basketball

The annual Lions Club dinner for senior players and coaches that are participating in the Lions Club Basketball Tournament was Monday night.

It is always one of the my favorite nights of the year, and is in fact the ninth one I've attended. It is always fun to sit down with area players and enjoy a a nice meal and talk hoops. 

You also can't put a price on the look on the kid's faces when the Lions members sing the Lions song.

Batavia won the championship last year with a 63-34 win over Notre Dame in the finals, giving the Blue Devils four straight, and seven of the last eight championships.

Two players from the all-tournament team return to play in this year's tournament as Batavia's Andrew Hoy and Notre Dame's Kevin Francis will be leading their respective squads.

The 27th annual tournament will be held Dec. 29-30 at Genesee Community College. Batavia will play Albion on the 29th at 7 p.m. with Notre Dame and Perry playing at 8:45 p.m.

The consolation game is on the 30th at 7 p.m., followed by the championships at 8:45 p.m.

The jayvee tournament will be held at Notre Dame with Batavia and Albion playing at 1 p.m. on the 29th and Notre Dame playing Perry right after. The consolation game is on the 30th at 1 p.m. with the finals to follow at 2:45 p.m.

The Batavian will have the biggest preview in the history of the tournament the week of the games.

Here are some video highlights and interviews from Monday's dinner.

Dylan Versage had a pair of goals, including the game winner 7 1/2 minutes into the third period for Notre Dame as the Fighting Irish beat Immaculate Heart, 3-2, in the consolation game of the Radier Classic.

Jason Harasimowicz dished out three assists and Ivan Madafferi added a goal with a helper for Notre Dame (2-1).

Thomas Dehr had 21 saves.

The other local hockey team did not come away with a victory Saturday.

The Batavia hockey team fell to 1-2 with a 3-2 loss to Hilton.

Corey Gurski scored the game-winning goal at the 9:32 mark of the third period as Hilton improves to 3-0-1. 

Dan Kellman and Andrew Harris had the assists on the winning goal, with Harris and Collin Sawdy each getting a goal.

Pat Finnell  and Josh Moir had a goal each for the Blue Devils.

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Freshman Keri Soppe dropped in 20 points with three boards to earn tournament MVP as West Irondequoit downed Pembroke 48-36 in the finals of the Alden Tournament.

The Eagles had a seven minute long, 13-point run in the third quarter to pull away as Cecilia Sigrist pitched in seven points and 10 rebounds.

Danielle Smith led the way for the Dragons (1-1) with 10 points while all-tournament team selection Nicole Sharick pitched in eight points, 14 rebounds and three steals.

Kelsey Lewis had eight points with Natasha Powell and Katie Hackett pulling down seven boards apiece.

Irondequoit is 2-0.

One defending state champion down, one to go.

Andrew Hoy scored nine of his 20 points in the fourth quarter - seven of which came from the charity stripe - as the Batavia basketball team had a 19-8 advantage in the fourth quarter to beat defending Class C champion Maple Grove 61-49 in the opening round of the Olean Tournament.

The Blue Devils had a 42-41 lead at the end of the third quarter, but Maple Grove took a lead early in the final period before the big run.

Hoy also had nine rebounds and five assists in the game, with Robert Hoy pitching in 10 points and Marcus Hoy adding five.

Dakota Irvin hit three 3-pointers in scoring nine points and Adam Pettinella pitched in seven.

Batavia (1-0) will be playing Olean in the championship game Saturday night as the Huskies escaped Hornell 51-46 in the opening round.

Olean attempted 24 foul shots, while the Red Raiders did not attempt a single one. Jesse Champman scored 17 points while Ryan Crane added 12 for Olean.

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The Pembroke girls basketball team is moving on to the finals of the Alden Tournament after thumping the host squad 57-31.

Nicole Sharick had a huge game, popping in 13 points with 10 steals, four assists and six rebounds.

Katie Hackett and Danielle Smith had 10 points apiece, with Hackett getting five swipes. Natasha Powell grabbed eight rebounds.

The Dragons will play West Irondequoit in the finals at 6 p.m. Saturday.

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Three area boys teams lost non-league contests Friday night.

Elba had a rough start, getting outscored 37-24 in the first half, then couldn't come back and lost to Albion 63-58.

Phil Ostroski led the Lancers with 24 points and seven boards as Elba dips to 1-1.

Brian Mitchell was amazing for Holley, but the Hawks lost to Greece Odyssey 61-55. Mitchell scored a game-high 29 points with 13 rebounds, but the Hawks fall to 0-2.

Le Roy could still be recovering from the football team's trip to the Far West Regionals and lost a road game at York, 63-55. Eric Valentino (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Jesse Galvin (12 points, 10 rebounds) both had double-doubles for York (1-1).

Mike Humphrey scored 21 points with Andrew Alexander getting 11 and Eric Stella following with 10 for the Oatkan Knights (0-1).

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The Notre Dame hockey team lost to Fayetteville-Manilius 6-1 in the opening round of the Fulton Tournament.

Brett Perfitt scored his first career goal for the Fighting Irish (1-1), and Thomas Dehr stopped 27 shots.

ND will play Immaculate Heart in the consolation game at Noon Saturday.

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Hillary Bates tied the game after a steal when she drained a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left in regulation. Then Brynn Perfitt hit a pair of free throws for the deciding points in a 31-29 win for Oakfield-Alabama over Geneseo in the opening round of the Geneseo Tournament.

Perfitt scored a game-high 17 points for the Hornets (1-0).

The other local girls teams stuggled.

Le Roy lost to York 46-27 and Churchville-Chili crushed Byron-Bergen 70-43.

 If you are heading out to some of the big games this weekend, remember to bring your video camera.

Section 5 Talksback is hosting a contest that each week will award the best cheering sections for area basketball teams.

Last year we saw some great performances from fans like the O-A Crazies, The Attica Wolf Pack and the Elba Sherwood Shakers. 

It seems like every school has a student cheering section and you can be rewarded with a pizza party if you make a video showing off your cheering section.

These are the rules to the contest:

Basic Rules:

-Film your cheer/fan section.

-Upload the video to YouTube

-Post the URL here and it will automatically show up as an embedded YouTube video.

-The official SectionV.Talksback.com and Salvatore's judges will look at the videos for creativity, number of students involved, positive support for the school's teams.

-Winner will receive a $50 gift card to Salvatore's Old Fashioned Pizzeria to supply a pizza party for their cheer section. (based on two sheet pizzas and 3-4 two liter drinks)

-If the winner is from a school outside of Salvatore's delivery area, SectionV.Talksback.com will arrange to deliver pizzas within a 30mile range of a Salvatore's Restaurant. If the winner if from a school outside of the 30 mile range they will have to arrange pickup/delivery on their own. 

Here is a great opportunity to represent your school while cheering on your boys and girls basketball teams, and get free pizza out of the deal.

Post your entries here.

If you are interested in learning more about the teams Batavia will be playing basketball against in the Monroe County League, the Democrat & Chronicle has a look at the league posted this morning on the Web site. 

Tim Smith poured in 16 points as the Oakfield-Alabama boys basketball team escaped Holland 60-51 in the opening round of the Barker Tournament Thursday.

Point guard Brad Riner scored nine points with six assists and five steals and Noah Seward added seven points with 11 rebounds.

O-A (1-0) will face tournament host Barker tonight in the finals as the Raiders downed Lyndonville 57-47. Ray Paul scored 21 points for Barker. 

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Tyler Sass dropped in 20 points as the Byron-Bergen boys basketball team on its opener 56-45 over visiting Warsaw.

Trevor Laurie had 12 points and eight boards and Kurtis Fannon pitched in nine points.

Travis White scored 20 points and Ricky Ryan grabbed 11 boards for the Tigers (0-3).

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Jaycee Shirk owned the paint as the Batavia girls basketball team shut down Albion 39-29 in the opening round of the Elba Tournament at GCC.

Shirt had six blocks and 10 rebounds to go with her eight points for the Blue Devils (3-0).

Brittany Mazurkiewicz had 13 points with six steals and Brittany Wormley pitched in seven points.

Paige Golden had 14 points for the Purple Eagles (0-1).

Elba thrashed Attica 56-23 in the other first round game, meaning Batavia will battle Elba in Saturday night's finals.

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Attica won a pair of wrestling matches on Wednesday. Those results weren't posted on Armdrag.com until today.

The Blue Devils beat Byron-Bergen 47-15 and Lyndonville 48-19.

 For the past three years, Derek Wolfley has been one of the top players in the Genesee Region League and a big reason why the Attica basketball team has had success. 

But now Attica's best player ever is at Iona, where he is playing Division I basketball. He was the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,474 points and had 932 career rebounds.

Life without Wolfley begins this season for the Blue Devils.

While it is no easy task to replace a legend, Attica now has a chance to develop a new identity around some very talented players that aren't in one players shadow anymore.

The most talented of those players is junior guard Tate Westermeier. The 6-foot, 155-pound shooting guard has a natural ability to score and is going to be the focus of the Attica offense.

Westermeier plays basketball year-round and was productive as a sophomore last year, on Attica's 15-6 squad. He even scored 16 points in the season-ending 62-52 loss to Freddie Thomas in the sectional quarterfinals.

While Westermeier is going to be responsible for a lot of the scoring, senior Shawn Dupuis will also be a top option.
 

Wolfley is the biggest name Attica lost from last year, but Dustin Keicher was a solid point guard and the Blue Devils will be filling that role with a pair of sophomores.

Brad Clark looks like the top option to run the point and led the team in scoring during Wednesday's loss to Midlakes. Classmate Zach Fleiss is also going to be running the point.

Even though Attica lost the 6-foot-6 Wolfley, there is still plenty of size in the paint.

Senior Matt Sheffield is 6-foot-5 and Bryan Thompson is 6-foot-2, with both expecting to see a lot of playing time.

The other big man has a familiar name - Craig Wolfley. He is the younger brother of Derek, but is a different type of player.

Derek could pull up and hit jumpers from anywhere with his trim and athletic frame. Craig - a junior - is 6-foot-4 and weighs 242 pounds. He handles the ball well for a big man and is a decent scorer, but doesn't have Derek's scoring ability. Any forward for Attica will have a lot to live up to, but when you share a last name with the school's best player of all time, it can be that much more pressure.

Attica has a long history of sectional playoff failures in the "big 3", but the football team won a quarterfinal game this past fall and the basketball team took notice. They will be trying to win the GR Division I title, and then make some history of their own come playoff time.

 When the Elba basketball team walked off the court in the Section 5 Class DD semifinals last year, it was after an amazing 12-point comeback victory over rival Notre Dame. It was a huge upset.

The Lancers then lost to Fillmore 53-43 in the finals, but are hoping to carry over the momentum from that sectional run to this season.

Juniors Phil Ostroski and Sonny Guiliano were major factors in that run and both return to lead a physically strong Elba squad into the 2008-2009 season.

Ostroski was a huge player on the squad last season when he had to fill in for a team that had suspension issues early on, and he was a unique talent - a big body that could step outside and shoot the 3 at any time.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound forward will be the go-to guy for the Lancers and could very well be one of the top scorers in the league this season.

Guiliano is going to run the point this season after seeing good minutes a year ago. He's also big, at 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, and has the ability to put the ball in the basket as well. He will mix scoring with a pass-first attitude (he nearly had a triple-double in Elba's 54-33 win over Barker in the season opener).

Both players have the ability to star each and every night out.

But that isn't all the Lancers bring to the table.

Forwards Max Torrey and Theo Tomczak and guard Adam Shuknecht all received quality playing time last season and will add depth to the squad.

Elba also has a couple of new editions that will help out.

Senior Cody Torpey did not play basketball last season, but returns to the court and brings a lot of speed to the squad. He isn't expected to do a lot of scoring, but will do the things that don't show up in the boxscore.

The other name to watch is sophomore Crosby Lamont, who is called up to the varsity squad because of his potential. He will come off the bench and provide a spark for coach Rick Pcionek.

Elba's record was just 13-11 last year, and the team lost stars Ian Woodworth, Rocco Zambito and Casey Hoover to graduation, but should be able to challenge some of the elite teams in the Genesee Region League this season because of a physical style of play that will frustrate teams that lack size.

This year's Batavia wrestling team has the potential to be one of the best the school has ever had, and the season started off on a very positive note Wednesday.

The Blue Devils beat Victor 35-28 as Batavia had two pins and another tech fall win.

Ryan Darch had a huge pin fall victory at 160 pounds, beating Nick Payne in 1:40. Trey Henderson had the other Batavia pin as he dropped Dakota LaRue in 5:16 at 130 pounds.

Joe Muoio had the tech fall victory at 135 pounds, taking care of Matt Acquilano 17-0.

You can see the rest of the results here.

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After dropping its season opener, the Pembroke boys basketball team has gotten hot, winning the next two games.

The Dragons thumped visiting Holley Wednesday night 53-34 as Ken Babcock scored 14 points and pulled down 15 boards to lead the way.

Andrew Wright scored a game-high 16 points with Matt Phelps pitching in nine.

Holley lost its season opener and was led by Jeff Lutes, who scored 10 points. Brian Mitchell added nine. 

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No player scored in double figures for Attica as the Blue Devils lost a road game at Midlakes 54-34.

Brad Clark had nine points with Tate Westermeier and Craig Wolfley adding eight apiece.

Derek Reafsnyder had 15 points to pace Midlakes (1-0).

Attica falls to 1-2.

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A total of five Holley wrestlers pinned Alexander grapplers as the Hawks scored an easy 61-17 win.

Defending state champion Quenton Murphy led the way with a :58 pin over Brandon Toporczyk at 125 pounds.

Tim Banks, Dillon Murphy, Kyle Steadman and Sean Baylor had the other pins for the Hawks, who improve to 1-0 while the Trojans dip to 0-2.

 Batavia grad Mike Hoy is a freshman on the Geneseo men's basketball team, and he witnessed an amazing shot last night by one of his teammates.

Scott Morton hit a crazy shot with 1/10 of a second left to go to give Geneseo the 85-84 win over Oswego State. Hoy was held scoreless in 15 minutes of play, but did hand out two assists.

The shot earned the top spot on ESPN's top plays today. 

You just have to see the video on this one (followed by an interview with Morton).

 The Elba girls basketball team had an off year last season, losing seven games and only making it to the sectional semifinals.

But the Lancers beat rival Notre Dame to make those finals, and return a lot of players from that squad in addition to some new faces that make this one of the most athletic and deep Elba teams in years.

Seniors Katie Newton and Julie Webster and juniors Julie Marshall and Chelsie Pangrazio all have varsity experience and will all get plenty of playing time as coach Tom Nowak intends on pressing hard and playing everybody on the roster.

But possibly the two biggest names on Elba's roster heading into the season were not on the team last year.

Senior guard Sarah Schwartzmeyer was a star on varsity as a sophomore, with the ability to score, rebound, pass and play defense. But she took a year away from the game to work on her softball skills. She is one of the top pitchers in Section 5.

She returns and immediately steps into a leadership role. She will be relied upon to score and maintain the flow of the game.

The other different face is Missy Call.

Call is a junior this year, but got a ton of experience playing on the Oakfield-Alabama varsity team last season. She can shoot the ball, play defense and is a good distributor of the ball.

There are a few youngsters up on the varsity squad that will also make an impact. Sophomore guard Cassy Engle, freshman Meg Stucko and eighth-grader McKenzie Bezon should all provide sparks this season.

Both Notre Dame and Elba had off years last season, but both are back up this year, and the Dec. 16 and Feb 10 games are highly anticipated games on the GR schedule.

 The Alexander girls basketball team returns four starters, have a foreign exchange student with some talent and are expected to make a run at a Genesee Region League title.

The Trojans went 9-12 last season, and were upset by Gananda in the opening round of the sectional tournament last season. 

Two of the stars in that game - Anna Dominick and Katie Kochmanski - are returning with fellow starters Rachel Pettys and Chelsea Turcer.

Dominick scored nine points per game with three steals and Pettys averaged eight points with seven rebounds. Turcer had five points and three dimes per game.

Pettys and Kochmanski were stars in the paint as Kochmanski pulled down a team-high nine rebounds to go with her seven points per game.

Rebounding is a huge part of coach Marcia Hirsch's coaching philosophy. She preaches rebounding first and foremost, with the belief that if you win the battle on the boards, you are probably going to win the game.

Even with those four returning players, you would expect the Trojans to have a pretty strong team. But they got a nice surprise when the season started.

Foreign exchange student Anni Lehtola from Finland, has a ton of game. The 5-foot-9 guard/forward is a strong rebounder, scorer and defender; which adds a huge boost to an already stacked team.

Alexander has already shown signs of what they can do.

In the opening round of the Attica Tournament last weekend, the Trojans were beating Class A Batavia before the Blue Devils came back late in the game and won 57-48. Alexander then went on to beat Attica 44-32 in the consolation game.

While Division I should be tough this year, Alexander might very well have the pieces in place to be the top dog in that division. 

The Elba boys basketball team is 1-0 after an easy 54-33 win over Barker Tuesday night.

The Lancers were led by senior forward Phil Ostroski, who had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Sonny Giuliano pitched in nine points with 10 boards and nine assists and Cole Bronson and Sam Lamont each helping out with eight points.

 Greg Brown led Barker (0-1) with 13 points.

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Josh Laureano dropped in 21 points but it wasn't enough for his Kendall team, which lost to Northstar in the season opener, 68-58.

Mark Driesel was also in double figures with 10 points.

Donald Harris had 22 points and Manny Mederois added 20 for Northstar, which improves to 3-0.

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Erik Pokornowski scored twice and handed out two assists in leading the Batavia Hockey team to a 5-1 win over Churchville-Chili.

Josh Marr scored his first two varsity goals for the Blue Devils, with Patt Finnell getting a goal with an assist and Corey Kocent and Tim Finnell adding two helpers each.

Brandon Corcoran made 20 saves for Batavia (1-1).

It wasn't too long ago that the Alexander boys basketball team was one of the worst programs in all of Section 5, even going 0-20 one year.

But coach Wayne Hanley has done a nice job building the program in recent years and the Trojans went 9-10 two years ago - sharing the Division I title - and finished 8-13 last season. Now Hanley's squad is looking to take that next step and become an above .500 squad that can compete for league and sectional titles every year.

The 2008-2009 Trojans have the potential to be the team that can start competing with the best league teams night in and night out.

The reason Alexander can look for bigger things this year is a strong group of returners, along with a pair of talented sophomores playing on the varsity squad.

It has been a long time since Alexander won a sectional game and last year's was able to hang with Caledonia-Mumford in the first round last year, but wound up losing 66-52. Kyle Woodruff was the second-leading scorer last season and returns as the go-to guy this year.

The GR honorable mention all-star of a year ago can shoot the 3 and was a nice compliment to Josh Bender, who was the top scoring option. He now becomes the guy expected to lead the team in scoring on most nights.

Seniors Andy Bittner, Mike Galletti, Tyler Sheeler , Matt Zaso and Jordan Leitten were all contributers last season as well, giving the Trojans six seniors to lead the team.

Junior guard Stephen George also saw action last season.

But the biggest impact on the team could be the youngsters, a pair of sophomores that are starting the season on the varsity squad.

Guard/forward Troy Shelnut might be one name you've heard already. The 6-foot-2 scorer poured in 18 points in his varsity debut, a 72-70 loss to Geneseo in the opening round of the Alexander Tournament last Friday (George and Bittner were also in double figures in that game). Shelnut followed that up with a team-high five points in a 71-25 loss to Livonia in the consolation game.

The other sophomore is guard Jared Quinn, who also scored five points to lead the Trojans in the second game.

While the Trojans aren't expecting to be a dominant team in the league this season, there is no reason why the team can't contend for a league title and try and win a playoff game or two.

 Batavia grad Kevin Saunders is the male Athlete of the Week at Fredonia State after a huge game against D'Youville.

The junior guard poured in 14 points with five rebounds in a 66-44 win over D'Youville. He also hit 4-of-7 3-point attempts and dished out two assists.

Fredonia held former Oakfield-Alabama star James Davis - a freshman at D'Youville - scoreless in that game. Davis did have a block, a rebound and an assist in the contest.

The Blue Devils are 5-1 after beating Pitt-Bradford 84-79 last night.

 When you look at the Notre Dame roster, the name Kevin Francis easily stands out.

The senior point guard has been one of the top players in the Genesee Region League over the last two seasons and was a GR all-star last year, pouring in 16.5 points with 5.8 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 5.1 steals per game. He dropped in 18 3-pointers.

There is no question that he is going to be the leader on the off the floor.

He had an established, solid supporting cast last season as the Fighting Irish, and the squad went 18-5 and earned the top seed in the Section 5 Class DD playoffs. ND ran into Elba in the semifinals and the Lancers came from 12 points back and sprung a 64-58 upset.

But gone are the likes of Christian Bochicchio, Joe Pawlak, Pat Mancuso and Mark Fanton. Instead, a strong group of youngsters will be taking the court to support Francis and try and get ND a sectional title.

There aren't a lot of returning scorers and you can expect junior Matt Thompson and sophomore Vinny Zambito to be major factors on the offensive end. Thompson is a pure shooter and Zambito is a scoring machine that led the jayvee squad a year ago.

Senior guard Kevin Schildwaster will also look to score. Backing up Francis will be junior Nick Bochicchio, who played quarterback on the football team and has the ability to lead things on the court when Francis needs a rest.

While Fanton was a true big-man for the Fighting Irish last year, standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 215 pounds, Notre Dame doesn't have anybody that can match his size.

But they might even be more physical in the paint.

Tommy Rapone is 6-foot-2, 225 pounds and very athletic for a big man. The junior will get a lot of playing time and try to keep a good group of big men in the GR out of the paint. His main focus will be defense and rebounding, but he also has the potential to score points when needed,

Senior Rick Lair is also 6-2 and weighs 185 pounds, but is a strong player that was a solid player on the football team. Senior Nick Weatherwax is the biggest player on the squad at 6-3 and is also physical.

A lot was made out of coach Mike Rapone's 500th victory last season, rightfully so, but this group doesn't have the pressure of trying to win that game for the legendary coach. 

Rapone became just the third coach in Section 5 history to get to the 500 win plateau (Jim Burke of Prattsburgh won No. 500 in the season opener this year) when Notre Dame beat Kendall midway through the season.

His current record is 509-133 and he is chasing Ed Nietopski of Bishop Kearney and Cardinal Mooney, who is the all-time leader with 545 victories. He has an outside chance of catching Scio legend Roger Bigby this season, as he ended his career with 527 wins.

In 29 years, Rapone has won 26 division titles, seven Section 5 titles, four Far West Regional championships and two state titles, with the last coming in 2001.

Rapone usually gets the most out of what he has, and this year's version of the Fighting Irish have a lot of talent. It is only a matter of getting the young players to mesh with the veterans and contribute with scoring.

It was a light night in area high school athletics, with only Kendall girls basketball playing in the Genesee Region League.

The Eagles hosted Medina and thumped them 45-25.

Meghan Fahy led Kendall with 12 points and seven rebounds with Samantha D'Agostino adding 10 points in Kendall's opener.

Brittani Reis also had seven points with six swipes and Lorna Brooks pitched in six points.

Kelly Pritchard had 10 points for the Mustangs, who fall to 0-1.