Strong finish puts Gowanda over Falconer | News, Sports, Jobs

Falconer had steadied itself and looked to be in control of the game, coming within one point of the Panthers late in the third quarter. The Golden Falcons missed their chance to tie the game in the final minute and instead it was Quentin Centner hitting a huge 3-pointer to give Gowanda a 33-29 lead into the final frame.

Centner’s triple sparked the Gowanda offense as the Panthers scored 17 points in the final quarter, racing to a 50-36 league victory on the road.

“Q does a great job of hitting that shot that’ll switch the momentum,” Gowanda head coach Lucas Brawdy said.

“It starts our offense rolling and things were started back up. We got stifled in the third quarter, they were playing great defense and that three set us up to be rolling in the fourth,” Brawdy continued.

Gowanda’s Quentin Centner rises up for a shot over a Falconer defender during Thursday’s CCAA Division 1 East matchup in Falconer.
Photo by Steve Garvey

While Centner hit the shot that got the Panthers going again, it was Trelin Warrior driving Gowanda (6-2, 2-1) all night on both ends of the floor. Warrior had a game-high 21 points, eight steals and four rebounds.

“He is a tremendous athlete,” Brawdy said about Warrior. “He just moves around the court quick and smoother than anyone I’ve seen on defense. He’s huge because he covers so much space and he has such active hands. It’s hard to get a pass around him or dibble by him because he’s going to take that ball from you.”

Warrior scored 11 of his 21 points in the first quarter, then once Falconer (5-3, 1-1) slowed him down, the rest of the Gowanda offense began to struggle and the Golden Falcons started working back into the game.

Falconer’s defense limited the Panthers to single-digit points in the middle quarters, keeping Gowanda to just one field goal for seven minutes of the third quarter. However, while its defense got the job done, the baskets still were not falling for the Golden Falcons.

“It was a demoralizing couple of quarters there because the rim wouldn’t let anything fall,” Falconer head coach Jordan Goold stated. “That’s basketball and you have to dig in. We kept playing hard defensively which kept giving us life. That’s what really kept us alive the whole game, playing defense, defense, but it’s hard when the shot doesn’t go in. It sucks the life out of you.”

It was Roger Markham leading the Golden Falcons back into the game, getting them to within one point in the third quarter. Markham finished with a team-high 13 points, four rebounds and three steals.

With shots being missed by both teams, Falconer did a great job grabbing second chances and slowing down the Gowanda offense. Falconer received 12 rebounds from Max Parmentier and Zach Markham added eight more.

The closest Falconer got to knotting the game up was trailing 30-29 in the third quarter, but once Centner hit the final shot of the third quarter the wheels began to fall off.

“Things got tough with five minutes to go,” Goold added. “We lost the effort and started pointing fingers, pointing fingers at the ref, pointing fingers here and there. When you do that kind of behavior that’s the result you get. We’ve got to get back to work tomorrow, find that togetherness again, put some work in and hit the reset button on where we’re at.”

Gowanda cruised to a strong finish while Falconer had its worst quarter of the night en route to a 50-36 final. Centner ended the game with 13 points, three steals and six rebounds, Troy Jimerson collected nine rebounds and a block, and Seth Geiger added seven boards.