Sports

- I've seen Ray Paul play football a few times. The GR all-star from Barker is a load as a fullback. He's an even bigger load on the basketball court. The 6-foot-2 big man blocked three shots in the first quarter and scored five points as the Raiders jumped out to a 7-0 lead. The Bees could not hit a shot and missed two free throws with three seconds left in the period. 

- When two small schools get together to play a basketball game, sometimes the games can be ugly if the teams do not play well. Here is one of those examples.

Byron-Bergen did not score its first basket until 10 minutes into the game when Tyler Sass hit a 3-pointer.  Barker struggled to hit a shot and so did the Bees. The Raiders had a 12-3 lead with two minutes left in the first half when Sass hit his second 3-pointer of the period. He made it six-straight points when he hit his third 3-pointer with 12 seconds left. As ugly as the half was, the game is tight with Barker leading 12-9.

1:42 p.m. - Finally, some action. Paul and Sass both scored five points and the Bees took a 27-26 lead after three periods of play.

Trevor Laurie got the game within three points with a 3 before Sass tied things up with 4:20 left in the third with another trifecta.

After exchanging points, Byron-Bergen took its first lead of the game on a bucket by Sass. A Laurie basket gave the Bees a 3-point lead, but Greg Brown scored for Barker with six seconds left.

2:10 p.m. - It wound up being the Ray Paul show.

Barker won the game 43-38 and Paul - a three year varsity starter - was the star, scoring a team-high 22 points and blocking five shots. The game was briefly stopped with 3 1/2 minutes left when Paul forced his way to the basket and banged in a layup. It was his 18th point of the game and the 1,000th of his career.

The Raiders scored eight straight points to eliminate a five point Byron-Bergen lead and Paul's basket gave Barker a 33-32 lead with 3 1/2 minutes left in the game. Xavier Mann scored to make it a three point game and it was never closer than that.

Barker had expanded the lead to 41-33 when Paul hit a pair of free throws and 32 seconds on the clock, but Kurtis Fannon drained a 3 for the Bees and Barker couldn't hit foul shots as B-B was forced to foul. Sass knocked in a pair of free throws to cut the lead to three again, but an intentional foul was called and Brown went to the line, hitting one-of-two attempts. Barker got the ball back and Brown was fouled again, missing both. 

Sass missed a 3-point attempt with a second left and Paul went to the line to cap off his big game, hitting one of two.

The Niagara-Orleans League now has a 3-1 advantage in the Showdown with four games left to be played today. CSAT and Alexander is coming up next.

 Noon - Just showed up as the third quarter ends. The game is ties 31-31.

12:33 p.m. - The finish was not pretty, especially for Lyndonville. Roy-Hart didn't exactly tear things up in the fourth quarter but took advantage of every opportunity. The Tigers took a 3-point lead when Idris Akram hit a trey, but the Rams got within a point when Corey Callaghan drained a jumper.

 Callaghan had a put-back basket after a pair of missed free throws and then hit another layup and Roy-Hart was up 43-39 with just under four minutes left. Akram hit one of two at the charity stripe, but then the well went dry. The Tigers had three possessions without a shot and only hit 2-of-6 foul shots down the stretch.

Callaghan scored 25 points to lead the Rams as Roy-Hart opens Saturday's action with a 49-45 victory, giving the Niagara-Orleans League a 2-1 advantage through three games. 

Byron-Bergen vs. Barker up next.

The Oakfield-Alabama girls basketball team had a 16-5 edge in the fourth quarter to hold off host Attica and pick up a 42-25 win Friday.

Brynne Perfitt had 13 points to lead the Hornets with 13 points. Lindsay Chatt scored nine and Dani Sage followed with seven.

Breanna Hummell scored eight points with 10 boards for the Blue Devils (1-19). Margaret LaFleur had 10 points.

O-A is now 11-8. 

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Christina Harmon had 15 points to lead Caledonia-Mumford to a 49-38 win over visiting Le Roy.

Emily Wade scored nine points with six rebounds for the Red Raiders (10-9).

Allison Macomber scored 14 points and grabbed 12 boards for the Oatkan Knights (2-18). Megan Lowe added 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Vinny Zambito scored a team-high 22 points to lead Notre Dame to a 62-52 win over visiting Lima Christian Friday. Zambito drained four 3-pointers.

Kevin Francis had 14 points with eight assists and six steals and Greg Barr pitched in 14 points.

Josh Arnold scored 25 points to lead LC (11-8).

Notre Dame is 15-3.

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Batavia had little trouble in disposing of visiting Lackawanna, gaining a 29-point lead at one point, and winning 68-46.

Andrew Hoy scored 19 points with six rebounds and two steals and Marcus Hoy chipped in nine points with 15 assists and five steals. Dakota Irvin had 13 points for the Blue Devils (16-2).

The Batavia defense held Lackawanna's top two scorers in check, with Darren Cleveland - who averages 28 ppg - to just six points and Andre Alexander to just five points. Dwight Barber had 12 and David Kosanovich added 10 for Lackawanna (12-6).

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 Caledonia-Mumford toppled host Le Roy 67-62 in overtime as Dave Fox came up big to send the game to the extra session.

Fox hit five foul shots near the end of regulation and ended the day with 21 points and eight rebounds. He hit five 3-pointers in the game and the third one gave the Red Raiders a 1-point lead.

Le Roy's Travis Fenstermaker hit one-of-two shots at the charity stripe to sendt he game to overtime.

Jeremy Wilson scored 15 points for C-M (11-7) with Chris Voos pitching in 14 and Dave Nasradinaj ending up with eight points and 11 rebounds.

Mike Humphrey scored a game-high 25 points for the Oatkan Knights (9-10). Jordan Casper helped out with eight points and 10 boards. 

 Several area schools are represented in this week's Democrat & Chronicle polls.

Batavia, Attica and Holley are all ranked in the small school wrestling poll as we head into this weekend's sectional tournament.

Batavia is the fifth ranked school, with Attica coming in at No. 6 and Holley at No. 8.

Elba has the seventh ranked girls basketball team in the small school category, with Alexander and Notre Dame also receiving votes.

Batavia's boys basketball team is ranked No. 9 in the large school rankings while Oakfield-Alabama is No. 8 in the small school poll.

Batavia's hockey team also received votes, but did not crack the top 10.

Byron-Bergen nearly pulled off a major upset Thursday night in a game against Alexander, having a 9-1 advantage in the fourth quarter.

But the Trojans held on and won the game 51-49 to improve to 15-4.

Katie Kochmanski scored 12 points with Anni Lehtola adding 11 and Chelsea Turcer pitching in nine.

Kizzy Heale had 15 points and Rori Partridge added 12 for the Bees (9-10).

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Trisha Pike scored a team-high 15 points to lead Notre Dame to a 69-31 thumping of host Lima Christian.

Nichole Hart had 14 points and Liz Geandreau pitched in 12. Brittany Morelli finished with 10 points.

Laurel Clark had 17 for LC.

Notre Dame is 15-4.

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Meghan Fahy nearly dropped in 25 points as Kendall downed Wheatland-Chili 56-41.

Fahy ended up with 24 points with Samantha D'Agostino finished the game with 19 points.

Lauren Drago had 24 points to lead the Wildcats (4-13).

Kendall is 5-12.

The Batavia girls basketball team played a near-perfect game Thursday night, downing visiting Albion 65-38 on senior night.

The night started with seniors Brittany Mazurkiewicz and Jaycee Shirk being honored, and then the Blue Devils got down to business on the court and took care of the Purple Eagles.

It could have been a sign that Batavia was going to win easily as Brittany Wormley drained a wide open 3-pointer to start the game. The Blue Devils never trailed.

Albion briefly tied things up at 5, but Wornley hit another trifecta to start a Batavia run. The Blue Devils had an 8-0 run late in the first quarter, with Michelle Jordan, Shirk, Mazurkiewicz and Tori Doward each scoring points.

The lead was 18-11 after the opening eight minutes.

With Kristen Klein hitting a free throw and Jordan hitting a 3-pointer, the score was doubled up at 22-11.

The Purple Eagles had a chance to get back in the game in the second quarter but missed five straight foul shots. Batavia led 31-17 at halftime.

Wormley, Mazurkiewicz, Klein and Shun-Della Williams had four points each in the third quarter to give the Blue Devils a 50-28 lead after three quarters of play.

Shirk and Klein had four points each in the fourth quarter.

Shirk had a tremendous game with 14 points, nine rebounds, eight blocks and two assists and Mazurkiewcz added six points and five dimes.

Jordan and Wormley had 10 points each, with Wormley grabbing four rebounds and making two steals. Klein had nine points and four boards and Williams finished with six points and eight rebounds.

Rebecca Deegan had 12 points to lead Albion (14-4).

Batavia (14-4) will be playing at Pittsford Sutherland in the opening round of the Monroe County League tournament on Tuesday.

As the high school hockey season is wrapping up, the seedings have the Batavia hockey team in a good place.

The Blue Devils have a 13-7 record and are currently the third seed in Class B. That means that the team will receive a bye as the top four get the opening round off.

Teams No. 5 through 12 will have to play in the first round.

Notre Dame is 7-8-2 and a ninth seed.

Batavia and the Fighting Irish will be playing today at Faletti Ice Arena at 6 p.m.  This is the final game of the season for the Blue Devils while the Fighting Irish has one more game on Saturday at Victor.

The opening round of sectionals is on Feb. 21.

Batavia has three scorers in the top 10 in all of Section 5.

Pat Finnell is fourth with 17 goals and 24 assists with Erik Pokornowski coming in at sixth with 15 goals and 21 assists. Cory Kocent is seventh with 14 goals and 21 assists.

Batavia goalie Adam Kurek and Notre Dame's Thomas Dehr both have six wins in goal. Batavia's other goalie is Rich Paganello, who has five wins.

Le Roy won its second game of the season Wednesday night, dropping visiting Letchworth 43-31.

Allison Macomber scored 14 points with Rachel Hayward adding 10 points. Megan Lowe pitched in seven points while grabbing 10 rebounds.

Kelly Proper scored 14 points to lead the Indians (6-13).

Le Roy is now 2-17.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 27-6 lead in the first quarter at home Wednesday night. That meant that the Fighting Irish simply had to fend off the Elba boys basketball team to get a 77-43 win.

Kevin Francis is still scoring like crazy as he lead all scorers with 27 points to help ND improve to 14-3.

Tommy Rapone had 10 points and six rebounds with Gianni Zambito, Greg Barr and Nick Bochicchio getting seven points apiece.

Matt Thompson and Nick Wetherwax had six points each.

Elba was led by Sonny Giuliano's 13 points, with Phil Ostroski scoring12 points and Dan Ramsey pitching in 11.

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Byron-Bergen hasn't done a lot of winning this year, but improved to 4-13 with a 55-52 victory over visiting Holley

David Garnish was the star for the Bees, getting his first carrier double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. Tyler Sass had a team-high 15 points with Trevor Laurie pitching in seven points.

Brian Mitchell had 18 points and Chad Barhydt added 17 for the Hawks (4-17).

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Wheatland-Chili's Rick Agosto scored 20 points with 10 boards in a 61-54 win over Lyndonville.

Andy Lund had 18 points with seven boards and Garhett Varin pitched in seven points.

Erik Van Wycke had 12 points and eight rebounds for Lyndonville (1-16).

Wheatland-Chili is now 4-13.

 The Oakfield-Alabama and Batavia boys basketball teams both moved up in the newest New York State Public High School Athletic Association state rankings.

Batavia took a major drop a few weeks back after its second loss of the season to Pittsford Sutherland, but moved up a little last week and moved up two spots in Class A this week, from No. 23 to No. 21.

The Blue Devils are 14-2.

Oakfield-Alabama (14-2) has lingered around the same area in Class C and moved up this week, going from No. 13 to No. 11.

Notre Dame did not change position in Class D. The Fighting Irish (13-3) are the ninth ranked team in the state.

 The Buffalo News today reported a story in which reporter Maki Becker gives us some more detail on the New York State Public High School Athletic Association cuts as he interviewed executive director Nina Van Erk.

There wasn't a whole lot of information than what we have previously reported, but there are a couple of interesting items in the piece.

Van Erk says that it is expected that the cuts will save schools in the state up to $10 million, with nearly $6 million of that going to officiating fees.

The other thing that comes from this story is that the cuts are expected to be for two years.

The changes, which were approved by a slim majority late last month, would begin in the next school year and would remain in effect for two years, Van Erk told the paper.

This opens up some more questions.

Did Van Erk and the rest of the NYSPHSAA directors make these cuts for two years because it is a quick fix to help schools and families get through these difficult economic times?

Was it announced that the cuts are for two years because that is the original plan or because of all the backlash the NYSPHSAA has received from coaches and athletic directors?

And what happens after two years? Will these policies just continue or will they be reviewed again at that time, with the number of games being returned to the schedule?

Buffalo Public Schools athletic director David Thomas summed up what a lot of people are thinking when they hear this with his quote late in the story.

“I don’t think we should be worried about funding school budgets on the backs of the kids playing sports,” said Thomas told the paper.

Cutting the number of games might help school districts in the more remote areas of Western New York that require longer traveling distances, Thomas said, “but it doesn’t save it up here [in Buffalo], where we are trying to keep the kids off the streets and busy with school and athletics.”

The current schedule allows Buffalo athletes the opportunity to play in suburban areas and “to travel to some nice tournaments,” Thomas said. “Now we have to pull back on that.”

Thomas also questioned whether the cuts were really temporary. “When they take things away,” he said, “they don’t often come back.”

The Notre Dame hockey team skated to a 3-3 tie with Brockport Tuesday night in a Monroe County League match.

Dylan Versage scored two of the Notre Dame goals while Thomas Dehr was busy in net, stopping 43 shots.

Dave Roberts scored twice for Brockport (10-9-4).

Notre Dame is  7-8-2.

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The Kendall boys basketball team was hanging with powerhouse C.G. Finney in the first half, but Finney had a huge scoring stretch in the third and fourth quarters to get a 65-44 victory.

Jamell Johnson scored 20 of his game-high 26 points after the break for the Falcons (19-0). Kendall was outscored 18-10 in the third quarter and 24-15 in the fourth.

Finney did a good job of holding Kendall star Josh Laureano in check as scorer as he managed just 13 points, but he did have a strong game with 15 rebounds and six assists.

Chad Bentley was the leading scorer for the Eagles (10-7) with 16 points. Colt Tooley added eight points.

Alexander's Kyle Woodruff and Oakfield-Alabama's Tim Smith shared the Players of the Week honors this week for Genesee Region League Division I.

Woodruff averaged 15.5 points, seven rebounds and two blocks as the Trojans beat Holley 65-62 and lost to Pembroke 75-37.  Woodruff reached the 30-point plateau in the win over the Hawks.

Smith had solid games in both of Oakfield-Alabama's victories last week. He had 14 points and four steals in a 65-43 win over Byron-Bergen and followed with a seven point, three steal effort in a 68-23 win over Holley. Smith totaled 21 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and seven steals in the victories.

Notre Dame's Kevin Francis had a huge scoring week to earn the honors for Division II.

The senior guard had 20 points, five rebounds, six assists and seven steals in a win over Lyndonville and followed with a 27-point, six rebound, six assist, nine steal performance in a victory over Kendall.

Notre Dame also had the Player of the Week on the girls side in Division II. 

Sophomore Liz Geandreau averaged a double-double in wins over Pavilion, Lyndonville and Kendall. She averaged 11 points and 10 boards in the victories.

Alexander's Anna Dominick wins the award for Division I as she scored a combined 27 points with seven assists and eight steals in wins over Pembroke and Holley.