The Silver Creek Black Knights boys basketball team hosted Salamanca in a CCAA Div. 1 East league clash and came out victorious, winning 68-42 at Silver Creek High School on Thursday. The matchup started off slow as each team got used to the opponents. The first team to heat up was Silver Creek, and it was none other than their star, Woleben. Early on the Black Knights found success with Woleben down low as he could not be contained by Salamanca. Through one quarter he had 12 points, just two away from his goal. After one it was Silver Creek on top of Salamanca, 15-7.

Early into the second it was obvious that Salamanca had begun to key in on Woleben defensively, doing whatever they could to keep him off the scoresheet. This in turn opened up the perimeter and allowed for some secondary scoring.

“With Brady having that inside presence, it kind of collapses the defense a little bit. If we can get him one pivot and being aware of when there are doubles on him and swinging the ball out,” said Silver Creek head coach Rob Genco. “Our key to getting those balls outside is keeping the ball high, penetrating gaps and kicking. It’s something that sometimes we don’t do well, but tonight at times we did well enough to get us some open shots.”

All the double teams and aggressive defense in the world wasn’t going to stop Brady from getting to 1,000. Late in the half, in transition off of a turnover at the top of the 3-point line, Dom Jamison darted down the court and dropped off the ball to a trailing Woleben. Woleben then used his speed and flew into the air and threw down a dunk with authority for his 1,000th point. Woleben becomes the sixth person in Silver Creek history to reach the plateau.

OBSERVER Photo by Lisa Monacelli Brady Woleben goes up for a shot during Tuesday’s game.

“It means a ton to me. Just the support of all the friends and family. The whole student section that came out tonight, all the coaches,” said Silver Creek’s Brady Woleben on what it means to him reaching 1,000 points.

“I’m happy for Brady, he deserves it,” said Coach Genco. “He has worked hard. We moved him up in ninth grade, in a Class C Final game he did well and we knew he was going to be a special player. He’s earned it and I’m just really happy for him and his family. And the community everybody came out to support him.”

At half it was Silver Creek leading, 34-21.

In the highly competitive CCAA Div. 1 East there is no time to take your foot off the brakes. It was obvious that Silver Creek knew this as they came out more explosive in the second half, scoring the first six points.

“It’s a good game for us that we need to get back on track. Our league is really tough for seeding wise in the playoffs,” said Coach Genco. “It’s crucial that we have a great league record. It’s just not easy year in year out in our league, it’s just a well coached, competitive league.”

The Black Knights soon found themselves with a 20 point cushion. They extended that margin to 24 as they entered the fourth quarter, up 51-27.

The scoring in the fourth slowed down, but the pressure from the Black Knights did not as their press continued to cause problems for Salamanca.

“This is the best pressing team I’ve had,” said Coach Genco. “We mainly have five guys, so it’s do I want to tire them and how much do I want to tire them. This is probably the best pressing team I’ve had and I regret not pressing against Randolph. I knew that coming in to tonight that I didn’t want to get away from it. I wanted to see how well we could do it against a team that can run, they’re young and quick, I thought we did well.”

Silver Creek late found themselves up by 30 and began subbing out their starting five.

Brady Woleben finished the night with 23 points, while Tucker Gates and Dom Jamison dropped 18 and 15, respectively.

Silver Creek (7-4) will look to continue their winning ways when they travel to Gowanda on Friday.