FIVE HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL TEAMS FROM WNY HEADED TO STATE SEMIFINALS
The NYSPHSAA basketball championships are this weekend, and five Section VI schools will be represented Three girls’ teams and two boys’ teams punching their ticket to the State Final Four over the weekend with victories in the Far West Regional.
The Lancaster girls team defeated Section V’s Fairport 54-20 at Buffalo State. The Legends advance to the Class AAA Semifinal, where they will play Albertus Magnus, out of Section I. Lancaster and Mattie Francis fell in the State Semifinal last season to Liverpool. Their chance at redemption is at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY on Saturday afternoon.
Jamestown’s boys’ team was triumphant over Rush-Henrietta in the Far West Regional on Friday, with a 69-64 win. After taking a ten point lead in the opening quarter, the Red and Green never looked back. They’ll take on Section VIII’s Port Washington in the Class AAA State Semifinal on Thursday Evening at Binghamton’s Visions Veteran Memorial Arena.
In Class A, the Williamsville South Billies girls are headed to the Final Four, after taking down Pittsford Sutherland in the Far West Regional, 66-62. The Billies take on Section I Champion Ardsley High School in the Semifinal on Friday afternoon at Hudson Valley CC.
The Frewsburg girls’ squad is headed to Troy for the Semifinal, as they defeated Rochester’s Keshequa in the Far West Regional, 58-44. Frewsburg will face Tuckahoe from Section I on Thursday evening with a trip to the State Title game on the line.
Finally, the Panama boys’ team, loaded with state champions from CSP’s football team this fall, are headed to the Binghamton area for the Final Four, following an 86-69 win over Fillmore in the Regional. The Panthers are matched up against Section III’s Sackets Harbor Central in the Class D Semifinal, to be played on Friday morning.
POSTSEASON COLLEGE BASKETBALL IN WNY
Two college hoops teams from WNY fell in their conference tournaments, while both Daemen teams lost in the Second Round of the NCAA DII Tournament.
The University at Buffalo Women’s Team lost in their semifinal matchup in the Mid American Conference Tournament to Toledo, 56-49. The Bulls were selected to the WNIT Postseason Tournament and will likely host a game this Thursday night. UB, 25-7, has the most wins of any team in the WNIT field. The bracket will be released today.
The St. Bonaventure University men’s hoops team fell to top-seeded VCU in the A10 Tournament Quarterfinal, 76-59. The Rams of VCU went on to win the A10 and be selected as an 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Bonnies received a bid to the NIT, and will host Kent State in the First Round at the Reilly Center on Tuesday at 7PM.
Daemen’s women’s basketball team traveled to Bentley University for the first two rounds of the NCAA DII Tournament. After defeating Jefferson 70-48 in the First Round, the Wildcats fell to Holy Family 68-55 on Saturday, ending their season in the Second Round.
The Daemen men, who were ranked #1 as the lone undefeated team in college basketball, won their First Round game in the NCAA DII Tournament, taking down Bridgeport 80-68 in Amherst, setting up a rematch of the ECC Championship game against St Thomas Aquinas in the Second Round. Despite holding a five point lead at halftime, the hometown Wildcats lost 79-74 on their home floor. Daemen’s season finished with an astonishing 28-1 record.
LOCAL PRODUCTS IN MARCH MADNESS
With the NCAA Basketball Tournament brackets having been unveiled last night, here are the teams to follow that have ties to the Western New York area:
Hamburg High School grad Clara Strack and her Kentucky Wildcats are a 4 seed in the women’s Tournament bracket, matched up with 13-seeded Liberty in the Round of 64. Tip-off for that game is Friday at noon. The winner advances to play the victor of 5-seed Kansas State vs 12-seed Fairfield.
St. Mary’s (Lancaster) grad Shay Ceizki and her Indiana Hoosiers are a 9 seed in the women’s bracket. In an unlucky draw, if the Hoosiers are able to get past Utah in the Round of 64, they’ll be tasked with likely taking on the #1 seeded South Carolina Gamecocks in the Round of 32. Their opening round game against Utah is Friday at 1:30.
Former Niagara Falls standout Roddy Gayle Jr. and the Michigan Wolverienes won the Big10 Tournament, but were rewarded with a tough first round matchup as a 5 seed. Gayle and the Wolverines take on 12-seeded UC San Diego, who has won fifteen straight games, the longest active win streak in America. Tip-off for that game is at 10:00 on Thursday. The winner moves on to face either Texas A&M or Yale in the Round of 32.
The Florida Gators men are the #1 seed in the West region, set to take on 16-seed Norfolk State on Friday night, before potentially playing the winner of UConn / Oklahoma on Sunday. The Gators Associate Head Coach is Carlin Hartman, recently inducted into his alma mater Grand Island High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
Former University at Buffalo Men’s Head Coach Nate Oats and his Alabama Crimson Tide are also a favorite to make a deep run once again, as the 2 seed in the East region. The Tide play 15-seed Robert Morris on Friday afternoon, with Saint Mary’s and Vanderbilt on the other side of the bracket for the Round of 32 matchup.
SABRES SCORE LATE, DEFEAT GOLDEN KNIGHTS IN SHOOTOUT ON SATURDAY
After booing their former captain all afternoon long, Sabres fans got the last cheer when Buffalo defeated Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-3, in a shootout.
Buffalo was down 2-0 to the Knights halfway through the second period at home on Saturday, when Ryan McLeod burst past the Vegas defensemen and ripped a wrist shot between the goalie’s legs, getting Buffalo on the board and cutting the deficit in half.
All day, there was a good amount of scrapping and physicality both during and after play. At one point in the second frame, Jiri Kulich tried to juke around an incoming body check and ended up cutting right into the Golden Knight who was sizing him up. Boom. Kulich’s lid went flying, immediately prompting Peyton Krebs to drop his gloves and start throwing punches with Brett Howden.
As the game went into the final period, the Sabres earned themselves a power play, leading to Jason Zucker stealing a puck in the slot and smoking it past Aiden Hill to tie the game at two, halfway through the third. It marked the 10th power play goal of the season for Zucker, the most of any Sabre this year. To think he wasn’t on the top power play unit at the start of the season!
With less than five minutes left in the third, however, Vegas applied the pressure and had Buffalo hemmed in their own end for a while. As the crowd continued to boo him each time he touched the puck all game, Jack Eichel poked in a loose puck in the crease, beating Tage Thompson to the net, and gave Vegas a 3-2 lead. With less than a minute left, Vegas had a wide open look at the Sabres’ empty net, but Tomas Hertl decided to pass backwards to Eichel, trying to rub salt into the wounds of the Sabres faithful that jeered their former superstar. That pass backfired though, as Buffalo would tie the game with 13 seconds left thanks to a Rasmus Dahlin slapshot from the blueline.
In overtime, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made a terrific pad stop on Eichel to keep the game alive, and eventually, send it to a shootout. Buffalo’s Jack Quinn and Alex Tuch scored, while Luukkonen stopped two of the three shots he saw, giving the Sabres the 4-3 shootout win.
The Sabres are back in action tonight in Boston against a depleted Bruins lineup after moving a handful of their best players at the trade deadline. Puck drop is at 7PM.
BANDITS BOUNCE BACK, GET REVENGE AT CALGARY
After suffering their second loss of the season last week to Calgary at home, the Buffalo Bandits took to the road, and to Alberta, to avenge their loss on their opponent’s turf. The Bandits went to Calgary and defeated the Roughnecks 11-6 on Saturday night. Matt Vinc made 44 saves in the win for Buffalo, while Josh Byrne tallied six points, including three of them in a dominant second period for the Bandits.
10-2 Buffalo hosts 3-11 Las Vegas this Friday night at 7:30 at KeyBank Center.
The Scoreboard is presented by Zenner and Ritter Heating and Cooling
