Depew’s Jaden Cotton turns to make a move to the basket against Cheektowaga on Friday night. Cotton and the Wildcats lost a heartbreaker to the Warriors in overtime, 65-64. Photo by John RusacPurchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com The St. Mary’s Lancers picked up a huge confidence booster and a signature victory for the 2011-12 season on Tuesday night when they traveled to Bishop Timon-St. Jude.

A trip to play the Tigers in South Buffalo is tough enough, but Timon also came into the game as the No. 4 Large School team in Western New York. With a chance to make a statement, the Lancers took full advantage as Devin Redden poured in a team-high 21 points and St. Mary’s came away with a 73-71 victory.

The win was the fourth in a row for the Lancers, who now sit at 12-5 overall and 4-2 in Monsignor Martin play. They are also comfortably in second place in the Western New York Small School rankings.

St. Mary’s head coach Dan Gill was curious to see how his team would handle the pressure of playing a big game on the road in a tough atmosphere against an 11-3 Tigers team. Gill was quite pleased with what he saw on Tuesday.

“I told them that the ultimate sign of toughness is winning in South Buffalo,” Gill said. “It’s a great atmosphere and a hostile crowd. I was proud of the tough mentality they showed.”

Redden led the way to victory for the Lancers with 21 points and nine rebounds. Gill has been challenging Redden to put together a full, all-around effort for 32 minutes of basketball and he got it on Tuesday.

“I’ve been challenging him for a complete game,” Gill said. “He stepped up. He showed that he can be one of the better players in Western New York when he competes.”

Gill hasn’t always seen that compete out of Redden, but it was there on Tuesday as he put a full-out effort into leading the Lancers to victory.

“I can tell he competed because he was tired afterwards,” Gill said. “He’s not always tired after games because he’s not competing. He should be spent. He was (Tuesday).”

The Lancers also got double digit scoring efforts from Erik Simmons (14 points), Nicc Johnson (11) and Nate Meyers (10). Jake Denz had a team-high 11 rebounds for St. Mary’s. Gill said the key was contributions from everyone, especially from the Lancer bench.

“The nice thing was that our bench stepped up for the second game in a row,” Gill said. “They came into their own and did so well in an adverse situation.”

Gill said his players were prepared for the hostility they would face Tuesday because they experienced the atmosphere at Timon from a game there two years ago.

“They saw how hard it is to win there,” Gill said. “They know how hard they have to compete.”

In a high-scoring third quarter, the Lancers moved out to a 60-53 lead and built their lead up to 11 in the fourth quarter before Timon made a mini-run to make the game close. St. Mary’s trailed by seven after one quarter, but rallied to tie the game before halftime.

The Lancers will face another tough road challenge on Friday when they visit Nichols at 7:30 p.m. It is one of six league games remaining for the red-hot Lancers. Gill knows, though, that his team cannot get complacent and has to take care of business through this final stretch.

“We have a long way to go,” Gill said. “We have six league games left. We have a lot to take care of. We have to take it one game at a time.”

Meanwhile, the Depew Wildcats earned a big victory as well on Tuesday night as thumped JFK, 80-43. The victory was a nice rebound for the Wildcats after a heartbreaking, overtime defeat to Cheektowaga on Friday night. Depew head coach Larry Jones was happy with the way his team responded.

“It was important for us to bounce back,” Jones said. “Cheektowaga was a tough one for us. We should have been able to wrap that game up.”

On Friday, Depew held a four-point lead with 30 seconds left to play and were at the free throw line looking to close play out. They couldn’t do it, though, and Cheektowaga came back to force overtime on two free throws with five seconds to play by Derek Clyburn. The Warriors went on to grab the 65-64 victory in the extra session.

Jones was displeased that his team could not close out the final 30 seconds of the game.

“We have to win that game,” Jones said. “We have a lot of work to do now. We’ve played a lot of close games where we didn’t play well down the stretch.”

Depew left no doubt in its 37-point victory over JFK. Big man Jaden Cotton led the way with 20 points down low, but the Wildcats were also supported by the outside scoring of Derrick Sekuterski (9 points), Mike Nowak (8) and Andrew Romano (8). Nowak led the Wildcats with two made three-pointers.

“It was nice to rebound like that,” Jones said of the win. “We shot the ball well and we didn’t turn it over.”

It was also another big game for Cotton, who has continued his strong play during the recent stretch. Jones said he’s “quitely” able to score and take over the game down low.

“Jaden’s playing well right now,” Jones said. “He struggled earlier in the year because he was shooting off balance and forcing shots. He’s been in a better rhythm lately and gotten the ball in good situations. On Monday he had his way down low. We need that from him on a consistent basis.”

The Wildcats have another big game next Tuesday when they host Amherst at 7:30 p.m. It Depew’s Coaches vs. Cancer game and fans will receive a white T-shirt with $3 admission to the game. All proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.

Thursday night saw the Lancaster Redskins take the court for the first time in almost two weeks because their Jan. 13 game at Jamestown was postponed because of snow. Lancaster faced Clarence on Thursday and took control in the second half on route to a 60-56 victory.

Sean Murray lead the way for the Redskins with 17 points, while Danny Emma chipped in 12. David Spengler and Colin Stotz both had 10 rebounds in the win.

Head coach John Otto was hoping for a quick start from his team and got it on the offensive end with an 18-point effort. However, his guys made some mistakes on defense that led to the Redskins being down, 19-18, after one quarter.

“As a coach you worry that the team will come out flat, but hope they come out hungry,” Otto said. “Lucky for us, they were hungry, but were too eager on defense and made some mistakes.”

Lancaster continued to trail by a point at halftime before changing up his defense and relying on guard play from Murray and Emma.

“I asked Murray and Emma to put a couple players on lockdown and protect the ball better in second half,” Otto said. “They responded and our three big men, Spengler, Emerson, and Joe Jankowski, controlled the boards by keeping Clarence to many one-and-dones in the fourth quarter.”

Lancaster has a tough stretch coming up with the rescheduled game at Jamestown on Wednesday before visits to Williamsville North on Friday, Frontier next Tuesday and West Seneca West next Thursday. The Redskins currently sit at 4-7 overall and in fifth place in the ECIC I rankings with a 3-4 league record. Otto knows this next stretch of games is important for his team.

“We have an opportunity to make a big jump in league standings in a short period of time,” Otto said. email: mmigliore@beenews.com