Boys basketball: Seneca rolls to ‘old’ home win on throwback night

SENECA – As a number of Seneca alumni basketball players chatted during halftime of Friday night’s Tri-County Conference game against Henry-Senachwine, one turned to another and said “Wow, these guys can play some really good defense. I’m not sure we would have had a chance against them.”

The Fighting Irish used a combination of pressure defense, transition offense and dominating rebounding to push out to a 29-point first-half lead on the way to a 62-37 throwback victory over the Mallards.

The contest was played at the West Campus Gym, which was Seneca’s home gym from 1950-1980, and prior to the varsity contest many players from those seasons were honored and recognized.

“We were able to get our full-court press going right away and really get our motor running there in the opening quarter,” Seneca coach Russ Witte said, his team now 11-5 overall and 4-0 in league play. “Then I thought in the second quarter we did a great job of even pushing our intensity and pressure up even another notch, which in turned created a lot of baskets in transition.

“I really got goosebumps seeing all of those great players that have so many great memories playing in this gym walk out on the floor one more time and get recognized. Along with the win, I’m most happy about how we came out tonight and gave a good representation of Seneca basketball for all the former guys to see.”

Junior guard Paxton Giertz — who led the hosts with a game-high 21 points and was wearing No. 32 on his vintage-looking Irish uniform from the early 70s instead of his normal No. 13 — opened the special night with a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 11 in the period to help stake Seneca to a 20-12 lead.

“Jack (Kaufmann) is my great uncle, and he wore number 32 his senior year, so it was pretty special to be able to wear the same number he did and play on the same floor,” said Giertz of the Seneca single-game scoring record holder, who netted 51 points his senior year in 1976. “It was a special night with so many former players here being honored. I’m happy we were able to play a pretty solid game for all of those guys to see.”

Seneca then outscored Henry-Senachwine 22-1 in the second quarter, including a 17-0 run, to hold a 42-13 advantage at halftime.

Senior Lane Provance finished with 16 points, while also grabbing a rebound in the opening half to pass Brett Larson (582) for the top spot on the program’s all-time rebound list.

“We’ve been talking about striving to have better second quarters since after our Thanksgiving tournament,” Provance said. “We just seem to come out strong in the first quarter and then struggle to keep things going. I think tonight was all of us getting over the hump with that aspect of our game.

“(The record) is special because (Larson) played with my dad Adam, so I’ve heard how great a rebounder Brett was and he was able to be here tonight to see me get the record. The whole night, from getting to see all of those great past Seneca players walk on the court, to hearing their accomplishments, to wearing replica uniforms from the early 70s, it was a pretty special night for all of us.”

Grant Siegel added six points for the hosts, while Kenny Daggett and Brady Sheedy chipped in five points each.

The Mallards (5-12, 0-4) were led by 16 points from sophomore Carson Rowe.

Seneca’s previous victory in the West Campus Gym was on January 11, 1980, in a 56-44 triumph over Wilmington. The Irish had dropped the last game played in the venue — 54-53 to Serena — on February 19, 1980.

“I heard that the last official game played here many years ago was a loss, so it’s cool that now it’s a win,” Giertz said.

Seneca is back in action on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Eureka at the Clinton Shootout. Henry-Senachwine travels to Fieldcrest on Monday.