Olsen Propels Fox Lane to Another Rout of the Quakers
Just when it seemed the Fox Lane boys’ basketball team might be in for quite a battle with Horace Greeley on Friday night, junior forward Alex Olsen decided it was time to step up.
Providing a packed house with an impressive glimpse of his future promise, Olsen scored 12 of his game-high 19 points during a dazzling 15-0 Fox run in the second quarter that all but finished the Quakers. Almost in the blink of an eye, the host Foxes turned a four-point deficit into a nine-point halftime lead on their way to a 65-40 rout of their neighborhood rival.
“Olsen is what won the game,” said disappointed Quakers coach Dave Fernandes afterwards, “because early in the game we were staying with them. And then he hit three or four shots with a guy right in front of him.”
Just before Olsen’s big eruption, Greeley had broken a 9-9 tie after one quarter by getting back-to-back layups from Cameron Ciero and Brandon Spiegel. But the Quakers, seeking to avenge the lopsided home loss to Fox Lane three weeks earlier that ended their seven-game winning streak to start the season, were about to be overwhelmed by an offensive onslaught from a young player who had already made quite an impression on Fernandes.
“I like Olsen,” he said, drawing out his words for emphasis. “I think he’s a great player.”
With the Foxes facing their largest deficit of the evening, Olsen proceeded to score the game’s next 10 points, starting with a pair of jump shots. His coast-to-coast jaunt that ended with a finger roll in the lane reminiscent of Dr. J gave Fox Lane the lead for good with 3:18 left in the half.
An Olsen layup and then his two free throws 27 seconds later extended the Foxes’ lead to 19-13. After a 3-pointer by teammate Sean New, Olsen capped the 15-0 blitz with a jumper from the right elbow to give Fox Lane its first double-digit lead of the game. The Quakers’ Connor Schinderman closed the half with a layup, but the third quarter began with a 12-2 Fox spurt that turned the contest into a rout.
Olsen was limited to just two points in the first quarter, but his huge contribution in the second period came as no surprise to his coach, Mike Tomassi.
“He’s awesome,” said the Foxes’ first-year coach. “He’s our catalyst. He’s what makes us go. Tonight, he brought us to a different level. You know, we came out flat and his energy, his intensity, was unbelievable, and I think we matched him. When he plays like that, and then we get Matt (Redhead) going, we’re pretty tough. We have a lot of talent.”
That talent was on full display in the third quarter as the Foxes outscored Greeley by a whopping 25-8 margin. Mike Corry opened the second half by draining a 3-pointer. The Quakers closed to within 10 points on a put-back basket by Ciero, who finished with a team-high 15 points despite making just one of his seven free throws.
But after the bucket by Ciero, the Foxes answered by scoring 19 of the game’s next 23 points. Redhead, scoreless in the first half, had nine of the points and wound up the evening with 13, matching the output of New, who put an exclamation point on the dominant Fox Lane third quarter by connecting on a 3-pointer out of the left corner just before the buzzer sounded.
With the Foxes building a 49-23 cushion heading to the final period, the packed-like-sardines Fox Lane student section spent the final eight minutes of the contest serenading the deflated Quakers, who never whittled the lead to less than 23 points. The Fox faithful waited until there was just 2:25 left on the clock to start chanting, “warm your bus up,” but they could have used that line anytime in the second half.
“We played terrible, played terrible,” said Fernandes, whose reeling Quakers were just 10 for 27 from the foul line and fell to 9-4 with the loss. “Fox Lane’s a good team and you can’t come here with your ‘C’ game. It’s that simple.”
The third quarter, when the Foxes were blowing the game wide open and their fans were at full volume, was particularly painful for Fernandes to watch.
“You saw it,” he said. “Every shot we put up, we missed. I mean, it’s not like we didn’t take shots. We just didn’t make anything. There was a stretch where we must’ve taken 10 to 11 shots and didn’t get one…. I think there’s some things we learned about our team, but we can’t stay down. You know, I’ve got a great group of kids and they’ve got to come back from it.”
The Foxes’ Tomassi, meanwhile, had plenty to smile about and was able to relish his 10-4 team’s fourth consecutive victory.
“I’m very happy with the way the boys played tonight,” he said. “When we play together, good things happen. I think we’re coming together at the right time. So I’m very pleased with what we’re doing now.”
Andy is a sports editor at Examiner Media, covering seven high schools in the mid-Westchester region with a notebook and camera. He began there in the fall of 2007 following 15 years as a candid photographer for the largest school picture company in the tri-state area.
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