Lancers get tough win over Wheatland-Chili

Sonny Giuliano's name gets tossed around as one of the top players in the Genesee Region League for good reason.

The junior point guard - that looks and plays like a forward - had a huge game in leading Elba to a 53-50 win over visiting Wheatland-Chili in the first round of the Section 5 Class D1 tournament Wednesday.

Giuliano dropped in a game-high 23 points with 10 rebounds and three assists to lead the Lancers on to the second round.

"He had a nice basketball game," Elba coach Rick Pcionek said. "He was solid all the way through and hit some clutch free throws when we needed him to come through. He's been clutch all year."

Elba didn't have a pass in the opening round as a 16-12 first quarter lead turned into a 30-29 deficit at halftime. But Elba had a 14-11 advantage in the third quarter and 10-9 in the fourth.

The win came right down to the wire and Elba's big stars turned in clutch performances. Phil Ostroski hit one of two foul shots and Giuliano hit both in the final minute of play to turn a 50-50 game into a win.

The Lancers were definitely tested in the opening round.

"They have some guys that can play," Pcionek said. "I think they have some guys that are young and that plays a lot into their record."

Ostroski had another solid game with 11 points and six rebounds while Dan Ramsey added 12 points.

Garhett Varin had 16 points with Alex Stryker adding 13 for the Wildcats (4-15).

Elba (12-9) will face either Keshequa or Genesee Valley on Saturday. No results from that game are available Wednesday night.

"Each round definitely gets harder," Pcionek said. "Teams don't want to lose and everybody is trying that much harder. Nobody wants their season to end. I take my hat off to Wheatland-Chili because they didn't want their season to end tonight."