Hoops ABCs
There are three boys basketball games Tuesday night which will determine the overall classification champions of Section VI.
At Buffalo State, three Yale Cup teams are part of a doubleheader. At 6 p.m., Class B-1 champion Olean (21-1) will take on B-2 winner City Honors (15-8) at 6 p.m. in the Class B game. At 7:45 p.m., McKinley (18-6) will try and follow its win over Grover Cleveland in the A-1 final with a victory over A-2 champion East. The Class C championship has two teams returning to Jamestown Community College for a 7 p.m. tipoff as Maple Grove (21-2) meets Allegany-Limestone (15-8).
Vote in the polls below and let us know why your picks will win via the comments section.
My votes? In C-B-A order, Maple Grove, Olean, McKinley.
If Maple Grove pummeled Randolph in the C-2 final, odds are there's more of the same to come when the take on an Allegany-Limestone team which wasn't ranked in the small school poll all season.
Both Olean coach Jeff Anastasia and City Honors coach John Kudla seemed like they knew their teams didn't play their best games on Saturday; if both do, it could be a very enjoyable. There's a nice big man matchup with Honors' 6-5 senior Abram Miller and Olean's 6-8 senior Jacob Houseknecht, while both teams get very good guard play and have very nice swingmen in 6-4 senior Sam Moore (Olean) and 6-2 junior Marcus Smith (Honors). I'm following my poll vote from all season by thinking that Olean's best game is a little better than Honors'.
In Class A, one could say that East is playing the better ball after it thumped Depew (33-9 at half), but McKinley just beat everyone's preseason Glens Falls pick in this class in Grover. Eliminating the Presidents, along with a regular season home win over East (54-53) and last season's run to Glens Falls will give you a lot of confidence. Last year McKinley won some ugly games in sectional week before playing an outstanding Class A final by dominating Maryvale. So our pick is the Macks, back-to-back. It should be fun: East's Jamal Webb and McKinley's Mansa Habeeb have been two of the most fun players to watch during championship week, and both teams have excellent inside-outside big men in Chandler Williams and Tamere Shannon for McKinley and Brandon Hall and Damien Goodwin for East. Both also have deep benches; McKinley played 10 in the win over Grover while East has a trusty eight including 6-foot reserve guard Michael Johnson, who had a great all-around effort against Depew.
Class AA champion Niagara Falls (23-1) and Class D winner Pine Valley (15-8) have already earned berths in the Far West Regionals, which will be held at Buffalo State on Friday (Class D, 6 p.m.; A-7:45)and Saturday (Class C-1 p.m., B-2:45; Class AA-6 p.m.).
The only team from Section V (Rochester area) which is set for a trip to Buffalo State is Class A winner Pittsford-Sutherland (17-6). There are four Section V playoffs this week that will determine the others; check them out at this helpful calendar page at Section V's outstanding Web site.
---Keith McShea
