By Nate Beutel
The gold in Lockport’s jerseys must have looked like cheese to this Mouse.
Niagara Catholic senior guard Mouse Matthews scored a career-high 30 points as the Patriots beat Lockport 69-56 in the opening round of the second annual Pendleton Lions Club Tournament Tuesday at Starpoint High School. NC (7-0) will play Alden, which beat Starpoint in the other semifinal, for the championship at 6:30 p.m. today.
“I felt it was my turn to step up and shine,” Matthews said.
Catholic coach Eric Fields added, “he’s a big-game player … and when he’s movin’ and groovin’ like tonight, he’s pretty darn good.”
Matthews’ biggest contributions came in the third quarter as NC founds itself trailing for the first time all night. His deep 3-pointer with under a minute left in the third helped the Patriots reclaim the lead, 45-44. He finished with 11 in the period.
Then in the fourth with the game still in the balance, Matthews and leading scorer Lorenzo Joseph, who was held largely in check by the Lions, hit back-to-back 3-pointers to create separation. Joseph finished with 13 points and six assists.
Steve Beck, NC’s 6-foot-9 center, also played well in the fourth, netting seven of his 13 points. The Lockport resident also had 16 rebounds and six blocks. Eric Fields Jr. knocked down a trio of 3-pointers for NC, which has beaten a pair of Class AA schools in the early portion of its schedule.
“I’m very pleased with our team,” the elder Fields said of his squad, which is considered a Class C school. “I’ve seen a lot of great things thus far. There’s still a long way to go … but it’s exciting.”
Sean Smith led LHS (3-3) with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Andrew Granchelli added 15. Leading scorer Shannon Haynes did not play in the first half and finished with only four points in limited minutes.
Alden 41, Starpoint 37
Despite tweaking his ankle in the first half, Alden’s Christian Barczykowski appeared to be just fine in the third quarter. The 6-foot-7 senior forward scored 10 of his game-high 21 points during a 14-0 spurt that helped the Bulldogs build a 34-19 lead midway through the period. Barczykowski added 16 rebounds and eight blocks.
The Spartans showed some fight, though, as they clawed back in the fourth quarter with their zone press. They got it all the way down to just three in the final minute before Alden iced it with a free throw. Starpoint shot only 20 percent and missed 10 free throws, according to veteran coach Dave Schopf.
“It was a struggle on both sides,” the coach said. “They went to a zone and we didn’t make any of our shots. We had an opportunity to beat them and we didn’t take advantage of it.”
Jon Corbi led the Spartans (3-4) with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
