Sports

Athletics teach young people life lessons that carry well beyond the diamond, hardwood or gridiron. They learn about teamwork and that the best things in life are the result of cooperation; that success is achieved through hard work and preparation; that mere talent and ability aren't enough; that opponents are worthy of respect; that life has boundaries and expectations and rules; that you may not always win, but if you always give your best effort, you are a winner; that the pursuit of excellence is its own kind of satisfying accomplishment. Competition is thrilling, but winning is the goal, and a worthy life goal.

Our high school teams are a touchstone of our community. They provide us with a source of community pride, an opportunity to come together as a community and a chance to see the best of our future as a community. 

To me, it's a privilege to cover our young community athletes. Over the past seasons, our athletes have inspired me to aim even higher and work harder in all aspects of my career and life. I thank them for all they achieved and shared with us in 2014 and wish them the best for 2015 and encourage them to give their best effort and aim for championship performances. 

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For the first time since 2003, the Lions Tournament championship trophy will not be on display in the hallway of a Genesee County school.

After dispatching Batavia in the first round, University Prep ran away from Notre Dame in the 4th quarter of last night's final to clinch the crown in a champion's fashion, 63-49.

In a match-up of a Class A charter school from a populous county against a Class D private school from a rural county, the local team looked for most of the game like they might actually win the game.

But four minutes into the third quarter, a double-digit lead started to slip away after U-prep's guards hit back-to-back threes and the Irish found themselves launching bricks instead of buckets.

"It all started with the missed shots," Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Rapone said. "Once the shots start getting missed, the game gets played at their tempo."

U-prep is a talented and athletic team. After the first round games, Rapone said his team would need to slow the pace of the game down in order to compete, and for 20 minutes, that's what they did.

Notre Dame carried a 29-17 lead into the half.

The Griffins were without three starters, all benched because they missed a practice, said Head Coach Raheem Miller.

"It's all about discipline," Miller said. "To me, you've got to be responsible. I understand things happen and whatever, but you've got to at least call. You don't just not show up."

It was OK, though. Miller still had Isaiah Brinkley at guard, another guard, Quillan Leach-Alexander, and Jeenathan Williams at forward.

Held scoreless in the first half, Brinkley let it up in the second, hitting four threes and scoring 24 points.

Leach-Alexander also hit a quad of treys and finished with a total of 19 points.

Williams, a freshman with some fine athletic moves in the lane and a deft touch from mid-distance, scored 13.

Brinkley was the tournament's most valuable player.

For Notre Dame, Josh Johnson scored 14 points and Caleb Nellis had 10.

Batavia beat Albion 68-31 in the consolution game to finish third in the tournament. Jeff Redband scored 29 points in that game.

Bishop-Timon won the tournament in 2003, and in 2004, Batavia started a tournament win streak that wasn't broken until this year.

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As they have done for who knows how many years -- the couple of guys I talked to didn't seem to know -- a group of friends met in Williams Park this morning for their annual Boxing Day street hockey match.

Batavia's Dominick Mogavero and Le Roy's Mike McMullen have both been named to the All-Greater Rochester Football Team for 2014.

McMullen was listed on the team as a quarterback and utility player. Mogavero, who played running back and linebacker for the Blue Devils, was named as a linebacker.

Greg Mruczek and Anthony Gallo, from Batavia, were named to the second team.

Honorable mentions went to:

Batavia's dominance of the Lion's Club Tournament at GCC came to a shocking end Tuesday night as the Blue Devils dropped an opening-round match to University Prep 59-55.

Head Coach Buddy Brasky was pretty blunt after the game. "We didn't execute our principles," he said.

U-Prep showed up with a team more skilled and more disciplined than seen in the tournament last year.

The team from the all-boys charter school in Rochester will face Notre Dame in Monday's final after the Fighting Irish crushed Albion, 74-60.

The Blue Devils win streak in the tournament goes back at least 10 years and has traditionally been the team to beat since its first tournament win 1989. The tournament was founded in 1982.

Batavia jumped to a quick lead to open the game and stayed just a step of ahead of the Griffins throughout much of the first half, only slipping until the final minute before the intermission to a point off the lead, 26-25.

The defensive game plan of Batavia is to hold teams to 13 or fewer points per quarter, and in the third, the Blue Devils did that, but only managed 12 points themselves.

In the final eight minutes, however, U-Prep scored 20 and Batavia's 18 wasn't enough of an answer.

"We didn't execute our principles, really, on either side of the ball as the game went on," Brasky said. "It was pretty disappointing. We had some good practices leading up to the game, but we didn't execute our fundamental principles."

Jeff Redband drained four threes and led the Blue Devils in scoring with 24 points. Jerrett Laskett and Greg Mruczek, who hit a trio of treys, including two in the closing minutes, each had 11.

For U-Prep, Jeenathan Williams scored 19 and Isaiah Brinkley and Cameron Myles had 12 apiece.

If the problem for Batavia (now 2-2) was a problem of execution, the opposite was true for Notre Dame in the nightcap.

Head Coach Mike Rapone said after the game that he's finally starting to see his team gel.

"You could see it a little bit in the second half at Attica," Rapone said. "I could see we were headed in the right direction. The first game we were OK. Oakfield, we were not good at all. With Attica I thought they are finally starting to understand.

"People don't understand it's all about understanding not only your role, but when to be in a spot and knowing that Josh is going to be here or Casey is going to be here and you've got to get there. It takes a while to get that belief. Tonight, I thought we had it."

Josh Johnson led the Irish with 27 points, all but five of those points coming in the first half when Johnson was clearly the dominant presence on the floor.

"He was getting to right spots and we were getting him the ball," Rapone said. "That's the whole combination right there. People have got to get to the spots and then we've got to find them."

Tyler Prospero came off the bench early in the game and scored 15 points, including hitting three shots from beyond the arc.

"He gave us a lift," Rapone said. "He's a good perimeter shooter.

"That's one of our strengths," he added, "our depth, our ability to run people into the game who can help us."

Looking ahead to Monday's final, Rapone knows U-Prep will present a tough challenge.

"We can't play at that frenetic pace," Rapone said. "If we play like that, it's going to be over early.  We're going to have to control the tempo, get some good shots and we've got to rebound a heck of a lot better than we did tonight."

The consolation game between Batavia and Albion is at 6:30 with the championship game to follow.

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Here are the latest game results for all of the Genesee County boys basketball teams (photos of the Le Roy vs. Letchworth game by David Boyce).

Letchworth (1-4) pulled out a narrow victory against Le Roy (1-5) on Friday night, 46-44. For Le Roy, Nick Egeling had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Tom Kelso scored 12. For Letchworth, Brad Bliss had 13, including the game-winning layup with :03 left in the 4th. Anthony Butler and Curtis Hoffman each had 10.

Notre Dame (3-0) beat Attica (2-2) 60-43 on Friday. Josh Johnson scored 19 and nine rebounds. Curtis Nellis noted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. C.J. Suozzi had 13 points. For Attica, Owen Thompson scored 18.

Byron-Bergen (4-1) won an OT victory over Lyndonville (3-3), 87-79. For BB, Brandon Burke had 22 points, Nick Magin 21 and Steele Truax, 21. Jordon Coffta made a three-pointer with :03 left in the 4th to send the game into overtime.

Pembroke moved to 2-4 with a 52-43 win over Alexander (1-4). Ryan Cansdale had 21 points and nine assists. Kyle Ludwig scored 14. Reid Miano had eight rebounds. For Alexander, Matt Genaway had 10 points, Tyler Laird 11 with eight rebounds and Jake Riggs had 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Elba (1-4) fell to Wheatland-Chili, 67-50. For Elba, John Hochmuth scored 22 to go with six rebounds and Dakota Dillion had five assists.

Oakfield-Alabama is 2-3 after beating Attica on Thursday, 70-65. Ryan Cummings had 24 points, Ryan Emery 21 and Josiah Yantz, 10.

Pavilion fell to Cal-Mum on Wednesday, 75-25. Pavilion is now 3-3. Evan Cleveland had eight points and Hayden Ewell, six.

Batavia beat Bishop-Timon 77-46 to improve to 2-1. Jeff Redband scored 32 and Jerret Laskett had 12.

Purely by coincidence Anita Strollo and I were both at the UB Bulls men's basketball game last night. She was there to meet Bobby Hurley in person. Her cousin, Sonny Falcone, is strength and condition coach at Duke University and is good friends with Hurley. Hurley, now head coach at UB, is one of the greatest collegiate point guards in history and helped lead the Blue Devils to a pair of NCAA national championships. Strollo, a Batavia resident, gave him a Christmas gift of some of her homemade cookies after the game. Buffalo beat Niagara 88-62.

NOTE: Apologies for not getting this story posted sooner. Since the end of the game last night until tonight, another news story has been our priority.

In the midst of the ruckus in a near-capacity Stan Sherman Gymnasium at Elba Central School on Wednesday night, the Lancers and Fighting Irish put on quite a basketball show.

Passes zipped around the keys, bodies slammed under the boards and fast breaks were launched in transition with the swiftness of an executioner's sword.

In the end, Elba, having spent their all on the hardwood, left the court disappointed, as Notre Dame scored 61 points to their 53.

"It was an entertaining game," said Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Rapone. "Both teams played hard. We both made some bad mistakes. We made some good plays. It was a typical Elba/Notre Dame basketball game. Both teams competed and both teams wanted to win. It had to be a good game for the fans to watch."

It's easy to see the game as an uplifting moment when your team wins, but Elba Head Coach Mark Beehler hardly hid his disappointment at the outcome during a post-game interview.

Elba hasn't beaten its arch-rival since a 2008 sectional playoff.

"That was everything we expect as far as energy and excitement of the game," said Beehler with hardly a trace of energy or excitement in his voice. "Every time we play Notre Dame, it's always a big one."

Elba took a 29-27 lead into the half and the start of the third continued the back-and-forth battle, but as players knocked about for position under Notre Dame's basket midway through the quarter, John Hockmuth was conked in the nose. The game was delayed while officials cleaned blood from the court. Hockmuth was taken to the locker room for treatment and missed the rest of the third and the start of the fourth quarter.

While was out, Notre Dame went on a run. Tyler Prospero scored a pair of threes, Josh Johnson had one and James Farmer had one.

The Irish outscored the Lancers in the third 21-8.

Elba's defense tightened when Hockmuth was back on the court, but couldn't capitalize of a string of Irish possessions that yielded no points.

As the second to last minute wound toward the final minute, the Lancers went on a mini-run, drawing within six points of the lead.

With about a minute left, Notre Dame was called for a backcourt violation. Elba's Richard Flores celebrated a little too exuberantly and was called for a technical foul, his fifth foul of the game.

Rapone said that foul did shift the momentum back to Notre Dame.

"The kids are excited, but they're (the officials) are really strict about taunting now, so you've got to be careful," Rapone said.

Flores (top photo) was a big reason Elba made a game of it. In his first start of the season, he scored eight points and had 10 rebounds.

He plays bigger than his 5' 10" height.

"He hits boards really well," Beehler said. "He's got sticky hands. If he grabs it, he's going to keep it."

In a box-and-one defense, Flores was charged with guarding Notre Dame's hot-shot shooter Josh Johnson. That is what really contributed to Flores fouling out.

"He had a tough task tonight," Beehler said. "He played as hard as anybody out there."

Rebounding was a big part of what kept Elba in the game, Beehler said, that and taking care of the ball, even against Notre Dame's pressure defense.

"Turnover-wise, we only had eight," Beehler said. "That's pretty low for us compared to years past against their press."

Rapone said after the game it's clear his team needs to work on its free throws. The Irish only sank 14 of 33 attempts (43 percent).

For Elba, both Hochmuth and Shane O'Halloran had 14 points. Hochmuth -- nine rebounds. Evan Cole had eight points and 11 rebounds.

For Notre Dame, Johnson had 17 points, C.J. Souzi 10 points and nine rebounds, and Caleb Nellis recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Josh Johnson drives for the basket.

Hochmuth blocks a Casey Midwick shot attempt.

Hochmuth and Nellis battle for position during a free-throw attempt.

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The score may not reflect it, but the Elba Lady Lancers played an intense, hard-fought game against archrival Notre Dame on Tuesday night.

They came up short, 51-31.

"Elba's very well coached," said Notre Dame Head Coach Dave Pero. "They're hard-nosed girls. They're going to be reckoned with all year. We're fortunate to do what we did."

The Lancers' game plan called for a pressure defense that would attempt to hold the Fighting Irish to 12 points or under per quarter.

All went to plan in the first half. Notre Dame scored only eight in the first quarter (six on a pair of threes from Shea Norton) and 11 in the second quarter.

Unfortunately for Elba, their shots weren't falling either and the Lancers trailed 19-10 at the half.

"I thought we both played good defense in the first half," said Tom Redband, head coach for Elba. "They started to pick it up in the second half and our shots continued not to fall. We had some untimely turnovers and the rest is history."

Pero said his team was pretty hyped up about playing Elba, but they relaxed in the second half and that, along with some adjustments to deal with Elba's press, made the difference.

"The listened to what we needed to do," Pero said. "That's a sign of good quality girls. They'll listen to you when you need to make adjustments." 

Notre Dame features three starters who are all six-feet tall and over. Elba's shooters repeatedly found their shots being knocked down, and rebounds were hard to come by.

"You practice the boxing out and you practice the crashing, but it's hard to simulate the 6-1, 6-2," Redband said. "They get an extra hand on the ball. It's a tough match up for us."

While both teams are in the Genesee Region League, Elba is Class D and Notre Dame is Class C.

Elba, now 3-1, looks like a team that can make a run at sectional play, though Redband is taking a one-game-at-time approach.

"We have some work to do like we all do this time of year," Redband said. "It's only our fourth game. It's a long season. Fifteen more games. We've got two more games before the break, then we've got 16 days off, so we'll be able to fine tune some things before the new year."

Guard Alex Riegle scored 14 ponits (with four three-pointers) for the Lady Lancers and proved a deft ball handler and capable court leader, even against Notre Dame's pressure defense.

For Notre Dame, Rebecca Krenzer had 15 points, Norton 13 and Emma Francis 11.

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The 26th annual Rotary Basketball Tournament is Jan. 6 and Jan. 8 at Genesee Community College and this year features Alexander, Batavia, Notre Dame and Midlakes.

The Rotary Club hosted the teams (Midlakes couldn't make it) in its annual tournament announcement luncheon at the YWCA.

Pictured are Madison McCulley and Samantha Cecere, from Batavia, Emma Francis and Emily McCracken, from Notre Dame, and Sydney Breton and Elizebeth Taylor, from Alexander.