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HS boys highlights for Saturday

By Brian Hillabush

The Batavia basketball team went off in the second quarter, having a 23-13 advantage, and went on to beat Penfield 67-62 Saturday.

Andrew Hoy and Josh Budlong had five points apiece in the period.

But, Penfield did come back to tie the score at 62 with a minute left in regulation, potentially setting the Blue Devils up for a second consecutive overtime game.

Andrew Hoy got to the free throw line three times and converted 5-of-6 shots to seal the victory. He finished with a game-high 26 points.

Marcus Hoy scored eight points with six assists and seven rebounds. Joe Schlossel had 14 points with Budlong adding seven points. 

Batavia improves to 13-2.

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Spencerport dropped Notre Dame's record to 6-7-1 with a 6-3 victory.

Kyle Mark had a hat-trick for Spencerport (10-5-2).

Jason Harasimowicz, Dan Versage and Beau Richter each scored for the Fighting Irish with Thomas Dehr stopping 21 shots.

HS boys highlights for Friday

By Brian Hillabush

 Whatever was wrong with Oakfield-Alabama last week has been fixed.

The Hornets pounded Lyndonville 73-38 as Tim Smith and Noah Seward scored 20 points apiece, with Seward grabbing 11 rebounds.

Brad Riner had six points, nine dimes and seven steals. A.J. Kehlenbeck chipped in seven points.

Erik Van Wycke had 10 points for the Tigers (1-13).

O-A improves to 12-2.

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Kevin Francis had a huge game in Notre Dame's 60-40 win over Alexander.

The senior point guard scored 23 points, had 13 rebounds and handed out seven assists.

Vinny Zambito had 11 points and Greg Barr pitched in six.

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Josh Laureano nearly had a triple-double as Kendall downed Byron-Bergen 45-33.

Laureano had 10 points, 10 boards and eight assists to help the Eagles improve to 8-5.

Colt Tooley pitched in 11 points and five rebounds.

David Garnish led Byron-Bergen (3-10) with nine points and six rebounds.

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Le Roy is now above .500 as they whooped Pavilion 61-42.

Mike Humphrey had 16 points with five assists and four swipes, and Jordan Casper scored 11 points and pulled down 10 board for a double-double.

That makes the Oatkan Knights 8-7 on the season.

Gregg DeJesus had 13 points and Jack Jeffres had 11 points for the Golden Gophers (4-10).

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Sonny Giuliano and Phil Ostroski both had big games as Elba took care of Holley 56-48.

Ostroski led the team in scoring with 16 points and Giuliano had 14 points and 11 assists, helping the Lancers improve to 8-6.

Dan Ramsey had eight points with Max Torrey and Theo Tomczak getting six points apiece.

John Wharram led the Hawks with 12 points.

Brian Mitchell and Chad Barhydt had 11 points apiece for Holley, now 4-11.

HS girls highlights for Friday

By Brian Hillabush

With just two seconds left, Liz Geandreau dropped in a jump shot to give Notre Dame a 48-47 win over Alexander Friday.

Geandreau finished with seven points to lead the state ranked Fighting Irish (10-3).

Nichole Hart led the scoring for Notre Dame with 18 points and Brittany Morelli pitched in 16. 

Alexander had a huge fourth quarter, beating ND 14-6.

But, they wound up with the loss and fall to 9-4, with two losses coming to Elba and Notre Dame, the two GR powerhouses.

Rachel Pettys had six points, seven boards and three steals with Anni Lehtola adding 10 points for the Trojans.

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Elba really spread out the scoring in beating host Holley 43-32.

Chelsie Pangrazio and Missy Call led the team with seven points, with Cassy Engle and Sarah Schwartzmeyer scoring six apiece.

Julie Brooks had 17 points for the Hawks (4-9).

Elba is now 13-2.

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Pembroke improved to 8-6 with a 56-34 crushing of Wheatland-Chili, with several girls contributing.

Laura Moser had 13 points, six boards, seven steals and three dimes with Danielle Kelsey scored 11 points.

Nicole Sharick led all scorers with 16 points.

Lindsey Hall had 19 points for the Wildcats.

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Brittani Reis and Samantha D'Agostino combined to score all 10 of Kendall's overtime points in a 42-37 win over Byron-Bergen.

Reis had four points in OT and finished with 10 and D'Agostino wound up scoring 16 points. Meghan Fahy had eight points for the Eagles (5-8).

Rori Partridge had 14 points for the Bees (7-7).

 

Notre Dame joins Elba in Class D state rankings

By Brian Hillabush

 It has been a few weeks since we've had more than one local girls basketball team ranked in the state, but we finally have two.

Both are in Class D and the two teams are the biggest rivalry in GR girls hoops. 

Elba bumped up a notch from No. 10 to No. 9 in this weeks state rankings and is joined in Class D by Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were not ranked last week but is ranked No. 20 this week, tied with Canaseraga.

Batavia, Oakfield-Alabama and Notre Dame all drop in boys State rankings

By Brian Hillabush

 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.

Players of the Week

By Brian Hillabush

 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.

Hilly spends the day with Notre Dame on the trip to Prattsburgh

By Brian Hillabush

Saturday was quite an experience for me.

I've taken a bus ride with the Batavia basketball team before, but this one with Notre Dame was completely different and was a ton of fun, even though the team lost to Prattsburgh 70-64.

I live less than 10 minutes walking from Notre Dame, so I decided to walk to the school. As soon as I got in the building, coach Mike Rapone was doing a walk-through with his squad.

Prattsburgh and Notre Dame make trips each year to play together and their home courts and it is always a great game, with the home team usually winning.

We then got on the bus and it took exactly two hours to get to Prattsburgh, which is a great town that is old time. The buildings on the main street are from the way-back and the people there are just good folks.

The ride there was a lot of fun.

The kids from Notre Dame know how to bust each other's chops. There was the ribbing of Tommy Rapone on his Pokeman fetish, the gum wrapper belt put on Rick Lair when he fell asleep and just a lot of goofing off.

But when the Fighting Irish arrived at Prattsburgh, it was all business. I had some business to attend to, visiting friends from Notre Dame and Section 5 Talksback that made the trip.

I watched the jayvee game with the varsity squad for the third quarter, then midway through the fourth I went down with coach Rapone to hear his pregame speech. 

Rapone is not a yeller and not a big ra-ra coach. He's one of those guys that has been around long enough to know everything the other team is going to do and he ran through it with his kids. He knew what players on the Vikings did and what to do if they pressed or went box-and-1 on Kevin Francis.

Notre Dame jumped out to a quick 15-6 lead  in the first quarter. But Francis picked up his second foul and had to sit down, and that's when the flow of the game changed. Prattsburgh took advantage of arguably the Genesee Region League's best player being on the bench and wound up leading 34-27 at the half.

There was nobody on ND that could rebound in the second half and Prattsburgh was dropping 3-pointers like crazy. Patrick Wightman scored 21 points and hit five 3-pointers and Ryan Caron scored a game-high 29 points.

The crowd was totally into the game, with fans from both sides cheering when big things happened.

When the game ended and Notre Dame took it on the chin, Rapone gave his post game speech and basically told his team what they did wrong and hopes that they learn from the mistakes made in this game and become a better team from the loss.

Then the two teams, coaching staffs and all of the media and some locals that were there got together to enjoy pizza, subs and cookies together. It is a tradition that when the two teams play that they get together afterwards and enjoy and meal.

This is not done with any other rivalries as far as I know. Very cool.

As we loaded the bus to go home, I was expecting a depressing ride and kids sleeping. Yes, some were depressed and yes some slept, but it wound up being as much fun as the two hour ride there.

It started with Greg Barr leading a chorus singing songs from cartoon movies of the past. I could not stop laughing. 

Then those that were not sleeping, gathered around my seat to talk and hang out. The conversation was good and everybody got a preview of the video, seeing the footage I took on the bus ride up.

There is a sad point that I must end on. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association is attempting to cut the amount of games that a team can play in a season.

That would mean Notre Dame would play it's regular season games and then have three open slots. They aren't going to back out of the Lions Club tournament, which only allows them to play one extra non-league game. This very well might be the end of a great rivalry and tradition that has lasted for many years. Rapone and Prattsburgh coach Jim Burke are both over 500 career wins and good friends.

The kids enjoy playing each other and making the long trips.

But it looks like a great tradition is over.

Prattsburgh outplays Notre Dame, big, in what might be last game in rivalry

By Brian Hillabush

 Notre Dame jumped out to a 15-6 lead to start the game.

As strange as this sounds, that might have been a bad thing. The Fighting Irish started relaxing and couldn't grab a rebound and Prattsburgh was getting all the boards and hitting a lot of shots and came away with a 70-64 win.

The Vikings won by six points, but the game was far from that close.

After the Irish opened the 9-point lead to start the game, star guard Kevin Francis got into foul trouble and sat for a good portion of the second quarter.

That was when Prattsburgh took over.

Notre Dame led 21-12 at the end of the first, but wound up trailing 34-27 at halftime.

Ryan Caron may have played the game of his life for the Vikings, with 29 points. He scored seven of those points in the second period as Prattsburgh dominated.

Patrick Wightman hit two 3-pointers and had another basket in the frame. Wightman finished with 21 points, including five 3-pointers.

It looked good for Notre Dame as Francis opened up the third quarter with a basket and-1.

But again, Prattsburgh took over with Garrett Parker scoring twice, Wightman dropping and 3-pointer and Caron adding a bucket to give the Vikings a 47-35 advantage.

Kevin Schildwaster hit two 3-pointers and another basket in the third quarter to keep the Fighting Irish within striking distance, but the third quarter ended with Prattsburgh leading 58-49.

That lead was expanded to 68-54 as Caron had two free throws, and three baskets in a quick stretch.

Notre Dame made a late charge with Vinny Zambito hitting a long 2-pointer and Nick Bochiccho draining a trey, but the game wound up being a blowout.

Garrett Parker scored eight of his points in the second half for Prattsburgh while Schildwaster added 13 points to Francis' 18 and Tommy Rapone scored eight points, all in the first half.

 Prattsburgh (12-3) is currently ranked third in Class D2  in the Section 5 sectional bracket, while ND is 10-2 and the top ranked in D1.

With the NYSPHSAA looking force teams to drop two games in the season, means this might be the end of the great rivalry.

Notre Dame will only have three non-league games, and two of those will be in the Lions Club Tournament, leaving just one open slot.

 

Boys basketball state rankings released

By Brian Hillabush

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.

 

Notre Dame comes through in the end, beats scrappy O-A

By Brian Hillabush

 The game might have been tight all the way through, but it looked like the Oakfield-Alabama girls were going to beat Notre Dame for the second time this season, on ND's home court.

The Hornets owned the paint and seemed to be in the right place at the right time for every loose ball. But the Fighting Irish battled in the closing minutes and came through with a huge 48-46 win.

Oakfield-Alabama took a 3-point lead with about five minutes left in the game when Hillary Bates scored a basket, making the score 40-37 in O-A's favor.

Notre Dame's Brittany Morelli answered with a bucket, but the lead was back to 3-points when Dani Sage scored at the other end. The Hornets had a chance to extend the lead when sophomore McKenzie Harris had a steal and was fouled going to the basket.

Unfortunately for the Hornets, she missed both free throw attempts.

Nichole Hart then made it a 1-point game with a basket seconds later.

After a turnover, Morelli scored with an and-1, giving the Fighting Irish a 44-42 lead with just under three minutes left in the game.

Christina Palillo tied the game with a basket on O-A's next possession, then was fouled on the team's next trip down the court. She hit both foul shots to give the Hornets a 46-44 advantage with just over two minutes left.

Again, it looked like O-A was going to win, just like they did in the consolation game of the Rotary Tournament.

But Notre Dame went inside the paint on the following possession, giving the ball to 6-foot sophomore Liz Geandreau, who was fouled while trying to get a shot off. She tied the score with two free throws.

Nobody scored for almost a minute and a half, but Morelli got to the foul line with 39 seconds left. She hit both attempts to give the Fighting Irish the two-point advantage.

The Hornets had one last shot with just seconds left on the clock, but missed a 3-pointer and couldn't get the rebound.

Morelli scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half and Jill Marshall pitched in 14 points for the Fighting Irish, who improve to 7-3. Nichole Hart had 12 points.

Brynn Perfitt continues to be a strong scoring option for Oakfield-Alabama (6-6), scoring 11 points. Hillary Bates scored a team-high 12 points and Palillo pitched in eight points.

 

 

Batavia, Notre Dame and O-A all moving up in state polls

By Brian Hillabush

 The New York State Sports Writers Association announced its newest poll today and Batavia, Notre Dame and Oakfield-Alabama all moved up in the state.

Batavia jumped from No. 20 to No. 17 in Class A, with games through Jan. 11. The Blue Devils beat Greece Odyssey last night to improve to 9-1.

Oakfield-Alabama jumped from No. 17 to No. 15 in Class C and improved to 8-1 with a win over Wheatland-Chili on Tuesday.

Notre Dame was bumped up from No. 6 to No. 5 in Class D and are now 8-1 after beating Holley 68-42 on Tuesday.

 

Notre Dame cheerleaders take top prize - Updated with photo and video

By Philip Anselmo

Thanks to Lindsay Warner for submitting the following info on the Genesee Region League Cheerleading Tournament. We would love to have some color to go with this recap, so if you've got photos or video of this event, please post it to the site or contact me by e-mail so we can get it posted.

This weekend the JV and varsity cheerleading squads of the Genesee Region League gathered for their annual tournament. The competition travels to a different host school every few years and this year was the first for Elba High School and Michelle Merrill, their head coach.

The competition is run much like Winter Cheerleading Sectionals in that each team performs twice on the mat- once in a cheer only round and than again using the tradition cheer/dance routine. Grand Champion is determined by the squad who carries the highest total score. Since the inception of this competition that score belonged to the Holley Hawks- that is until this weekend.

Notre Dame has competed in this tournament for years and since Coach Lindsay (Rapone) Warner began coaching, grand champion was set as the ultimate goal. Holley High School, who is class B2 with nearly twice as many squad members, doesn’t make for much of a fair fight. This year Notre Dame has 14 members, 6 of which are new additions to the varsity team from last year. Nevertheless, Notre Dame was able to top Holley’s squad of 27 by 6 points in Round One which was very exciting for the squad as a last second decision was made to throw out the original cheer and learn a completely new one less than a week before the day’s performance. Overall the Irish stole grand champion by 4 points.

“My team was aware that the odds were against us in our goal to get grand champ. Holley is a great competitor and is well known for their themed routines, which this year, was Legally Blonde,” coach Lindsay Warner. The squad worked very hard to prepare for this competition, including two full practices before each of their games this week. The girls wanted it and their efforts certainly paid off. Assistant coach, Sheri Girvin, who is an alumni of Holley High School and former recipient of Grand Champion as a Hawk joined the Irish last year and was thrilled to receive Grand Champion again, now as a Notre Dame coach.

Squad captains are Stacy Squire, Kristen Francis, and Lauren DiFante, two of which are seniors and are very hopeful that this is just the start of a very successful final season for them at Notre Dame.



Scores:

JV CHEER DI- Holley 177, Attica 173, Alexander 170; DII- Kendall 137
JV CHEER/DANCE DI- Holley 179,Attica 169, Alexander 156; DII Kendall 150
Varsity CHEER DI-Holley 184, Attica 179, Alexander 174, Oakfield 109; DII Notre Dame 190, Elba 173, Kendall 157, Lyndonville 150
Varsity CHEER/DANCE DII- Notre Dame 185, Kendall 166, Elba 164, Lyndonville 146

Blue Devils top Fighting Irish in hockey

By Brian Hillabush

Batavia came away with the win in the local hockey rivalry.

The Blue Devils beat Notre Dame 4-2 and improve to 7-6.

Erik Pokornowski and Corey Kocent had two goals each, with Pokornowski scoring the final goal with just over two minutes left in regulation.

Patt Finnell dished out three assists and Brandon Polito had two helpers.

Dylan Versage and Jordan DiFilipo had the goals for Notre Dame, which were both assisted by Tyler Kessler.

HS highlights for Friday

By Brian Hillabush

Peanut butter and jelly - words you hear together a lot. Add Andrew Hoy and box-and-one to that mix.

Teams are figuring out his ability to score and are trying to take him out of games. Other players stepped up and Batavia beat host Eastridge 55-43 Friday.

"Other guys need to step up," said coach Buddy Brasky. "More teams are going to focus on Andrew. It took some time, but kids stepped up."

Andrew still scored a game-high 15 points, but brother Marcus was the star as he helped the Blue Devils turn a 34-31 halftime lead into a big win.

Marcus scored all 14 of his points in the second half and also had seven assists and five rebounds.

"They were taking away Andrew and Robert (Hoy) so Marcus started going to the basket and scoring. He got some and-1s and some threes. He came up big," Brasky said.

 Batavia improves to 8-1.

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Kevin Francis went off for Notre Dame as the Fighting Irish whooped Byron-Bergen 75-46.

The senior had 24 points with 10 dimes and eight steals as ND improves to 7-1.

Greg Barr added 17 points with Vinny Zambito chipping in 10.

Bryan White reached double figures with 12 points for the Bees.

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A tight game turned into a blowout as Andrew Wright scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half to lead Pembroke to a 57-41 victory over Elba.

Ken Babcock had 13 points, Steve Moser had 12 and Kyle Stocking had nine for the Dragons (5-4).

Phil Ostroski and Sonny Giuliano had 10 each for the Lancers.

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Tate Westermeier led the way with 14 points as Attica beat Lyndonville 43-31. Bryan Thompson had 13 and Shawn Dupuis added eight. Matt Sheffield had 11 rebounds.

Nobody reached double figures for the Tigers.

Attica is now 5-3.

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Notre Dame thumped Byron-Bergen 59-39 in girls action as Jill Marshall scored 20 points with 14 rebounds and five dimes. Brittany Morelli added 10 points for the Fighting Irish.

Krista Lougheed had 11 points for the Bees.

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Elba rebounded from a tough loss to Geneseo with a 53-42 win over Pembroke.

Rachael Cook had a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards and Sarah Schwartzmeyer added 11 points. Julie Marshall had eight points for the Lancers (8-2).

Kelsey Lewis had 12 points for the Dragons (5-4).

Batavia and Pavilion make Rotary finals

By Brian Hillabush

 The Batavia girls basketball team got a 17 point, 13 rebound, six block performance from senior center Jaycee Shirk and will be moving on to play Pavilion in the finals of the Batavia Rotary Tournament at Genesee Community College.

The Blue Devils improve to 7-1 and got plenty of help in beating Oakfield-Alabama 45-32 as Stacey Hein had seven points and nine assists with Brittany Mazurkiewicz adding nine points.

Hillary Bates scored 10 points to lead the Hornets (4-5).

Pavilion knocked off Notre Dame 40-36 in the other opening round game. O-A and Notre Dame will play in the 6 p.m. consolation game on Wednesday with Batavia and Pavilion going at it in the finals at 7:45 p.m.

Notre Dame graduate teaches hoops at YMCA in Greece

By Philip Anselmo

A story in the Democrat & Chronicle yesterday features Batavia Notre Dame graduate Tim Sullivan, now one of the country's best basketball shooting coaches. Sullivan, who graduated in 1978, then "walked onto the team at Canisius College in Buffalo," now puts on some 400 shooting clinics across the country each year.

This article, by John Boccacino, is a fun read, and there are more than a few great tips for any amateur basketball enthusiast looking to beef up his or her shot. It's clear that Sullivan knows his stuff.

After every shot attempt Sullivan preached that, as part of their follow through, the participants kiss the shoulder of their shooting side to guarantee a complete, accurate shot.

His wise words were met with confusion. "When he started talking about that, my friend Matt Noto and I looked at each other and said, 'OK, that won't work,'" said Steven Ciotti, 13, a seventh-grader at Greece Athena Middle School who plays for Greece Basketball Association's seventh-grade house team. "But then he started shooting and he just wasn't missing. I think he made almost 95 percent of his 200 shots and we were all amazed."

Batavia wins fifth consecutive Lions Club Tournament

By Brian Hillabush

The Batavia boys basketball team won the Batavia Lions Club Championship for the fifth consecutive year, and did it in convincing fashion. The Blue Devils thumped Notre Dame 59-33.

Andrew Hoy earned MVP honors, following in his older brother's footsteps, by scoring 43 points in the tournament, which easily made him the highest scorer in the tournament.

After four straight Blue Devil championships, this was a tournament where many area fans figured the Fighting Irish had a serious chance.

And ND came out red hot.

Batavia had a 4-0 lead before Greg Barr scored five consecutive points to put Notre Dame ahead 5-4.

Matt Thompson hit a 3-pointer and then added another bucket and the Fighting Irish had a quick 10-4 lead.

Marcus Hoy hit one of two free throw attempts with an Andrew Hoy 3-pointer tossed in the mix to get Batavia within a point.

Marcus and Adam Pettinella scored back-to-back buckets and the Blue Devils had a 13-10 lead after the opening period of play.

Batavia went on a tear in the second quarter and opened up a huge halftime lead.

Pettinella had five points, Andrew scored six and Rob Hoy pitched in five as the Blue Devils were up 34-17 at intermission.

Joe Schlossel had eight quick points in the third quarter and Andrew Hoy added eight points in the third quarter to give Batavia a 52-26 third quarter lead.

Notre Dame coach Mike Rapone received his first technical foul in three years near the end of the third period when he asked an official "How do you play 24 minutes against Batavia and not get a foul shot?". It was his first technical foul call since he received one against Prattsburgh a few years back.

Batavia did attempt just two free throw attempts over the first three quarters.

But in the end, it was the effort of Andrew Hoy and a ton of support from his supporting cast that gave the Blue Devils the trophy.

Schlossel finished with eight points and eight rebounds with Marcus Hoy getting eight points with five dimes. Pettinella had seven points.

Batavia's defense did an excellent job of limiting Notre Dame star Kevin Francis, who scored nine points and did make the all-tournament team. Vinny Zambito was held to three points, but made the all-tournament squad based on his 18-point opening round performance.

Thompson had eight points.

Rob Hoy made the all-tournament team with five points and Marcus made it for his scoring and passing efforts. Andrew, of course, was the MVP after making the all-tournament team as a freshman last season.

 Albion defeated Perry 53-39 in the consolation game, with Russell Craft leading the way with 19 points. He made the all-tournament team.

Notre Dame won the jayvee tournament, beating Batavia 62-43 in the finals. Perry beat Albion in the consolation game 61-49.

 

 

 

 

Zambito keys ND to finals trip

By Brian Hillabush

 With Notre Dame leading just 22-20 at the half against Perry in the opening round of the Batavia Lions Club Tournament, coach Mike Rapone needed somebody to step up and score.

He looked in Vinny Zambito's direction and the sophomore - who led the jayvee team in scoring last year - stepped up to score a game-high 18 points and lead his team to a 60-45 victory.

Perry's pressure defense forced ND star Kevin Francis into a distribution role and other players had to step up, even though Francis did finish with 14 points.

Tommy Rapone started a third quarter run and by the time it was over, the Fighting Irish had outscored the Yellowjackets 22-10 in the frame.

Zambito popped the second of his 3-pointers and Rapone added another bucket to give ND a 30-26 lead.

Zambito scored with an and-1, Francis scored, Zambito scored and then Francis dropped in another one to make it a double-digit lead, 40-29. Nick Wetherwax and Francis each had baskets to wrap up the third quarter scoring to give Notre Dame a 44-30 lead.

Zambito hit another trey in the fourth quarter along with a pair of free throws.

After Zambito and Francis' big games, the scoring was spread out for the Fighting Irish (5-0).

Rick Lair had seven points, Wetherwax six and Rapone had five. 

Derick Cicero, Wes Cox and Alex Syberg had nine points apiece for Perry, which falls to 2-6.

Notre Dame will now be facing Batavia in the finals for the second consecutive year. The Blue Devils won 63-34 last year. The teams played each other in 2000 and 2002, with Batavia winning 62-58 in 2000 and 58-36 in 2002. 

The Blue Devils also beat the Fighting Irish 70-39 in 1997.

You have to go all the way back to 1996 for the last time Notre Dame won the Lions Club Tournament. The Fighting Irish beat Batavia 56-49, with Mike Redick earning MVP honors.

Batavia Lions Club Tournament: it doesn't get any better

By Brian Hillabush

 

Back in 1982, the Batavia Lions Club and Pete Arras decided putting together a basketball tournament would be a good idea to give some good basketball teams a chance to play on the court at Genesee Community College and make it possible for Batavia and Notre Dame to play each other.

Little could anybody have known, here we are in 2008 and the tournament is stronger than ever. It is also probably regarded as one of, if not, the best boys basketball holiday tournament in Section 5. There are typically around 2,000 people that attend the tournament at GCC every year.

That original tournament featured Batavia, Notre Dame, a very good Byron-Bergen squad and Albion. (The photo above is the original photo of the coaches).

With the Fighting Irish and Bees hooking up late in the previous season, so that was a great way to start the tourney. The two squads played in February with B-B winning 51-48. 

The opening round rematch was a stunner, with Byron-Bergen knocking off Notre Dame 54-43. Albion knocked off Batavia 62-45 

The Bees went on to claim the first Batavia Lions Club championship with 35-30 win over Albion, with Bill Ferris claiming the MVP trophy.

Ferris was also the MVP in the second year as the Bees routed ND 47-30 and then Batavia 80-43.

Notre Dame was the favorite when they matched up with B-B in the finals in the tournament's third year, but it was again the Bees claiming the title with a 52-48 victory. Notre Dame's Jim Pursel was actually the MVP of that tournament, mostly because of his 29 point effort in the opening round win over Albion.

History was made in 1985 when Batavia and Notre Dame finally had a chance to play each other in the finals. With ND playing in the Genesee Region League and Batavia in the Monroe County League, these teams never get a shot to go against each other.

Tournament MVP Ron Nenni dropped in 20 points and the Fighting Irish toppled Batavia 65-52.

The tournament has seen many changes in participants over the years, with teams like Oakfield-Alabama, Attica, John Marshall, Nichols, Bishop Timon, Perry, Williamsville North, Akron, Pembroke, Le Roy, Caledonia-Mumford, Iroquois and Alexander all having experienced playing in the classic tournament.

Despite not winning until 1989, Batavia leads the tournament with wins with 13. The Blue Devils have won the last four titles, and seven of eight. Timon knocked Batavia off in overtime in the opening round of the 2003 tournament and then toppled Notre Dame 48-44 in the finals.

Byron-Bergen - which hasn't played in the tournament since 1994 is tied with Notre Dame for  second in tournament titles with five. 

Perry has won two championships and Timon has the other.

There have been some special performances over the years. The most recent was by Batavia's Michael Chmielowiec - a senior at the University of Rochester - who set the single game scoring record with 40 points against Bishop Timon in 2004. He also owns the tournament scoring mark with 64 points.

There have been four other 30-plus point performances: Tom McCulley of Notre Dame dropped in 38 in 1991, Batavia's Phil Santiago scored 35 points in 2002, PJ Leavy of Batavia had 33 in 1995 and Notre Dame's Tim Wascott had 32 in 2002.

Leavy had 57 points in that 95 tournament, Albion's Ernie McDonald had 49 total points in 1983 and Batavia's Rick Lundy had 48 in 1997.

This year's tournament features the same four teams that have been in the last three tournaments. Batavia opens up against Albion at 7 p.m. Monday night, with Notre Dame and Perry following at 8:45 p.m.

The consolation game is at 7 p.m. Tuesday with the finals at 8:45 p.m.

Admission is only $2, includes a program with rosters and money raised helps the Lions Club to provide scholarships to local students.

If you are interested in checking out basically the entire history of the tournament, check out this link on Flickr for over 80 photos and stories from tournaments in the past.

Here is a link to the entire history of the tournament, with the scores for every opening round, consolation and championship game as well as MVP of that year's tournament.

Also, feel free to share past memories if you've played or watched memorable tournaments.

Also, here is the video from this year's team at the Lions Club dinner introducing the teams.

(most clips in the post and flickr gallery are used with permission from The Daily News)

Rotary Club Tournament on tap

By Brian Hillabush

(shown in the photo is Batavia's Jaycee Shirk (left), Pavilion's Maddy Griep, O-A's Dani Sage and Notre Dame's Brittany Morelli)

 

The Batavia girls basketball Rotary Club Tournament is set for Jan. 5 and 7 at Genesee Community College.

The annual action-packed tournament features Batavia, Notre Dame, Oakfield-Alabama and Pavilion. 

Batavia opens up with Oakfield-Alabama at 6 p.m. in the opening round with Pavilion and Notre Dame following at about 7:45 p.m. The consolation and finals are at the same time on the 7th.

Batavia captured the title last year after dropping two games the previous season. The Blue Devils toppled O-A in the finals last year, 44-31, as Annie Palermo and Alyssa Tretter were the dominant players on the floor.

But we did see an emergence of current Batavia stars Jaycee Shirk and Brittany Mazurkiewiecz in the tournament, with Mazurkiewiecz scoring nine and Shirk adding eight.

This is the 20th year the Rotary Club Girls Basketball Tournament has been held.

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