Right on target: Bullets guard leads second-half offensive surge, ending Raiders’ season

PITTSFIELD, Ill. — Brayden Saling’s second-half performance was so impressive that it even caught his coach off guard.

As a matter of fact, Williamsville boys basketball coach Nick Beard was dumbfounded to learn his senior southpaw guard was held scoreless for the first two quarters.

“I had no idea,” Beard said.

But Beard wasn’t completely surprised to witness Saling’s scintillating second 16 minutes.

“I think he’s the best shooter in the state,” Beard said.

Saling made five 3-pointers and scored 21 second-half points to lead the top-seeded Bullets past fifth-seeded Quincy Notre Dame 55-33 in the Class 2A Pittsfield Regional championship at Voshall Gymnasium on Friday night, marking the second straight season Williamsville has bounced QND from the postseason.

The Bullets, who were ranked seventh in the final Associated Press Class 2A state poll and defeated the Raiders 49-26 in last season’s regional semifinals, advance to the Greenville Sectional to face Staunton in Wednesday’s semifinals.

“In the first half, shots weren’t falling, but in the second half I kept my head and I kept my composure,” Scaling said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to knock them down,’ and my teammates kept their trust in me.”

Scaling, one of four senior starters, had 21 of Williamsville’s 36 second-half points.

“I don’t think he missed too many in the second half,” QND coach Greg Altmix said. “Once you realize he hits a shot or two, then we’ve got to make sure that we’re out on him. “We’ve got to make it a little bit tougher for him to get those shots off.”

After struggling from beyond the arc in the first half, converting only 1 of 8 attempts, the Bullets (29-3) went 6 of 10 from the 3-point line over the final two quarters. 

The QND (17-11) offense failed to answer the challenge. The Raiders went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal in the first half and had only one basket, a Robbie Reed layup, in the second quarter, but only tailed 19-14 at the break. QND’s offensive woes carried into the second half as the Raiders finished 11 of 35 from the field (31.4 percent) and 3 of 11 from 3-point range (27.2 percent).

“I’m not going to want to go back and look at this film,” Altmix said. “I’m not going to want to see how many layups we missed.”

Two of QND’s most reliable scorers, juniors Beau Eftink and Jackson Connoyer, didn’t have a field goal until more than halfway into the third quarter.

“I know the first half the momentum is completely different if Jace (Allensworth’s) shots are falling, Beau’s shots are falling,” Connoyer said. “The momentum wasn’t in our favor tonight.”

Allensworth was the lone Raider in double figures with 10 points. QND senior forward Carter Miller had eight points off the bench while Reed and Eftink added six points apiece. Connoyer, whose only basket came with 1:25 left in the third quarter, was held to three points.

“Unbelievable effort defensively,” Beard said.

Altmix agreed with his counterpart.

“Their defense was excellent,” Altmix said. “They’re out there playing together, and they were physical. They did a great job.”

QND trimmed a double-digit deficit to six points in the latter stages of the third quarter but trailed 34-25 heading to the fourth quarter. Williamsville went on a 14-5 run over the first half of the final quarter to put the game away.

“(Williamsville) put on little bit of an offensive clinic on us at times in the second half,” Altmix said. “As we look forward, we kind of hope we can be that crisp next year.”

The Raiders graduate five seniors but return the group which started the final four games of the season, including Allensworth, Connoyer, Eftink, Reed and freshman guard TJ Togarepi. 

“It’s just a matter of the guys putting in the time, putting in the work,” Altmix said. “You don’t get to this level playing three and a half months out of the year. You’ve got to put the time in to get better.

“We’ve got multi-sport athletes. That’s wonderful. I have no problem with that. But if the only time you’re going to work is November through February, then we’re going to unfortunately experience a feeling like this again. I think we got guys willing to work in the offseason.”