basketball

 The state rankings for boys basketball was released today and they are very disappointing for local teams.

First off, Batavia took a huge drop after losing to Pittsford Sutherland for the second time this season.

The Blue Devils were ranked No. 12 in Class A last week and have dipped all the way into a tie for 25th in the state, tied with Elmira Southside of Section 4.

Notre Dame took it on the chin against Prattsburgh this week and fell from No. 6 to No. 9 in Class D. Prattsburgh moved up from No. 15 to No. 6.

Oakfield-Alabama nearly lost to Kendall and was shocked by Elba last week. The Hornets dropped from No. 12 to totally off the chart in Class C.

With the state possibly cutting games next season, this may be the last time Letchworth and Attica play. The tradition has gone on for years.

It was the Indians that came away with the victory because of a pair of runs that ended with a 44-39 victory.

The first half had zero entertainment value as the score was tied at 18 when the second quarter buzzer went off. Some people called it ugly basketball, but I'm going with a good defensive battle.

Travis Tones hit two big 3-pointers early in the third quarter, with a Cam McLaughlin bucket thrown in the mix. 

Letchworth had a seven point lead before Tate Westermeier had a basket, Bryan Thompson scored and Westermeier drained a 3-pointer to have his team trailing just 31-29 after three periods of play.

The was back-and-forth in the final frame, but Jim Przybylak hit a 3-pointer and Tones hit one of two foul shots.

Attica had to start fouling after that and Tones hit 7 of his 8 attempts in the fourth quarter.

Tones finished the day with 20 points and McLaughlin had six points with eight rebounds. Przybylak finished with nine for the Indians (12-2).

Westermeier scored 17 points to lead the Blue Devils (6-7), who have been in a slump since the Christmas break.

Craig Wolfley might have had his most solid performance thus far in the season, scoring six points and grabbing 11 rebounds. 

 Notre Dame may have suffered a difficult loss, but guard Kevin Schildwaster was named Player of the Week for Genesee Region League Division II.

Schildwaster won two of three games this week, and has had a big week playing defense. He also had a season-high 13 points against Prattsburgh.

Byron-Bergen's 6-foot-6 forward David Garnish won the honor for Division I. He averaged 7.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and two blocks this past week.

Alexander's Rachel Pettys had a total of 18 points, 24 rebounds, eight assists, 12 steals and six blocked shots in a win over Lyndonville and a loss to Elba. She earned GR Player of the Week for Division I.

Kendall's Meghan Fahy scored 41 points and had 12 boards in two games last week. The Eagles lost to Oakfield-Alabama by just one point and her free throw shooting was a big reason why. Fahy hit 11-of-12 from the charity stripe.

 Batavia grad Adam Brasky and his King's College basketball team fell to 8-8 after a 66-63 loss to FDU-Florham over the weekend.

The team is just 1-7 in the division, but has a 7-1 record out of the division.

Brasky - a sophomore guard -  has played in all 16 game while averaging 2.4 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.

He is playing almost 18 minutes and has handed out 20 assists this season.

In John Moriello's blog today, he is talking money and sports. 

New York has already lost the Empire State Games as Hudson Valley said there was no way they could host the game this summer if athletes are going to be forced to play $300 each to participate and there will be cuts in some of the "smaller sports".

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association is also looking into cuts, a story that was broken on The Batavian. There is talks of regionalizing state games, eliminating the amount of games played in the regular season and post season for some sports and cutting down on the amount of champions in individual sports.

Moriello thinks that the NYSPHSAA is moving too fast:

More often, however, issues are resolved incrementally and painfully. Quick, easy fixes just do not exist.

   That's where the state of New York stands today. The economic downturn has shredded the economy, and elected officials in Albany face a deficit in excess of $15 billion in next year's budget. Among the casualties is the education budget, with proposed state aid being pared back considerably from what local school districts were anticipating when they started the annual planning process in the fall.

   And that has everything to do with why the executive committee of the state Public High School Athletic Association will vote on more than a dozen cost-cutting proposals at its quarterly meeting at the end of the week.

    The NYSPHSAA officials are trying to be proactive in dealing with financial issues. They rightly recognize that cuts are coming in virtually all aspects of the education budget and want to take the initiative in setting priorities and finding solutions lest someone not as well informed try doing it for them. That's their right, and I would even say it's their responsibility.

Moriello also talks about the cost of teams that travel to our border states for games. It is a good read, well worth checking out.

We did a post earlier in the week on a basketball team that beat another one - from a school that teaches kids with mental disabilities - 100-0.

At the time, school officials from Covenant School had issued an apology. Apparently coach Micah Grimes had no part of that according to the Associated Press.

 The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100-0 was fired Sunday, the same day he sent an e-mail to a newspaper saying he will not apologize "for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity.

The school even issued a statement on its Web site saying "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition"

Grimes sent an e-mail to the The Dallas Morning News saying he does not agree with the school's apology.

"In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed," Grimes wrote in the e-mail, according to the newspaper. "We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

Wilson-Magnet does not play in the same sectional bracket, but many local fans like to stick around and watch the big boys play.

Wilson had a very good chance to be there, but will not be because a player was over the age limit to play high school basketball. His name was not released by the school, but a thread on Section 5 Talksback claims the player is Thomas Bell, a senior guard.

“Our responsibility is to respond to any accusations that are made and do some research,” AD Carlos Cotto, told Jeff Diveronica of the Democrat & Chronicle. “I acted on (a question about the student’s age) and we did what we had to do as soon as we found out. It’s a disappointment, but we have a responsibility to honor the rules that govern the athletic program.”

Wilson was the No. 2 seed in the Class AA1 bracket - behind Rush-Henrietta  - with a record of 10-3. They had to forfeit all 10 wins, but are now 1-13 because they beat Greece Odyssey. This should make that bracket interesting, for those of us that enjoy following all of Section 5.

Wilson is a great squad that might end up as a lower-middle seed and cruise to the finals where there is a good chance Rush-Henrietta will be waiting.

Brittany Mazurkiewicz went off as the Batavia girls basketball team toppled Victor 49-39 Friday.

She also had four assists.

Brittany Wormley continued her hot play with 12 points and five dimes. Jaycee Shirk had eight points as Batavia improves to 12-3.

Jenee Vanderstyne, Taylor Hudson and Alex Valenti scored eight points apiece for Victor (1-11). 

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York took care of Le Roy 53-39 as Taylor Schultz had 15 points and 10 boards for the Golden Knights (7-7).

Allison Macomber had 15 points to lead the Oatkan Knights (1-13). Jenna Merica had 13.

 Something is up with state-ranked Oakfield-Alabama. 

They were upset earlier in the week and nearly lost to visiting Kendall 58-55 Friday night.

The Eagles poured in 23 points in the fourth quarter and nearly pulled the upset off. Josh Laureano scored 16 of his game-high 39 points in the final period to almost guide his team to victory. He dropped in two 3-pointers to turn a 15 point deficit to a 1-point deficit. 

After O-A's Sam McCracken hit a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left, Laureano had one last chance to tie the game. But he missed the three-point shot.

Noah Seward led the Hornets with 15 points with Tim Smith scoring 12 and Josh Athoe adding 10.

McCracken had eight points for O-A, which improves to 11-2.

Laureano had a dominant night, with just Chad Bently and Colt Tooley adding five points apiece. Kendall falls to 7-4.

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Batavia never trailed in downing Victor 59-43. 

The Blue Devils were on fire from beyond the 3-point line, connecting on 10 of 18 attempts, with Andrew Hoy hitting three trifectas to score a team-high 15 points.

Marcus Hoy and Dakota Irvin added 10 points apiece as Batavia improves to 11-2.

Victor (10-4) committed 17 turnovers and was led by Lee Lomenzo with 12 points.

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Kevin Francis had 17 points to lead Notre Dame to a 68-51 win over Attica's basketball team.

Gianni Zambito scored a career-high 11 points and Gregg Barr scored 10 of his 11 points in the first quarter, giving the Fighting Irish a 19-4 advantage.

Bryan Thompson had 13 points and Tate Westermeier added nine for the Blue Devils (6-6).

Notre Dame improves to 10-2.

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Mike Humphrey scored 24 points with five rebounds, five steals and three dimes to lead Le Roy to a 54-47 win over visiting York.

Quentin Humphrey had five points and four assists while Eric Stella chipped in six points, nine boards and a pair of blocks for the Oatkan Knights (7-7).

Travis Fenstermaker had eight points and Jordan Casper chipped in seven.

Eric Hann had 19 points and nine rebounds for York (8-6).

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Tyler Sass had a game-high 12 points to lead Byron-Bergen past Wheatland-Chili 39-33.

David Garnish had six points and a pair of blocked shots  with Kevin Rickard and Tess Schramm adding eight points apiece for the Bees (3-9).

Rick Agosto and Andy Lund each scored nine points for the Wildcats (3-10).

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Holley's Tim Banks, Tim Butler and Ryan VanGuilder each had a pin for the Holley wrestling team, which dropped Kenmore East 65-15.

I heard about this yesterday as I walked out the door to cover the Elba/Alexander game, and it is pretty strange.

A team beat another by the score of 100-0 in Texas, and it is causing some regrets by the losing squad and really ticked off the losing team, which is a school that teaches students with "learning disabilities".

DALLAS —  A Texas high school girls basketball team on the winning end of a 100-0 game has a case of blowout remorse.

Now officials from the winning school say they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory.

In a statement Thursday on The Covenant School's Web site, the head of school said, "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened." He went on to say that Covenant has made "a formal request to forfeit the game recognizing that a victory without honor is a great loss."

Last week Covenant, a private Christian school in Dallas, defeated Dallas Academy 100-0. Covenant was up 59-0 at halftime.

A parent who attended the game told The Associated Press that Covenant continued to make 3-pointers — even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points. 

 Meghan Fahy hit six straight foul shots in the closing minutes to pull Kendall within a point, but couldn't get a shot off and Oakfield-Alabama got past a scare, 42-41.

Brynn Perfitt of O-A and Fahy went toe-to-toe and had 25 points apiece.

Lindsay Chatt had six points and Hillary Bates added five for the Hornets (7-7).

Samantha D'Agostino added 10 points for the Eagles (3-8).

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In what must have been an ugly game to watch, Notre Dame scored more points in the first quarter (21) than Attica did in the entire game. The Fighting Irish won 69-19.

Nichole Hart had a big game with 17 points and four steals with Liz Geandreau pitching in 15 points and eight boards. Brittany Morelli had 14 points and Trisha Pike finished with 11.

BRianna Hammel had seven points for the Blue Devils.

Notre Dame is now 10-3.

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Kelsey Lewis led Pembroke with 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals as the Dragons downed Lyndonville 45-36.

Laura Moser added nine points with nine rebounds, six swipes and three dimes, with Clarisse Birkby adding six points for the Dragons (7-6).

Molly Burgess had 12 points for the Tigers.

 In the latest edition of the girls state rankings, released today, we only have one local team.

That team is Elba, which has a 10-2 record. The Lancers moved up from No. 11 to No. 10 in this week's rankings.

Elba will be tested against 9-2 Alexander tonight, which will be covered by The Batavian, with full a story, video and photos.

Both Batavia boys basketball team are receiving some nice rankings in the newest state ranking poll, which was released today.

Batavia is ranked 12th in the state, moving up from last week's No. 17 ranking.

Notre Dame dropped from No. 5 to No. 6 in Class D.

The only other state ranked team locally is Oakfield-Alabama, which moved up from No. 13 to No. 12 in Class C.

Oakfield-Alabama graduate and D'Youville College freshman James Davis is enjoying a strong first season of college basketball for the 7-9 Spartans.

Davis has started all 16 games and is playing 26.2 minutes per game. He is averaging 6.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, with a total of 28 assists and 17 steals for the season. 

He recently poured in 17 points in a loss on Jan. 10.

 The D'Youville College men's baksetball team recieved a game-high 28 points from Charles Walker (Buffalo, NY/NCCC) but was defeated 92-81 at Cazenovia College.

Romair Parrett (Buffalo, NY/NCCC) added 18 points and a game-high 17 rebounds, and James Davis (Oakfield, NY/Oakfield-Alabama) contributed 16 points for the Spartans.

Sometimes you can fight as hard as possible, but are still going to lose.

Pittsford Sutherland had a huge size advantage and owned the boards, and were dropping 3-pointers like crazy and beat host Batavia 58-49. This gives the Blue Devils a 10-2 record, with both losses coming to Sutherland.

It is still possible for Batavia to tie Sutherland for the Monroe County League title, but it is going to basically take two Sutherland losses with Batavia winning out.

The Blue Devils have won or shared the Division III championship for the last seven seasons, and will not be competing for a league title next year as Batavia will only play a half-league schedule.

Even with the Knights going box-and-1 and double-teaming Andrew Hoy, Batavia was in a lose game i the first quarter and early into the second.

Andrew, Dakota Irvin and Adam Pettinella all drained 3-pointers to give the Blue Devils a 15-14 lead after one period of play.

Robert Hoy opened the second quarter with a trifecta and Mike Lee followed with a bucket, and Batavia was leading 20-14.

Then, Sutherland went on an amazing run, scoring 16 straight points over the next 4 1/2 minutes. Patrick O'Keefe had five points in the stretch and Brian Lewis hit two 3-pointers.

All of a sudden, that six point lead turned into a 30-20 deficit.

Batavia ended the half with some momentum as Marcus Hoy drained a trey and Robert Hoy added a basket. It was only 30-25 at the break.

Joe Schlossel had two baskets with Andrew Hoy and Marcus Hoy getting one apiece, but Dylan Sherwood scored twice and O'Keefe added a bucket to keep things even. 

The lead then opened up again as the Knights went on another run, with Dan Waldbillig and O'Keefe getting baskets - with two Andrew Hoy free throws sandwiched in - before Sherwood and Lewis both scored to give Sutherland a 45-35 advantage.

Again, the Blue Devils fought back early in the fourth quarter.

Andrew Hoy, Robert Hoy, Schlossel and Marcus Hoy had four straight buckets to make the score 45-43. Wayne Dillworth and Waldbillig had consecutive baskets, and then Dan O'Keefe drained a 3-pointer that was basically the nail in the coffin.

Dylan Sherwood, Patrick O'Keefe had 12 points apiece for the Knights (9-2).

Marcus Hoy had nine points with four assists to lead Batavia (10-2), with Andrew Hoy scoring 11 points and Joe Schlossel adding 12. Robert Hoy had nine points.

No matter how good a team is, when you play your rival, anything can happen.

That was proven Wednesday night as Elba shocked Oakfield-Alabama 51-47, with a spread out scoring attack and physical play.

"This is huge," said forward Phil Ostroski, who was named D2 Player of the Week this week. "They are a really good team and to beat them is huge. I think it is their first league loss. Everybody that that the teams to beat in the (Genesee Region League) were Notre Dame and Oakfield-Alabama."

In terms of upsets, this is a big one.

The Hornets were ranked 13th in the state in Class C with a 10-1 record, and Elba came in with a 6-5 record and not a lot of respect.

But Sonny Giuliano scored 13 points with 10 assists, Max Torrey had 12, freshman call-up Dan Ramsey scored 12 and Ostroski added nine.

The Lancers did give up two double-figure scorers as Noah Seward had 13 points and Tim Smith added 12.

Now, Elba looks for some respect after knocking off the GR's top team.

"I would hope (we get respect)," Ostroski said. "A lot of people will say Oakfield had an off night or this was a big fluke. I think we are a top tier team because we beat O-A. We have to keep it going the rest of the season to show what we can do."

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Kevin Francis and Kevin Schildwaster both had solid all-around games as Notre Dame knocked off Pembroke 52-44.

Francis had 11 points, five rebounds, seven assists and five steals while Schildwaster added four points, six boards, five swipes and five assists.

ND had a 42-40 lead with 3:45 left to go when Francis scored off a steal by Schildwaster. Then Francis had a steal and got the ball to Greg Barr for a basket. Vinny Zambito also had a key 3-pointer to break the game open.

After a 3-pointer by Andrew Gabbey, Tommy Rapone scored off an offensive rebound.

The Fighting Irish did a good job of holding Pembroke's big men in check, with Ken Babcock scoring 15 and Andrew Wright being held to just nine points.

Pembroke falls to 5-6.

Matt Thompson scored nine points with Nick Wetherwax and Barr adding eight points apiece, helping the Fighting Irish improve to 9-2.

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Mike Humphrey had 21 points with eight dimes as Le Roy toppled Mount Morris 66-44. Josh Kosoriek had 10 points with six rebounds and two blocks with Cody Niccloy adding nine points for the Oatkan Knights (6-7).

Tony Moxley had 13 points and seven rebounds for Mount Morris (3-9).

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Bryan Thompson and Zach Fleiss had 10 points apiece, with Tate Westermeier adding seven points to lead Attica to a 51-44 win over Wheatland-Chili.

Andy Lund led the Wildcats with 16 points and 10 boards.

Attica improves to 6-5.

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The Notre Dame Hockey team had its stuggles with 1-16 Bishop Kearney/Eastridge, but pulled through in overtime to win 3-2.

Jordan DiFlippo scored the game winning goal just 31 seconds into OT, with Jack Nenni and Ivan Madafferi each getting an assist.

Beau Richter and Brett Perfitt had goals with Thomas Dehr made 17 saves in net.

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Holley's wrestling team took advantage of six forfeits in crushing Byron-Bergen 57-23.

Jon Butterbaugh and Quinton Murphy had pins for the Hawks while Colin Geer and Andy Oliveri had pins for the Bees.