(December 29, 2007) — PERINTON — There's bad news for Fairport's basketball opponents: The Red Raiders have found a way to win games when sharp-shooter Kyle Downey doesn't go crazy with a 30-point night.

 

Downey did score 19, but the real story Friday was Fairport's supporting cast.

Senior Marc Bertucci scored a career-high 12 points and David Kozar and Mike DeRusso each added eight as the Red Raiders unleashed a balanced attack, knocking off Greece Athena 59-48 in a showcase of defending sectional champions at jam-packed Fairport High School.

 

"We worked on that balance all week in practice after the Rush loss," said Downey, referring to last Friday's key Monroe County showdown when the Royal Comets came to Fairport and cruised past the Red Raiders 67-47.

 

"Our first couple of games, it was me trying to do too much, but now it's a team effort, and it's much easier to win like this. We came in with a chip on our shoulder, we came to prove that we're a good team and we're going to be sticking around for a while."

 

Whether Downey, who had scored 26 or more points in all six of Fairport's previous games and muscled his way to 14 rebounds Friday, was speculating on Fairport's (5-2) chances of repeating as sectional champions was unclear.

But the message from this hard-fought win over Athena (7-1) was certain: When Fairport's other scorers step up, the Red Raiders are really dangerous.

 

Bertucci scored eight points in the first half, including a pair of 15-foot jumpers, and along with Kozar and Sam Townsend (five rebounds, four steals) held Brian Benson, the 6-foot-8 senior forward who is headed to the University of New Hampshire, to four second-half points.

 

"This game we really gelled after the practices we had this week," Bertucci said. "Kyle was passing and giving up some contested shots for some open looks for other people. I just knew it was going to be one of those nights where the shots just are falling for you."

 

Fairport coach Scott Fitch said his team used the Rush-Henrietta loss — a game in which Downey scored 29 points but the rest of his teammates combined for just 18 — as a measuring stick to see how far they need to go to play with the best.

 

"We were going to see what we were made of this week and the kids responded very nicely," Fitch said. "Our other guys have to hurt the opposition, and if they don't, then you're going to struggle, which we have a couple of games.

 

"Kyle made other guys better tonight, and that's a big piece for us if we're going to get to where we want to go."

Fairport used its balance to take a 31-21 halftime lead. Downey scored seven points in the first five minutes, then a combination of Brad Shelofsky and Kourtney Goff held the reigning All-Greater Rochester Player of the Year scoreless until he swished a 3 as the second quarter wound down.

 

Every time Downey touched the ball, Athena's defenders swarmed to him.

Zack Scribani banked in a 3 after Downey set an effective screen and DeRusso drilled a wide-open 3 to give the Red Raiders a 28-17 lead.

 

Goff scored eight of his 19 points during a frantic third-quarter rally to pull Athena within 41-39, but Bertucci calmly sunk a pair of free throws to end the third and virtually lock it up.

 

"Their other guys hadn't been making shots very consistently," said Athena coach Jim Johnson. "But they made some shots tonight. That was the difference."

 

JBOCCACI@DemocratandChronicle.com

Fairport 59, Greece Athena 48

Greece Athena 15 6 18 9 — 48
Fairport 18 13 12 16 — 59

GREECE ATHENA: Kourtney Goff 19, Brad Shelofsky 4, Mike Palermo 7, R.J. Kalb 6, Brian Benson 12, Billy Bowe 0.
 

FAIRPORT: Kyle Downey 19, David Kozar 8, Zack Scribani 3, Scott Deady 6, Mike DeRusso 8, Brendan McCarthy 0, Mike Glenn 0, Sam Townsend 1, Rob Magee 0, Marc Bertucci 12, Phil Mormon 2.
3-point goals: Palermo, Downey 3, Kozar, Scribani, Deady 2, DeRusso.