Prep Talk

Chris Secky to Le Moyne

Just got an email from Chris Secky's father that the Maple Grove standout has verbally committed to attend Division II Le Moyne in Syracuse to play basketball.

Check my story for more details.

I think it's a good move for Secky and a great move for Le Moyne. Secky has had game since I first saw him as an eighth-grader.

I'm hoping to talk with Secky at tomorrow's Section VI football media day at Ralph Wilson Stadium and I'll probably have more to post on the matter then.

---Keith McShea

Pastor-Cooper hoops pairings released

If the Pastor-Cooper Tournament is the unofficial start of basketball season, then is today the unofficial start of getting ready for the basketball season?

The pairings for the 24th Pastor-Cooper Tournament were unveiled today at city hall by tournament presenters Santora's Pizza, the Rose & Al Pastor Foundation, the Police Athletic League and the County of Erie-Buffalo Recreation Division.

Here's the schedule:

Monday, Nov. 30
Rose Pastor Division (girls)
Nichols vs. Grand Island, 5:15 p.m.
Jerry Cooper Division (boys)
Nichols vs. Hutch Tech, 6:45 p.m.
East High vs. St. Mary’s, 8:15 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 1
Rose Pastor Division (girls)
Sacred Heart vs. Williamsville North, 5:15 p.m.
Al Pastor Division (boys)
Seneca vs. Medina, 6:45 p.m.
McKinley vs. Orchard Park, 8:15 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 3
Consolations
Rose Pastor Division (girls), 5:15 p.m.
Al Pastor Division (boys), 6:45 p.m.
Jerry Cooper Division (boys), 8:15 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 4
Championships
Rose Pastor Division (girls), 5:15 p.m.
Al Pastor Division (boys), 6:45 p.m.
Chicken Wing Eating Contest, 7:15 p.m. (halftime of Pastor game)
Jerry Cooper Division (boys), 8:15 p.m.

As always, some intriguing matchups and a good mix of teams. The Cooper Division returns some serious talent from last year. I'm thinking this year's groupings may have been harder to put together due to the state's frustrating cut-down of games from 20 to 18.

Last year I showed up at opening day having just covered four football teams winning state championships in Syracuse -- literally the day before last year's Pastor tipped off, OP won the AA title. I would think that I'd be covering the finals on Friday evening, and taking in the always-entertaining chicken wing-eating contest.

My apologies on not updating the hoops schedule post recently; the fall sports have just been overwhelming.

---Keith McShea

Shaquita Smith to Xavier thanks in part to NBAer

I wrote about Amherst senior Shaquita Smith verbally committing to Xavier this past weekend after a visit to the Cincinnati school.

Check this a picture of (left to right) Smith with Maria Harper, husband and former NBA player Ron Harper, and Ring City coach Walter Welsh.

Coach Nick O'Neil of Buffalo-based Team United provide the snapshot. The Harpers run Ring City Basketball, which includes an elite-level girls basketball team on which Smith played along side several other Division I recruits. 

---Keith McShea

Falls' J Ballers win Elia event

The J Ballers team comprised of nearly all Niagara Falls player and coached by Falls assistant Carlos Bradberry prevailed at the talent-rich Alan R. Elia Sr. Memorial Tournament by beating Toronto's YAAACE, 78-72, in the championship game.

Tournament MVP Jordan Street of Falls had 31 points and 17 rebounds in Sunday's final of the tournament, which was known as the Can-Am for more than a decade.

The all-tournament team consisted of Street and teammate Lorenzo Joseph (Niagara Catholic), Davon Marshall (Niagara Falls) of the Niagara PAL Chiefs, David Brannen of the Rochester Area Players and Leon Alexander of YAAACE.

Other members of the J Ballers were Niagara Falls' Mike Carson, Dajon Streeter, Jermaine Crumpton and Kenny Stokes.

Marshall had 19 points per game to lead the PAL Chiefs, who went 2-1 and lost to YAAACE. Harbor Hoops went 1-2.

Our apologies about the results not being in the paper, but nobody from the tournament called/emailed/faxed us.

---Keith McShea

Big weekend on several fall fields

Football is obviously the big sport in the fall, but this opening weekend is even bigger when you consider the big events that are getting other seasons started.

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In today's paper we mentioned two boys soccer events, the Clarence Tournament and the Coaches V. Cancer ECIC-NFL Challenge at Sweet Home. The Clarence event speaks for itself with top teams East Aurora, Nichols and Kenmore East visiting.

The Sweet Home event has organizers wondering aloud if it is the largest boys soccer event to be held in Western New York. With five games on Friday and five on Saturday, I can't think of anything of that scope.

It's a great format and a great cause. Officials will wear a commemorative shirt to honor former longtime Western New York official Tom Mingle, who passed away on Sept. 5, 2008. The officials -- who are donating all of their game fees to cancer research -- will make a presentation to Tom's family during halftime of the Sweet Home/North Tonawanda game at 12:45 p.m. Saturday.

The format of the event is two points for a win and one point for a tie; if the two leagues are tied the tiebreaker is fewest goals allowed.

Here's the lineup:

Friday's games
Sweet Home vs. Kenmore West, 2 p.m.
Wmsv. East vs. North Tonawanda, 4 p.m.
Wmsv. North vs. Niagara Falls, 4 p.m.
Wmsv. South vs. Lew-Port, 6 p.m.
Hamburg vs. Niagara-Wheatfield, 6 p.m.
Saturday's games
Wmsv. North vs. Lew-Port, 10 a.m.
Wmsv. East vs. Niagara-Wheatfield, 10 a.m.
Sweet Home vs. North Tonawanda, noon
Hamburg vs. Kenmore West, noon
Wmsv. South vs. Niagara Falls, 2 p.m.

Also, this afternoon is the first round for the Eden Kickoff Classic, which features the hosts meeting Springville and Pioneer taking on Roy-Hart; the winners meet Friday.

Friday just isn't opening night for football at Orchard Park, Rochester boys soccer power Aquinas will visit OP at 5 p.m.

Speaking of Aquinas, on Saturday the Little Irish host Canisius while the girls team hosts East Aurora.

* * *

Clarence also has a nice collection for its girls soccer tournament, held in conjunction with the boys. Friday's first-rounders are Nardin at Clarence and Nichols vs. Kenmore East.

Some nonleague girls soccer action Friday includes a great program showdown of Williamsville North at Grand Island as well as Williamsville South at North Tonawanda. 

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Clarence just leads the league in big opening events -- the 23rd annual Clarence Invitational in boys volleyball includes a who's who of top teams in its 16-team field. Orchard Park, Canisius, Eden and St. Francis will be there. The tournament starts at 8 a.m.

Speaking of volleyball, the boys get some serious bump-set-spiking in tonight as OP -- which went undefeated last year -- opens against St. Francis at home at 7 p.m.

On Friday, Catholic girls state champion St. Mary's opens up at Victor of Section V (Rochester area) while Williamsville North is at Starpoint.

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All that and even boys basketball (!) sneaking in with the Elia Tournament at Niagara Falls. 

---Keith McShea

Hoops too? Yup, the Elia Tournament is at NF

The Alan R. Elia Sr. Memorial Basketball Tournament, which was known as the Can-Am for many years, will be held in Niagara Falls this weekend -- giving a weekend full of kickoffs a tip-off as well. 

Here's a basic schedule and the rosters of local teams. The big news -- on this first day of school for many -- is that Stan Wier, who was an All-Western New York honorable mention as a freshman last year at East Aurora, is listed as Nichols. That confirms what some sources told me recently, that Wier had enrolled at Nichols to complete a transfer from EA.

That certainly gives the Vikings another scoring weapon to a team that returned four starters, and it gives them a serious outside threat -- which may make teams think twice about concentrating on Will Regan and Ron Canestro. 

For those who want a hoop fix, there are games all day Saturday, starting at 9 a.m. and the final games scheduled to start at 7 p.m. All those games are at Niagara Falls High.

Sunday's playoffs are at Niagara Catholic. Semifinals at 9 and 10:15 a.m. will be followed by an 11:30 consolation and a 12:45 p.m. championship.

Here are the local teams, which feature Niagara Falls players on all three:

Niagara PAL Chiefs

Ka'ron Briggs (Sweet Home), Keegan Dunlop (St. Francis, Ont.), J.J. Harrington (Lancaster), Davon Marshall (Niagara Falls), Lucas Pachete (North Tonawanda), Joel Pike (Frontier), Dajon Street (Niagara Falls), Sterling Taplin (Williamsville North), Stan Weir (Nichols). Coach: Sal Constantino.

J Ballers

Gelajide Brown (Niagara Falls), Mike Carson (Niagara Falls), Jermaine Crumpton (Niagara Falls), Lorenzo Joseph (Niagara Catholic), Maurice Respress (Niagara Falls), Kenny Stokes (Niagara Falls), Jordan Street (Niagara Falls), J.J. Wilkes (Niagara Falls), Tajay Williams (Niagara Falls). Coach: Carlos Bradberry.

Harbor Hoops

Ethan Baker (Wilson), C.J. Cox (Niagara Falls), Dan Hanbrauch (Newfane), Brennan Moxham (Wilson), Alex Short (Akron), Trevor Short (Akron), Jonas Stalyga (Grand Island), Tyler Truesdale (Wilson), Connor Vandegriff (Nichols), John Cincent (Wilson). Coaches: Jim Vandergriff/Walt Moxham.

---Keith McShea

Hoop teams wanted up Niagara way

A few quick runners down the lane:

** Bob Lewis of Niagara Catholic is seeking a fourth team for NC's tip-off tournament on Nov. 27-28 (not as far away as you think!) .Call NC AD Larry Puzan at 283-8771, ext. 231. Lewis says the tourney has entrants from the Yale Cup and Niagara-Orleans League.

** From Niagara Falls' Sal Constantino: The Alan Elia Memorial Tournament, formerly known as the Can/Am Tournament, has openings for three teams. The event runs Sept. 4-6 in Niagara Falls. Cost is $400 and teams are guaranteed three games. There is one division for players who have at least one year of high school eligibility. The tourney brings the finest teams from East Coast and Canada and is well attended by Division II and III coaches. Contact Art (286-7038) or Sal (228-7916).

---Keith McShea

Help build (and talk about) the 2009-10 basketball schedule

It's time to get pen-to-paper, so to speak, as we begin to build the 2009-2010 boys basketball schedule.

This is long overdue, but I didn't have a lot of finalized reports of basketball schedules to even start to put something together here on the blog. Here's the file from last year, which we ended up stripping of the schedule to make the official ledger.

Here's a link to the post on Maple Grove going independent that helped get us going.

There are plenty of fine matchups to start talking about already.

Coaches/ADs: Send us your schedules as soon as possible; email to kmcshea@buffnews.com or fax to 849-4587. If you have matchups without dates, send them along and we'll post them as such.

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The working copy of the 2009-2010 BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Friday, Dec. 4

Olean Tip-Off (Maple Grove, TBA, TBA, Olean)

Coaches vs Cancer Tournament in Glens Falls -- first round: Williamsville South vs. X-Ogdensburg Free Academy;  III-Marcellus vs II-South Glens Falls at Adirondack Community College

Saturday, Dec. 5

Olean Tip-Off (Maple Grove, TBA, TBA, Olean)

Coaches vs Cancer Tournament in Glens Falls -- final/consolation: Will South/Ogdensburg vs. Marcellus/S. Glens Falls at Glens Falls Civic Center.

Tuesday, Dec. 8

Williamsville South at Bishop Timon-St. Jude

Friday, Dec. 11

Jamestown United Way Tip-Off (Maple Grove vs. V-Newark, TBA at Jamestown)

Cataract Classic at Niagara Falls HS: Canisius vs. V-Aquinas, 5 p.m.; Grand Island vs. Middle College, 6:30 p.m.; North Tonawanda vs. Sweet Home, 8 p.m.

Maple Grove hoops goes independent

Maple Grove basketball has a great game plan, and it's months before the season will start.

The Red Dragons applied and were approved for an independent schedule, and they've put together a great lineup for a team that is expected to challenge for its third straight trip to the state final four in Glens Falls.

Here's a link to Scott Kindberg's excellent Jamestown Post-Journal story about Maple Grove going independent this year, and here are some specifics for your calendar:

"The Red Dragons open their season Dec. 4-5 at the Olean Tip-Off Tournament, play at Jamestown's United Way Tip-Off Tournament the next weekend and travel to St. Mary's of Lancaster on Dec. 15. The Dunkirk (Dec. 18-19) and St. Bonaventure (Dec. 29-30) tournaments close out 2009. Maple Grove will open with Newark in the Jamestown Tournament.

"Maple Grove's first home game isn't until Jan. 7 when it entertains Southwestern. Three games on the Dutch Hollow Road follow against Randolph (Jan. 11), C.G. Finney (Jan. 20) and Westfield (Jan. 29). After a game at Southwestern on Feb. 5, the Red Dragons entertain St. Joe's (Feb. 9) before closing out the regular season with road contests at Finney (Feb. 12), at Randolph (Feb. 16) and at North Tonawanda (Feb. 18)."

This is just an outstanding move by Maple Grove as it eschews league games that were extremely noncompetitive for top-notch tests that should help them prepare for the postseason. That benefits both the Red Dragons and the CCAA teams that took a pounding twice in league games last year. It also gives high school hoop fans throughout Western New York (and the rest of the state) some great games to watch. 

Niagara Falls went independent a few years ago for similar reasons, which was also a fine move. The Wolverines returned to the Niagara Frontier League the last few seasons; I wasn't in favor of their return and I still think Falls should go it alone when it comes to boys hoops.

---Keith McShea

Get the 411 on some great hoops

The annual 411 high school hoops game is Saturday (3 p.m. at Villa Maria College, 240 Pine Ridge Road, Buffalo), and I'm a little grrrrrrrrrrrrrr mad that I'll be at vrooooommmm Watkins Glen covering auto racing. It seems like every year I'm out of town for what has become a great Western New York sports event.

The cost is $4 for the game. I must be getting older because there's a bunch of guys I covered in the last nine seasons -- like the Riverside's Rainey brothers, "Trooper" Barnes and Loren Stokes of Turner-Carroll, Bishop Timon-St. Jude's Corey Herring and Don Juan Tyson of Traditional, just to name a few.

Check out the list of players who have played in games in the past as well as this year's rosters -- there are a lot of names that popped up during our All-Western New York boys basketball 50th anniversary series (check out the high school home page for all the links). 

“This has become a reunion of sorts,” John Thomas, the events organizer and former All-Western New York Athlete at Bennett said in a release.“This event gives everyone involved an opportunity to come back home and share their talents as well as knowledge of the game we love. This also gives us a chance to see guys we have not seen since high school and share great stories, no matter how accurate."

Past participants have included: Ray Hall, Leonard Stokes, Dwight Williams, Trevor Ruffin, Jason Rowe, Marcus Whitfield, Tim Wynn, Dave Skolen and Willie “Hutch” Jones and many other All-Western New York players.

This year's teams:

Team One: Trevor Ruffin, Modie Cox, Chris Moore, Loren Stokes, Frank Harris, Adrian Baugh, Jerry Young, Jeremy Richardson, Marcus Hall, Darius Corbett, Karl Rainey, Shondell Dupree.

Team Two: David Ruffin, Jason Rowe, Damone Brown, Malik Campbell, John Thomas, Ka'Ron Barnes, Shane Johnson, Ed Rainey, Corey Herring, Quentin Bryant, Don Juan Tyson, Mark Price.

Allen Wilson has a story in Friday's paper taking a look at the game.

---Keith McShea