slow down Brown in the following three quarters who finished with 20 points. But, he will need to break out his backup pair of Nike Sabrina 2s for their next game.
“I think we moved the ball extremely well and moving the ball led to open shots and everything hitting the shots today,” Brown said. “I mean, Chase Uribes 24 points, Jake Castiglia had 17. It was just a great overall team win.”
The second quarter continued to be all about Grand Island who outscored their opponents 19-10 to head into the half up 34-16 behind 13 points from Jake Castigilia and 10 points from Brown.
Fredonia’s 16 points are the least amount of points they’ve scored in a first half this season.
The second half was much of the same for the majority of the 16 minutes as Grand Island outscored its opponents 35-21.
On Saturday afternoon, Simpson made the drive to see the Section V championship game between Monroe and Wayne. He worried that the trip might have been bad luck but with plenty of knocking on wood, it was not.
His team is back in action in the Class A subregional game at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, when they take on Monroe at Buffalo State University.
This postseason, Grand Island has now played three games at Buffalo State and they have outscored their opponents 198-129 in those games.
“I think playing three times here at Buff State now is kind of like our home court,” Brown said. “We’re used to it. I think we got our jitters out on the first day. So I think it’s good that we don’t have to go there and they have to come here and play us on our home court and our home city.”