OBSERVER Photo by Anthony Dolce Above, Chautauqua Lake’s Michael Anderson (3) attempts to inbound a pass, during Monday’s Section VI, Class C2 Semifinal boys basketball game against the Middle Early College Kats, at Jamestown Community College.

JAMESTOWN — By the time Chautauqua Lake’s Luke Waters scored the first basket for the Thunderbirds, it was effectively too late. Waters buried a three with 1:30 to go in the opening quarter, but with three points finally on the board, the T-Birds found themselves down 20-3 to the Middle Early College Kats.

At the end of the first quarter, the score ballooned to 29-7 and kept inflating from there.

The Kats ended the Thunderbirds season with a 89-57 victory, at Jamestown Community College, in the Section VI Class C2 Sectional Semifinal, on Monday night.

“We came back a little better in the second half than the first half,” said Chautauqua Lake coach Alex Reyda. “We struggled to get adjusted to the speed of the game, which was not something we are normally used to. At the start they were picking us and we were giving them easy chances.”

The Kats had an overall stifling effort, as Chautauqua Lake (6-16, 5-seed) didn’t even get a shot off until the first quarter was half way over. The Kats (16-6, 1-seed) were quick on the wings, blanking both Waters from the outside and Chautauqua Lake senior Nate Adams on the inside.

The Kats supreme athleticism was on display, as they threw down a couple dunks in the opening half, though their athleticism came out in different ways. The Kats got in every passing lane, forcing either a T-Birds turnover or for them to dribble aimlessly until the shot clock ran out.

In the second quarter, the Thunderbirds were able to get more going. Adams displayed what he was capable of on a couple occasions, coming up with a huge rejection and was able to get to the lane and make some slick passes.

Despite the blow out loss, Adams left it all on the court in his last game as a Thunderbird. In the third quarter, Adams did all he could to keep his team in it, including hitting a highlight reel dribble-drive step back fade away. Reyda said Adams’ contributions will be missed significantly next season.

“He came out great in the second half. We’ll obviously miss him,” Reyda said. “We’re definitely going to have to retool some things, we’re going to be smaller next year.”

Outside of Adams, most of the rest of the Thunderbirds roster is made up of juniors, meaning the core of the roster will return for next season. Reyda is excited to have the opportunity to build.

“I’ve got a lot of guys coming back,” Reyda said. “We’re losing the only contributing senior we had, the rest of them are juniors and we have some sophomores who are coming up. We’ll be okay.”

Middle Early College was led by Jamond Jones, who scored 44 points on nine three pointers, while Davante Prince added 15 for the Kats. Chautauqua Lake was led by Adams’ 26 points.

Middle Early College advances to the Class C1 Sectional Final, to take on the Tapestry Thunderhawks. The Thunderhawks defeated Silver Creek in a blowout victory, 73-44.