Falcons rally to slay Dragons

February 8, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

NILES

Backed by strong starts to the third and fourth quarters, the Jefferson boys basketball team rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit for Tuesday’s 70-67 victory over Niles.

“We didn’t play very well tonight, but we played just well enough to squeak one out,” Jefferson coach Steve French said. “We knew we were going to be in a battle.

“Niles just keeps coming at you, they are never out of a game with their shooters,” French said. “We were fortunate to come away with a win.”

Jefferson (12-5, 8-2 All-American Conference White Tier) is tied with Edgewood atop the league standings.

Sam Hitchcock led Jefferson with 27 points. Raffaelle Giancola chipped in with 18. Giancola scored nine of Jefferson’s 12 fourth-quarter points.

Niles (5-14) was led by Cyler Kane-Johnson, who popped in six shots from beyond the arc and finished with 26 points.

Corbin Foy nailed five three-pointers, and finished with 19.

Following a back-and-forth first quarter, Niles erupted for 25 second-quarter points to take a 44-36 lead into intermission.

The Red Dragons connected on six three-pointers in the quarter, with Foy and Kane-Johnson scoring 10 and eight, respectively.

Jefferson scored the first six points of the second half, and eventually cut its deficit to 59-58 at the end of the third quarter.

The Falcons then scored the first seven points of the final quarter to take a lead they didn’t relinquish.

Giancola tied the game at 59-59 on a free throw. He then scored on a layup and a basket off an offensive rebound, all within the first 1:20 of the final period.

“Raffaelle is a spark plug, when he gets going up and down the court he is fun to watch,” French said.

“He’s a hustler, and he outruns people. His performance tonight was huge.”

Once Jefferson built a 65-59 lead, it was willing to slow down its offense, holding the ball on several occasions for several minutes before being put to the foul line.

“We like to slow the game down at times, we run that triangle delay,” French said.

“We were a little winded. We don’t have a lot of subs, and they were willing to sit in that zone so we were fine with holding the ball for a bit.”

Jefferson owns a 70-19 record under French. The Falcons have won two straight league titles, and have their sights set on a third championship.