BUFFALO — After a dream regular season and playoff run, the Grand Island boys basketball team suffered a rude awakening Friday night.
The top-seeded Vikings campaign ended with a 66-45 loss to No. 3 Williamsville South in the Section VI Class A1 title game at Buffalo State University, giving the Billies their second straight sectional championship.
“(Will South) is a team that, in Western New York, makes you work harder than anybody else,” Grand Island head coach Chris Simpson said. “They’re very athletic so it makes it tough on everybody.”
It didn’t take long for the Billies to put the Vikings into difficulty as they jumped out to an early 10-2 lead and didn’t look back. It was a first quarter to remember for Will South’s Carter Lampke, who banged in four 3-pointers, including a 4-point play, which gave him a quick 13 points that outscored the Vikings’ 12 in the opening frame.
While Grand Island did a much better job containing Lampke during the second quarter, holding him scoreless, their offense went cold as South embarked on an 11-0 run to end the first half resulting in a 37-20 halftime advantage.
Lampke finished the night with 29 points to lead all scorers, four off his season high.
“We gave him too many threes in the first half,” Simpson said of Lampke. “He’s one of the best players in Western New York, he’s tough to stop. He can go inside and post up, he can go to the basket, he can shoot. He’s a triple threat.”
Grand Island guard Jayce Wylke and Lampke put on a show to start the third quarter, trading buckets and scoring their teams’ first 7 and 10 points, respectively, of the frame. The two stars were dynamic all night, making tough shots and leading by example throughout the game.
“Jayce, Carter, they’re men of March,” said Will South head coach Michael Trzybinski. “When the lights are brightest, those two guys showed out. … (Grand Island) is a great team, you don’t win 21 games without being a great team.”
Wylke faced a tough challenge offensively, as South face-guarded the Vikings’ leading scorer at multiple points in the game. The senior rarely had an uncontested shot.
In his final high school game, Wylke led his team with 16 points and ended his career second on Grand Island’s all-time scoring list.
“He’s brought our program to a new level,” Simpson said. “We’ve won almost 40 games with him in the mix, in the lineup and he’s been on our team two years before that. I mean, what else could you want?”
Despite trailing by as many as 22 in the third, Grand Island did not roll over.
The Vikings began a 24-8 run to close the frame that was capped by a steal and 3-point play from Jonathan Neville in the final seconds.
Neville’s hustle play, whose defensive effort was strong all game, ignited the loudest cheer of the night from the sizable Grand Island student section.
“They said ‘Hey, we’ve been down more than this and we’ve come back, it’s no big deal,’” Simpson said. “You got to go out there and play and show some fire, fight through the adversity. … I’m proud of them for fighting back, they could’ve come in and said ‘Coach, we’re done,’ but they didn’t.”
Despite having momentum on their side entering the fourth, Grand Island could not capitalize, instead going ice cold from the field. The Billies won the final stanza 16-1, with the Vikings failing to make a field goal.
While it was a tough end to a strong season, Simpson will have plenty of returners to try and get back to Buff State and win the program’s first sectional title since 1992 next year.
After Wylke, the Vikings lose two other seniors: Zach Christian and Nice Fratello. Notably, they bring back second-leading scorer Dane Brown, who had 11 points in the loss to the Billies, and gritty freshman KJ Wilkes, who Simpson praised for his effort in the title game.
“That’s what we’re trying to do here, we’re trying to build a program,” Simpson said. “You got to have some younger guys, got to have some older guys, but it’s nice that we had those kids come in and contribute.”
Behind Lampke, Nate Wilemski finished with 19 points for the Billies, who will face Class A2 champions Lackawanna in the Class A crossover game at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Buff State.