Sports

 Wow!

If you would have said Terrell Owens would be a member of the Buffalo Bills even a week ago, I might have told you that you were nuts.

But after the controversial star was released by the Dallas Cowboys, the Bills have signed him to a one year deal.

He's thought of as a cancer and the biggest pain in the butt in the NFL, but he is now a Bill. This is amazing and will put our local NFL team on the map. 

We are in for a fun season,

I unfortunately didn't make the game today because I'm not feeling well, but Batavia just beat Freddie Thomas 65-45 to win the Section 5 Class A2 title.

The Blue Devils had a lot of haters this season as people didn't think Batavia had enough size, but this is the first sectional championship team for the program since Michael Chmielowiec's senior year.

Andrew Hoy was shut down in the first half, but blew up for 21 points in the second half. He scored all of his points from beyond the 3-point line. This follows his 27 point performance against Geneva. He's having an amazing post season.

Marcus Hoy had 15 points and did a great job of leading the team on the floor and Dakota Irvin pitched in 11 points. 

The sectional title is the potential tip of the iceberg as the Blue Devils play either Newark or Sutherland in the crossover game before the Far West Regionals. Hopefully I'll be over this bug and be at that game. 

Chmielowiec led his team to the state semifinals and now this team can look to get to that point or beyond.

Irvin and Andrew Hoy made the all-tournament team with Marcus Hoy winning the MVP. 

It is often said that basketball is a game of runs.

While there were several runs in Wednesday's Section 5 Class A2 semifinals at the Blue Cross Arena, Batavia's last was the biggest as the Blue Devils won a thrilling 60-57 game over Geneva.

"Coach called a timeout and called a great play, and I hit a 3," said Andrew Hoy, who scored a game-high 27 points. "It is all about runs. Junior Collins doesn't normally shoot like that, even though he's a great player. He banged in two 3-pointers to put them up. We knew we would make our shots."

The second Panther run - and biggest - came after the team had fell behind 14 points midway through the third quarter.

Joe Schlossel scored to put the Blue Devils up 39-25 but Hoy went to the bench with foul trouble.

Geneva ripped off eight consecutive points with Batavia's top gun on the bench.

The Blue Devils held on to a lead, but the Panthers had five straight points at the end of the third quarter and tied the game at 45.

Geneva took a 53-49 lead when Collins hit a pair and Mickel Soloman hit one 3-pointer over a minute stretch.

Timeout Batavia.

"They were shell-shocked when Geneva had that big run," Batavia coach Buddy Brasky said. "I told them basketball was a game of runs and we had to answer."

Batavia answered right back with Andrew hitting a 3, Marcus Hoy dropping one in and Andrew hitting another in just over a minute. The Blue Devils had recaptured the lead, 58-53, with just two minutes left in the game.

"It helps a lot that I was here last year," Andrew Hoy said. "At one point I was like 0-for-10 last year, I didn't even hit the rim. It was good to get that experience last year."

Geneva cut the deficit to 58-56 when Darnell McDuffy scored and had an and-1, then stole the inbounds pass and missed the shot.

Andrew hit two free throws before Shamar Bridges hit a free throw in the closing seconds for Geneva. The Panthers had a look in the closing seconds but Collins missed the trey.

Batavia (19-3) will play Freddie Thomas in the finals on Saturday at 2 p.m.

"Freddie Thomas is as good as anybody in A1 or A2," Brasky said. "They have the fifth leading scorer in all of Section 5. It's a whole different ballgame for them. We'll watch film and get ready for Saturday."

The Batavia girls basketball team made some great strides this season under coach Bill Wade, who came out of retirement to take over the squad.

But an off shooting night against a tough No. 13 Aquinas team means that season came to an end Thursday night, with a sloppy 49-41 loss on No. 8 Batavia's home court in the second round of the Section 5 Class A playoffs.

"(Aquinas) is a very good team," Batavia coach Bill Wade said. "I saw that when I scouted them a week and a half ago. This is a tough team in the second round. I thought we could have won but we didn't make our baskets when we needed to."

The Blue Devils have been able to have players pick up their games when other's were off, but there were a bunch of stretches Thursday that it didn't happen - where nobody could hit a shot. 

It was probably Batavia's most poor shooting effort as a team all season long.

"We had our looks, we had our chances and we had our opportunities," Wade said. 

Neither squad came to play in the first quarter.

Marieli Ramirez scored five straight points to put the Lil' Irish up 7-3, but Brittany Wormley scored with three minutes left to make the score 7-5 Aquinas. Nobody else scored in the period.

Michelle Jordan scored a basket and had a 3-pointer early in the second quarter for Batavia, but Aquinas went on a 9-0 run to take a 19-11 lead. Kelly Legg scored three consecutive baskets in the run.

Wormley killed the Irish scoring with five straight points, but Aquinas had a 26-17 lead at halftime. 

Shun-Della Williams had a big third quarter for the Blue Devils. Her rebounding was huge in the frame and she had both she and Wormley had four points apiece to cut the deficit to 32-29 after three periods of play.

"I thought she really stepped up and got us going in the third quarter," Wade said. "We could have folded and didn't."

Carly Cellura drained a pair of 3-pointers to put Aquinas up 42-34 midway through the fourth quarter, but the Blue Devils didn't quit. Wormley had a basket with 1 1/2 minute left and trailed by just four points.

But on Aquinas' next trip down the floor was the nail in the coffin. Legg - a 6-foot-1 forward - pulled up and hit a 3-pointer.

That gives the Irish (8-12) a shot to play top-seeded Pittsford Mendon in the semifinals.

Wormley scored 15 points to lead Batavia, which ends up 15-7. Only two players -Brittany Mazurkiewicz and Jaycee Shirk - are graduating, so the Blue Devils could be strong again next season. 

Shirk had five points and Mazurkiewicz had seven in their final high school game.

"We will get together on Monday and have a meeting, talk about how we are going to work for next year," Wade said. "But Brittany and Jaycee were great leaders and whoever our captains are next year I can only hope will fill their shoes half way. They were great."

The Alexander girls basketball team earned the top seed in Class C because the team has so many solid players. Rachel Pettys is without a doubt one of them.

The senior forward led a big second half rebounding effort to lead the Trojans to a 65-44 win over No. 9 Lyndonville Wednesday.

Pettys had 11 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in the contest.

"Rachel is everywhere," Alexander coach Marcia Hirsch said. "She had an amazing game tonight and really is the heartbeat of our team, along with Anna Dominick. They work and do what it takes. They are on the floor and fighting for every rebound."

Alexander was on the losing side of the rebounding numbers at the half by 10, but had an eight board advantage after the third quarter.

"They haven't been outrebounded yet this year," Hirsch said. "We have a sticker board in the locker room and they get a sticker every time they outrebound somebody. They take a lot of pride in their rebounding."

The Trojans had a very slim 12-11 lead after the first quarter and a 27-20 lead at halftime, but outscored the Tigers 20-9 in the third to pull away.

Dominick led all scorers with 15 points as all five Alexander starters finished in double figures.

Anni Lehtola had 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists with Katie Kochmanski and Chelsea Turcer getting 10 points apiece.

Samantha Skryp and Molly Burgess had 10 points each for Lyndonville, which ends up 10-12.

Alexander (16-4) will face No. 4 Lyons (11-9) in the semifinals at Pittsford Sutherland.

Hirsch hasn't seen the Lions play this season, but will be doing her homework over the next couple of days. But she also says that once you get to this level, it is all about how your team performs.

"Sometimes you just have to play and not worry about the other team," Hirsch said.

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."

Notre Dame guard Kevin Francis was awarded the Genesee Region League Player of the Year award this week. Kendall's Josh Laureano and his coach, and brother, Justin both thought he deserved to share that honor.

You can call that a little added motivation as the fifth-seeded Eagles kicked off the Section 5 Class C2 playoffs with a 77-74 win over No. 12 Cuba-Rushford Tuesday.

Laureano scored 51 points with 10 assists and seven rebounds to lead the way.

"We were disappointed that Josh didn't get Co-Player of the Year in the GR," said Justin, the older brother and coach. "Josh and Francis are so much alike, very similar. I won't take anything away from Francis because he's a big-time player, but Josh is just as good."

 "I talked about it with Francis when we played them," Josh said. "There was a big fight on Section 5 Talksback saying I said all these things about him, and I didn't. He is a great player. But I just think people should give me as much credit as he gets."

Cuba-Rushford sat in a 3-2 zone, which basically played like man-to-man for Laureano because the guards were too wide. Justin knows that not many players can go one-on-one with his brother.

"I had to beg him to please go by (the defender) until they stop you," Justin said. "Everything he scored tonight was going to the basket. He went 17-of-19 from the floor."

 Laureano's night is going to go down as one of the best in Section 5 history, not just Kendall history. 

He hit a fade-away 3-pointer in the second overtime to clinch the win. He beat former Division I and professional player Roosevelt Bouie's school record of 47 points, and pulled a team and school together.

The 51 points is believed to be the second-highest in Section 5 history, only behind Matt Kerkey's 57 points for Mynderse in 1992.

"I enjoyed it because it made me happy to do what I was doing, and it was making everybody around me happier," Josh said. "Everybody that was in the gym was having fun, not just me."

Laureano is one of the most prolific scorers in the GR, but 51 is a number that is rarely seen in Section 5. And his teammates have no problem with their go-to option.

"If I would just let Josh go, he'd probably have some pretty high scoring games," Justin said. "I try to restrain him because as a coach, it is always team first. And we truly do have a team. There is zero infighting, zero jealousy and everybody is rooting for each other."

Colt Tooley added 14 points for the Eagles (14-9), who will play No. 4 Dundee (13-8) on Friday.

"We have talked about how winnable our bracket it and if we want to win it, we can," Josh said. "We didn't play our best game tonight because we had it in our head that we should have won because we were a higher seed. We shouldn't have been like that."

 (It was originally reported that Laureano scored 53. The results were later changed and the total was 51. Still amazing)

UPDATE: Laureano's total is actually third all-time in Section 5. Prattsburgh's Brian Putnam scored 51 points in 1991 for the second highest total in a game. 

Brighton may have been just 8-12 going into Monday night's Section 5 Class A girls basketball playoff game with host Batavia, but one of those wins came against the Blue Devils. And several of the losses came to Monroe County League Division I and II schools.

So Bill Wade knew his team was going to have their hands full.

Even with a sloppy ending, that including many missed layups and free throws, Batavia escaped with a 44-39 win to advance past the opening round.

"I'm very happy," said Wade, whose team beat the Barons by two and lost by one in the regular season. "One of the things I said when I took over coaching the team was that I was going to enjoy every win our team gets - and I'm enjoying this win. We do have to fix some things. But if we didn't win, we weren't going to get a chance to fix them."

 Wade also notes that Brighton's record is deceiving. The team had some injury problems to key players that were factors in the losses.

The five point victory was the biggest margin of victory either team has had in the three matchups this year and the reason was because of the Batavia defense.

When the Blue Devils had a 51-50 win in January, Brighton hit nine 3-pointers in the win. The 12th seeded Barons did not hit a shot from beyond the arc against the fifth seeded Blue Devils Monday. Wade gives a lot of credit to the defense of Brittany Hein, who he calls one of the best defensive players he's ever coached.

"We tried to give them different looks," Wade said. "We normally play a 3-2, but we were almost in a 2-3 tonight. They run one in and four out and they are very wide. (Leanna) Brooks is a good post player and driver, and we had a hard time adjusting to her last time. We tried to contain her drive so we didn't have to help on other girls, then we tried to be in their vision on every shot."

Wade is also looking towards his senior leaders in these playoffs. And Brittany Mazurkiewicz didn't disappoint.

She converted 8-of-9 free throw attempts and scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the second half.

"She started taking the ball to the basket," Wade said. "We used a little pick-and-roll play and she was taking the ball to the basket and getting fouled."

 Jaycee Shirk had four points and eight rebounds with Hein pitching in four assists and Brittany Wormley scoring six points.

Brenna Bauer had 15 points to lead Brighton (8-13).

Batavia (15-6) will get another home game on Thursday because No. 13 Aquinas surprised No. 4 Sutherland 69-59 Monday.

"Since I took over, I've talked about changing the culture," Wade said. "First I wanted to get kids to want to come out and play, and second, I wanted them to believe they can win a big game. If we win or lose, the next game is going to be a step in the right direction in changing the atmosphere if we play a good game."