basketball

Scoring droughts in the second and fourth quarters proved the Lady Lancers' undoing Monday night in Letchworth as Elba dropped a western regional playoff game to Whitesville, 50-40.

Elba jumped out to an early lead and played with confidence in the first quarter, but by the half -- after scoring only one basket in the first half of the second quarter -- was down 17-29.

With a fast start in the third quarter, Elba managed to briefly tie the game and ended the third down by one, 34-35.

Using a combination of fast breaks and defensive control of the boards, Whiteville (20-3) dominated the fourth quarter, however, to end Elba's season at 19-4.

Jamie Marshall had 8 points, Meg Stucko 8, McKenzie Bezon 7, and Marissa Pangrazio 6.

More pictures after the jump. To purchase these pictures, click here.

For the second time this season, the Lady Lancers came up just points short against Notre Dame, dropping an emotional rematch in Elba, 43-40.

Notre Dame remains undefeated at 15-0 and Elba drops to 12-3.

The Lady Irish were led by Liz Geandreau, who scored 15 points with seven rebounds, and Riley Norton, 11 points and seven rebounds.

For Elba, Meg Stucko had 14 points and 16 rebounds and Racheal Cook scored 12 points.

To purchase pictures from this game (site template a little messed up right now, but site otherwise working) click here.

More pictures after the jump:

Notre Dame entered the 4th quarter of the Rotary Club of Batavia Girls Basketball Tournament finals down by 8 points.

All night, Perry gave Notre Dame room for plenty of attempts, but the shots just weren't dropping. That all changed in the 4th quarter. Suddenly, whatever invisible shield had been keeping the ball out of the basket disappeared.

The Lady Irish scored 20 points in the 4th quarter, compared only six points for Perry.

Final score, Notre Dame 45, Perry 39.

Carly Pike had 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals for the Fighting Irish (8-0). Pike scored 13 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter.

In the consolation game, Alexander beat Batavia 56-52.

All-Tournament players: Cheslea Turcer, Alexander; Lisa Redband, Batavia; Karissa 
Schuster and Erica Miller, Perry; Riley Norton, Notre Dame; Carly Pike was named MVP.

Winners photo submitted by Tim Call.

More pictures after the jump, with even more available for purchase by clicking here.

NOTE: For Tuesday's games, I used the wrong pricing sheet for photo purchases. That's been corrected and those photos are available by clicking here.

Perry and Notre Dame will move on to a finals match in the 2010 Batavia Rotary Girls Basketball Tournament at GCC on Thursday.

Both squads won by big margins in first-round action Tuesday.

Perry beat Batavia High 50-31 and the Lady Irish overcame Alexander 60-44.

A few more pictures after the jump.  A total of 75 photos are available for sale by clicking here.

With about two minutes left and the Batavia Blue Devils down by five points, the instructions from Coach Buddy Brasky were clear -- whatever you do, don't foul number three.

You don't want to put the ball in the hands of the other team's best player in the closing minutes of a tight came.

Then Batavia's senior guard Ryan Pyatt did exactly what would get him pulled from the game. He fouled Jamell Johnson, number three for Charles Finney.

Earlier in the game, Finney's senior forward scored the 1,000th point of his career. That's how good he is.

It was clear at this stage of Thursday's game, giving points to Finney could possibly sink the home team's hopes of winning the 29th Annual Batavia Lions Club Boys Basketball Tournament. Up to this moment, Batavia never had even had as much as a single-digit lead.

But then Johnson, who had 24 points on the night, gave Batavia a gift. He missed his free throw.

Andrew Hoy, Batavia's all-time leading scorer, on the other hand, would be fouled four times in the final two minutes.

He didn't miss his shots. Not one of them.

In all, during those closing minutes, Hoy sunk 10 straight free throws (two came on a technical foul by Finney's Justin Allison), plus put up two points on a critical jump shot, to lead Batavia to a 53-50 victory.

"I just kept telling myself, have confidence," Hoy said after the game. "I kept reminding myself, I’ve made a million free throws. This is nothing different.

"When you're at the free throw line, you’ve got to make those," the senior guard added. "They call them free for a reason."

Allison's technical foul -- he mouthed off to Batavia's sophomore forward Justin Washington and then to a ref -- is what changed the momentum in the game, both Brasky and Hoy said.

At that point, with 2:30 left, Finney had an eight-point lead and were hitting their shots.

After that, Finney would score two more points (despite having players go to the free throw line three times) and Batavia would score 13, with 12 coming from Hoy, who had 22 points on the night.

"I kept stressing to my kids, the game’s not over," Brasky said. "That’s why we play 32 minutes. You don’t get too high when you go on a run, you don’t get too low when they go on a run. You play 32 minutes and we did.

"We took advantage of the technical and I give our kids a lot of credit for that," Brasky added.

Batavia moves to 7-1 and Finney is 8-2.

Batavia's other top scorers: Justin Washington, 12 (and 13 rebounds), Ryan Funke, 6, and Ryan Pyatt with 6. Spencer Stressing had 3 and Dylan Hodownes and Tommy Prospero each added two.

For Finney, Dan Drummond had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

In the consolation game, Notre Dame beat Dansville 70-45. Vinnie Zambito scored 22 points with seven assists for Notre Dame, now 5-1. Zach Hotze scored 13, Doane McCulley, 11, Mike Pratt, 9, Tom Whelehan, 6. Pratt's 9 came on three, three-point goals.

The Batavia Blue Devils with their championship trophy. Photo courtesy Bev Hoy.

More pictures after the jump (to purchase pictures, click here):

The All-Tournment Team, from left: Dan Drummond, Charles Finney; Vinnie Zambito, Notre Dame; Justin Washington, Batavia; Andrew Hoy, Batavia; Jamell Johnson, Charles Finney. Photo courtesy Bev Hoy.

Washington's shot here, thrown at the basket underhand, was all net.

The Batavia Blue Devils will advance to the finals of the annual Batavia Lions Club Basketball Tournament at GCC on Thursday.

The Blue Devils will face the Finney Falcons.

The Falcons (8-1) defeated Notre Dame (4-1) 76-68.

To advance, the Blue Devils (6-1) beat Dansville 87-38.

For Batavia, Andrew Hoy scored 24 points and had eight steals. Other point leaders, Ryan Pyatt, 11, Dylan Hodownes, 11, Ryan Funke, 10, Mitch Francis, 10, Justin Washington, 8. Ryan DiMartino had 10 rebounds.

For Notre Dame, Vincent Zambito, 15, Doane McCulley, 15, Tom Whelehan, 8, Marquis Love, 8, Josh Hotze, 8, Mike Pratt, 8, Zach Hotze, 6.

About 15 more pictures after the jump, and all of the pictures, including another 20 or so, can be purchased by clicking here.

Senior Andrew Hoy sunk three 3-pointers and scored 27 points for the evening to lead Batavia past Brighton in the Blue Devil's 2010 home opener 64-46.

Batavia is now 3-1 in the young season.

Head Coach Buddy Brasky said Hoy's performance was one of the keys to the Blue Devil's victory.

"Andrew played a great game," Brasky said. "I mean, he was doing it all. He was scoring, he was facilitating, getting other people involved, making passes on transition. He just played well, I thought, the entire game."

Brasky said the team improved its offensive decision making and team intensity on defense and that made a big difference.

The team committed only three fouls through the first three quarters of the game.

“I thought our whole team defense was pretty solid most of the game," Brasky said. "Until the end, we weren’t reaching, we were playing defense with our feet. I thought our defensive position was fairly good.”

The Blue Devils feature Hoy, who in his junior year became the team's all-time leading scorer, as well as sophomore Justin Washington, along with seniors Ryan Pyatt and Ryan Funke. They were all part of a team that contended for a state championship last year.

Brasky thinks this year's squad, if it works hard, can win some big games.

"We need to keep getting better and better," Brasky said. "We're back up in Class A, so we need to keep improving. I think by the end of the year, we can contend for the sectional title, without a doubt, but we have to keep getting better and better."

The Blue Devil's next home game is Dec. 22 against Charlotte. The team will also compete in the annual Batavia Lions Club Tournament at Genesee Community College on Dec. 30.

More pictures after the jump. To purchase pictures from this game, click here.

Josh Stendts, a 17-year-old senior at Batavia High, is pretty impressed with the slide shows ESPN creates for its Web site, so a while back he tried his hand at creating one about the Buffalo Bills losing season. Friends and family liked it and started encouraging him to do one about the Blue Devils boys basketball team.

At first, he resisted the idea, but when Batavia beat Sutherland and went to 8-1, he got excited about the team's prospects for the season.

In past seasons, Batavia vs. Sutherland games "have had a lot of tension and produced exciting games," Josh said in an e-mail today. "When I heard the Blue Devils had won in Sutherland, I knew it was going to be a special season. No one, including myself, thought this team was going to be as successful as they ended up being. I stopped doubting the team when the Blue Devils defeated Sutherland."

Josh's dad was also pushing him to do a video about the Blue Devils.

There was problem, Josh had a song idea, but not enough pictures. When Batavia reached Sectionals, however, The Batavian started going to games and shooting and posting lots and lots of photos.

The song was Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," because, Josh said, it was fast and he could pack a lot of information about the team into the lyrics.

When he first uploaded the slide show, he didn't have all the pictures he would eventually include, but as more and more friends and fans saw the video, it began to become popular around the campus.

He continued to polish the effort.

"On March 12th, I put together a slide show with a few pictures," Josh wrote. "I finished a rough copy and posted it on YouTube. When I returned to school on Monday the 14th everyone, including the teachers, congratulated me on such a great video. My last class of the day on Monday was GYM and my teacher is Coach Brasky. As I entered the gym to check in, he immediately pointed at me and told me 'Great Job, unbelievable.'"

Buddy Brasky and Principle Chris Daily wanted to show the video at a pep rally on Friday, before the team left for the state championship games in Glens Falls.

"I was absolutely shocked and incredibly thankful for the opportunity," Josh said.

He did one more edit on the video and then handed it over to school officials to play at the rally.

"On Friday, the video was played in front of the entire school," according to Josh. "I was nervous about what everyone would think. As the video came to a close, I received a standing ovation from the entire auditorium, including the basketball team. It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life."

Josh is definitely thinking about the idea of going into media production, but he's also interested in sports medicine. He says he has plenty to think about when he starts classed at GCC in the fall.

"I would like to sincerely thank everyone who was involved in making this video a success, Mr. Dailey and Mr. Mullen for allowing me to show the video at the assembly," Josh said at the close of his e-mail. "Mr. Bromley (Sports director) who e-mailed the video to all the teachers. All my family and friends who viewed the video, and a special thanks to The Batavian for giving me permission to use their pictures for the slide show."

The Batavian would like to thank Josh for using our pictures. That's a great honor. We did ask Josh to add credit to The Batavian in his video, and we are grateful that he readily agreed to so. Congratulations to Josh on such a great tribute to the Blue Devils. It's definitely a great piece of quality work.

Disappointing first half for Batavia in its semi-final championship match against Westhill.

The Blue Devils trail at the half, 40-22.

The story line of the first half is pretty simple: Batavia's shots haven't been falling and Westhill pretty much can't miss.

Westhill started the game with a three-point goal and Batavia has been chasing the Section III champs all night.

You can listen to the game live on WBTA.

UPDATE 9:41 P.M.: At the end of the third quarter, 51-37, Westhill. Early in the third quarter, Batavia pulled within 10 points, but then Westhill took control back and quickly erased all of the Blue Devil's progress. Listen on WBTA.

UPDATE 10:03 p.m.: Westhill wins, 69-53. Andrew Hoy led Batavia with 24 points.

UPDATE on Saturday evening: Syracuse.com has four good photos from the game.

It's Friday, and it's a big night out for the Batavia Blue Devils.

Buddy Brasky's team plays a semi-final state championship tournament game at 8:30 p.m. in Glens Falls.

If the Blue Devils beat Section 3 champion Westhill (20-2), Batavia (20-3) will play for the Class B state championship on Saturday at 9 p.m.

Tonight's game will be broadcast live on WBTA.

Should the Blue Devils advance, The Batavian will cover the championship game on Saturday. T.F. Brown's is sponsoring the coverage (we can accept two more sponsors to help cover the cost of our trip, so if any businesses want to be a sponsor, let me know today).

Batavia boys and Elba girls, each played close games on Saturday, but Batavia will advance to the next round of the state tournament while Elba's impressive season comes to a close.

The Blue Devils (20-3) locked in a 40-38 victory over Olean at Buffalo State when Andrew Hoy sunk two free throws with 32 seconds left to play. A desperation 3-point try by Ryan Carney for Olean (20-3) came up short.

Later Saturday at Gates-Chili, Elba fell to Clymer, 39-36.

Elba finishes the season with a 22-1 record.

McKenzie Bezon led the Lancers with 9 points.

Saturday, Andrew Hoy knocked down 14 points and Josh Budlong added 10. Coco Irvin and Justin Washington each had 8.

Batavia's next game is in Glens Falls at 8:30 p.m., Friday against Section III champion Westville (20-2). If the Blue Devils beat Westville, the state championship for Class B will be played at 9 p.m., Saturday in Glens Falls.

After beating Wellsville (17-5) at the Blue Cross Arena last night 64-41, the Batavia Blue Devils advance to the Far West Regional title game.

Batavia will play Olean (20-2) at 4 p.m., Saturday, at Buffalo State College.

Co Co Irvin led the Blue Devils with 19 points. Andrew Hoy and Josh Budlong each added 15 points. Justin Washington scored nine points and had 11 rebounds. Budlong had 5 three-point goals.

Sparked by a freshman, the Lady Lancers remained unbeaten and clinched a spot in the state tournament Monday night beating a tough Canaseraga team 61-54.

Freshman McKenzie Bezon scored 29 points for Elba (22-0). She hit five three-point goals on the night.

"We got a great game from McKenzie tonight," said Head Coach Tom Nowak. "For a freshman, that was unbelievable."

It's a good thing, as Cassy Engle of Canaseraga (18-4) scored 34, to keep her team within striking distance of the Section V champions until the closing seconds of the Class D qualifying match.

"We tried to be able to run and push them as much as we could this game because we knew with our bench, hopefully we could try to tire them out a little bit," Nowak said. "I give them a lot of credit, they played hard the whole game."

Nowak said one of the keys to locking down the win was the team making the most of its free throws in the closing minutes of the game.

Elba returns to the Gate-Chili gym on Saturday to play in the first round of the State Championship tournament.

A couple of more pictures after the jump (BTW: I pretty much missed most of this game, having put a little too much trust in my GPS -- Gates-Chili is at 2 Spartan Road, but there's two 2 Spartan Roads in Rochester, as I discovered ... I went to the one 20 minutes past the actual location ... sadly).

Late in the third quarter, the Fighting Irish seemed to have their Section V title game well in hand.

And then something strange happened.

The baskets stopped dropping, and turnovers and penalties all seemed to take a Fillmore tilt.

With seconds left in the third, Notre Dame turned over the ball and Fillmore struck for a quick three points, cutting the Irish lead from nine to six.

"The little things ad up," said head coach Mike Rapone. "They did the little things better in about the last 12 minutes of the game."

The game changer, Rapone said, was a six-minute stretch in which the Irish didn't drop a single shot.

"I don’t think we scored from 33-24 until they actually took the lead," Rapone said. "We had a long scoring drought. I thought we were getting decent shots, they just weren’t falling. That happens."

To start the fourth quarter, Fillmore hit two three-point goals, tying the game, and another three-pointer gave Fillmore a lead that Notre Dame would never get back.

The fourth quarter ended in a tie, putting the game into overtime, but Fillmore struck quickly and held the lead through the final four minutes.

"I feel bad for the kids because they’ve been so close in football and now basketball," Rapone said.

Fillmore was sparked in the 4th quarter by Chase Rangel, who came off the bench and scored 14 points, including 4 three-point goals.  He added another key three-point goal in the 4th quarter.

Vinny Zambito led Notre Dame with 13 points, Gianni Zambito, 11, Matt Thompson, 9, and Tom Rapone, 6.

More pictures after the jump:

Undefeated sectional champions isn't a bad label to have. That's what all the excitement was about Friday night in Letchworth as the Elba girls basketball team defeated Jasper-Troupsburg 47-37 in the Class DD final.

Freshman McKenzie Bezon, sophomore Meg Stucko and senior Cassie Engel were the offensive power in the game.

"This is everything that I could dream of," Engel said. "It was a great win and one that I will always remember."

The Lancers came out with the mentality to get it done and get the lead quickly as they took an early 13-2 jump with the support of 3-pointers by Engal and senior Missy Call.

In a desperate attempt to get back in the game, the Wildcats' were able to close the gap to 16-12, but it was all Elba from then on as the Wildcats (18-3) couldn't get a formula together to shut down the Lancers.

Heading into the final quarter of the game up 36-21, the Wildcats turned it up a notch in a last attempt to take the lead but managed only to close the gap to 42-34.

Bezon ended the game posting 14 points, while Stucko put up two 3-pointers to total six points. She had a big day under the basket as she pulled down 27 rebounds.

Brittany Hadley led Jasper-Troupsburg with nine points and Taylor Button and Meghan Wyant added eight points each.

"This was huge for the kids and we will take whatever we get from now on," says Head Coach Tom Nowak. "We'd like to win another one and get on to the regional game."

Nowak was named the Class DD Coach of the Year.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Reader Robin Walters was also at the game, and posted this report.

Thirteen and under. Thirteen and under. It's the phrase that Batavia Head Coach Buddy Brasky has pounded into the head of his players all season. Just hold the opponent to 13 or fewer points per quarter, and you're going to win basketball games.

Friday night at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, it was more like 10 and under as the Blue Devils secured a Section V title with a 65-38 victory over #3 seed Livonia.

It was the first time in four Section V titles for Batavia under the leadership of Brasky that an opponent was held to fewer than 40 points.

More significantly, it is the first time in Batavia history that a varsity basketball team won back-to-back Section V titles.

"All the alumni, all of them that talk, but we’ve got that on them," said Junior Andrew Hoy. "They all had sectional titles, but we got two."

Hoy, who got to 1,000 career points, scored faster than any player in Batavia history, with 11 against Livonia and was named the tournament's MVP.

But for all of his offensive prowess, after the game, Hoy talked about defense.

"Defense got us the win," Hoy said. "Coach told us if we hold them to 13 and under per quarter we’d get the win, we would be sectional champs. We came out in the third quarter and won that quarter 25-2."

Their lopsided quarter allowed Batavia to run away with the game. After falling behind 13-0 against Batavia to start in the first quarter, Livonia was never really able to get into the game. The squad never pulled closer than 8 points.

"I showed them the past sectional championship pictures and I showed them score boards, because I always take a picture of the score board if we win and I hang it up in the trophy case, and all the scores were in the 40s for the other teams," Brasky said. "This the first year we got them under 40. We got them at 38, so they were pretty excited about that."

Coach Brasky gave credit to Josh Budlong for the quick start. Budlong finished the game with 21 points. Co Co Irvin scored 15 and Justin Washington added 8.

Bobby Schuster was the leading scorer for Livonia with 18 points. He was the only Livonia player to reach double digits.

The Sportsmanship Award went to Lou Stoller.

Batavia players who made the All-Tournament Team were Washington, Irvin, Budlong and Hoy.

Next, on Wednesday Batavia plays the qualifying game for the state championship series.

UPDATE: More pictures after the jump (nearly 70 more)

More Pictures: