Young JV call-up sinks key 3-pointers as Burghers win tourney

WARRENSBURG | An eighth-grader called up from Warrensburg's junior varsity squad scored a trio of three-point shots to secure the Burghers' 54-42 victory over Loudonville Christian in the Dec. 30 championship round of the sixth annual George Khoury Invitational Tournament. Owen Jones, about 10 inches shorter than many of his teammates, made his shots in the second half, giving Warrensburg a winning margin over the Eagles, who had a 6-1 record before the battle with the Burghers. Coach Mike Perrone said that Loudonville Christian's athletes were concentrating on guarding Warrensburg's core of veteran players — Steve Schloss, Dan Cunniffe and Evan LaPell — when Owen Jones made the key shots from beyond the arc, amazing not only the spectators, but players from both teams. "These shots were among my favorite moments in coaching," Warrensburg Coach Mike Perrone said following the game. "With two of our best players Brady Cheney and Caleb Remington not available to play, I had called up Owen and Bryn Jones from jayvee. Owen said he was not sure he would play, but I said, 'We really need you,' and thank God he agreed — we couldn't have won without him." Not only did the Burghers have a depleted roster, but two of their players got into foul trouble. Perrone said he told Owen, who measures about 5'3", to take shots if he got "open looks," which he did — the first two baskets were in quick succession, and the third was over a defending 6'3" opponent as the shot-clock was nearly expired, Perrone said. "From there on, we cruised to the win, finishing off strong," he said. Perrone added that he was proud that on one of these plays, seasoned athlete senior Dan Cunniffe could have forced a shot, but he passed it off to Owen Jones in the corner. "Cunniffe trusted Owen to make the shot, and he did," Perrone said. "We've lost a lot of games at the end, but in the tournament finals our guys handled the pressure so well." Perrone said his players' teamwork was "awesome," adding that they also hit their free throws. "It was a crazy back-and-forth game, but everybody on our team stepped up," Perrone said. "It was a big-time win for us; Loudonville Christian is one of the best Class D teams in the area." In this championship game, sophomore guard Steve Schloss was high-scorer with 21 points, retrieved seven rebounds and had three assists; sophomore guard-forward Evan LaPell scored 10 points and brought down 10 rebounds; senior guard Dan Cunniffe scored 10 points, executed six assists as well as guarding the Eagles' lead scorer; Owen Jones scored nine points; while junior guard Landon Olden scored two points, and sophomore forward Tyler Powers tallied two points and four rebounds. In the tournament semifinal held Dec. 29, Warrensburg defeated Johnsburg by a score of 70-15. In this game, Schloss had 28 points, 10 rebounds and six assists; LaPell tallied 19 points and 10 rebounds; Dan Cunniffe had 15 points and six assists; Powers sank two field goals, Landon Olden scored a basket and retrieved six rebounds; and Bryn Jones scored two points. For Johnsburg, Rodney Wolfe was high-scorer with six points, while teammates Yanden Cleveland, Angelo Galle, Andrew Prosser, Noah Moffitt, and Brayden Poirer also contributed.

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Young JV call-up sinks key 3-pointers as Burghers win tourney

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