The Black Knights were out of the gate hot in the first quarter, aggressively attacking the glass. Every missed shot was jumped on by the Black Knights which let them get out to a first quarter lead of 24-2.

“They were bigger, stronger, faster, they can jump out of a gym,” said Falconer coach Jamie Glatz. “We were just overmatched.”

Silver Creek controlled the pace of play from the start, with their full court press confounding the Falconer offense, as the Golden Falcons at times struggled to move the ball past half court. On times Falconer could get set, the Black Knights defense remained relentless forcing several turnovers and flipping the court back in their favor. Despite the several missed shots in the first quarter, the quartet of Sam Braidich, Jeremy Wilcox, Nate Parker, and Spencer Harford jumped on every loose rebound to get the second, or sometimes even third chance buckets.

Beginning in the first quarter and carrying on throughout the rest of the game, the Black Knights subbed in all 10 of the players on their roster, which Silver Creek coach Ralph Jackson likes to do when he can.

Silver Creek’s Xyon Wolverton (in white) shoots over Falconer’s Wally Calderon (left) and Joe Youngberg during Friday’s game in Silver Creek. OBSERVER Photo by Justin Goetz.

“We regularly play eight guys, but I played all 10 from the first quarter all the way through,” Jackson said. It was nice to be able to get the mix in, we spread the ball around tonight and everyone scored. ”

Silver Creek continued to dominate possession in the second quarter, in which the Golden Falcons were held without a basket, their only points in the period came on two free throws, as the Black Knights waltzed into halftime with a 42-4 lead.

Though the opening minutes of the second half went similarly to the first, the Golden Falcons were able to mount a nice rally, rattling off 10 points in a row and a 13-2 run overall, making the score 58-17. Coach Glatz said this is a pretty common occurrence for his team.

“We slowed down a little bit, we didn’t settle for the first open shot,” Glatz said. “A lot of their starters were out, so we got a different look with some other players in the game. It’s absolutely encouraging. You have to find something good you do. That typically happens once per game for us in the second half. We usually come out and go on a run like that.”

The run was led by junior Nick Erickson, who scored all of his 14 points for the game in the third quarter, including knocking down a pair of threes. The ability for his young team to put together a solid run is encouraging for coach Glatz.

“We’re young. We’ve got a couple freshmen and sophomores playing, and some of them came right from modified,” Glatz said We’re playing a varsity level sport with some kids that are probably more at the JV level. They’re right from the frying pan into the fryer.”

Silver Creek improves to 5-4 on the season, and undefeated in league play, winning both of their games. With their next game coming against Gowanda, Silver Creek is in full swing with their league play, meaning Jackson knows it’s time for his team to correct their mistakes from the non-league portion of their schedule.

“We started off the year with seven non-league games in a row,” Jackson said. “There’s several things we need to fix going into league play. We need to stay focused for the full 32 minutes. We make some poor decisions at times, and we’re trying to limit those.”

The Black Knights were led by Dominic Jamison, who despite a rough first quarter of shooting, finished the game strong with 19 points, including knocking down five threes. Jamison also led the team in assists with five. Nate Parker and Harford each had 10 points, with Harford collecting 11 boards and four steals, while Braidich, Matt Woleben and Darren Jimenez each had nine points. Jeremy Wilcox added six points and eight rebounds.

Falconer (2-9) was led by Nick Erickson’s 14 points, followed by Hunter Stewart who had five points and seven rebounds. The Golden Falcons are next in action on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at when the Salamanca Warriors come to Falconer.