Cheektowaga Central’s Zak Ciezki, right, tries to find a way around Maryvale defender Chaz Cason early in the Warriors’ 68-55 victory Friday. Ciezki scored 15 points for the victors, while Cason had six points and rebounds for the Flyers. Photo by James SmerecakPurchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com Cheektowaga’s boys basketball team had revenge on its mind Friday night when it hosted crosstown and league rival Maryvale, and a 21-10 third-quarter scoring advantage helped the Warriors lock down the coveted victory as they took out the Flyers in the teams’ rematch, 68-55.

Maryvale, which defeated Cheektowaga by two points (64-62) in the Dec. 16 early-season meeting of the rivals, kept things close throughout the first half — the Flyers led 19-15 after the first quarter despite Cheektowaga’s late rally that closed what had been a nine-point advantage — before their shots stopped falling with regularity about halfway through the third quarter.

Cheektowaga took advantage of Maryvale’s cold streak to take a 10-point lead (55-45) into the final quarter, but Maryvale never gave up, trimming the Warriors’ advantage from 10 points with 3:32 to play in regulation, down to three points with 1:30 to go. Unfortunately for Flyer fans, they could not cut any further into Cheektowaga’s lead, and the Warriors once again came up with the efforts they needed at both ends of the court to pull away for good.

“The team that wanted it more won on Friday, but that’s still very frustrating because they got some easy chances by out-hustling us to the basket,” Maryvale coach Mark Kensy said. “They beat us up in the paint, they outworked us in general — we boxed out maybe a handful of times in what was terrible effort at rebounding — and we just couldn’t hit a cow on the butt with a snow shovel late in the game.”

“We didn’t go crazy when we were down early; we stuck with the game plan, and were rewarded with a nice league win,” Cheektowaga coach Pat Cullinan said. “Coming off that first loss to them at their place — we were stunned because we felt like we had them but didn’t finish it off — we wanted to be sure that we played our game. You can throw the records out when Maryvale and Cheektowaga play, and it always feels good to beat your crosstown rival. More importantly, we know we had to win to stay in the running for the league title, so we were pleased we were able to do that.”

The Warriors were led by Derek Clyburn’s 20 points, while Marquel Jackson added 16 points. Zak Ciezki chipped in with 15 points, while Kyle Mcduffie’s 11 points gave Cheektowaga four players with double digits.

Maryvale was paced by Sean Weisansal’s 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Tyler Smith added 12 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals. Ed Smith chipped in with seven points, six steals, five rebounds and three assists, while Chaz Cason contributed six points, 10 rebounds and three steals.

Maryvale started its week on a much better note, knocking off West Seneca East in non-league action on January 24, 64-44. A 23-11 run over the course of the third quarter let the Flyers break open what had been a somewhat close 33-27 game at the half.

Maryvale’s defensive intensity, which in turn allowed the Flyers to convert multiple easy baskets in transition, helped them put the game away in the fourth quarter.

“Our defense propelled us in the second half,” Kensy said. “We had seven steals as a team in the third quarter alone, and our defense in the fourth quarter led to a couple of easy baskets.”

Maryvale, which pushed its lead as high as 26 points with just over two minutes to play in regulation, was led by Demetri McCallie’s 12 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two assists. Tyler Smith added 12 points, 11 steals and four assists, while both Cason (five rebounds, three steals) and Ed Smith (five rebounds, five steals, three assists) contributed nine points.

Max Aikin and Jaylin Putman both scored eight points to help the victors.

Maryvale (5-9, 3-5 ECIC III) returns to action Friday at Depew, and then hosts Amherst Tuesday as it enters the regular season’s home stretch. After Tuesday, Maryvale has just two games left before the playoffs begin.

“We don’t have any easy games left,” Kensy said. “We’ve got to get a little tougher physically and mentally. I don’t know how you can show up to Cheektowaga and not play as hard as possible, but that’s what we did. The desire to win has to come from the kids.”

Cheektowaga (5-6, 5-2 ECIC III), meanwhile, returned to action at Pioneer Tuesday, but information about that contest was not available at press time.

The Warriors close out their week by hosting Springville Friday, but then face two critical tests next Tuesday (Feb. 7) and Thursday (Feb. 9) when they square off on the road against the division’s top two teams, East Aurora and Amherst.

“The next couple of weeks are going to be a big stretch for us where every game is going to be huge,” Cullinan said. “We certainly can’t look past anyone, so we’ll focus on what’s at hand. But, we’ve talked about starting better in general. We want to be ready to go right away, to find a way to put a little more pressure on our opponents early on so that we’re not allowing teams to get too far ahead of us. In the end, I suppose we’d rather finish strong than start strong. Whatever it takes to win, that’s what we’ll do.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com