Prep Talk

As always, let us know why you voted the way you did in the space below.

---Keith McShea

Hello from the second game of our championship doubleheader at Canisius College.

---Keith McShea

buffalonews.com/highschool     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

Nichols made its trip to Long Island a productive one as it beat Long Island diocese champion St. Mary's, 67-49.

Nichols, which was up, 33-16 at halftime, will play for the state Catholic Class A championship at Canisius College next Sunday, March 14. Nichols will play Stepinac of White Plains at 3 p.m.

St. Mary's will play Salesian of New Rochelle for the Class B title at 1 p.m. at Niagara. Salesian beat Blessed Sacrament on Friday.  

---Keith McShea

Some additional notes and quotes from Tuesday's semifinals at Canisius College, where Sacred Heart beat Nardin, 38-29, and Nichols beat Mount St. Mary, 61-48:

* Sacred Heart will have the definite size advantage Sunday, but if Nichols shoots the way it did Tuesday, the Vikings will be tough to beat in the championship game.

* Congratulations to Mount St. Mary, which reached the semifinals for the first time in school history. Second-year coach Steve Gathers is building a nice program.

* Former Bills GM Tom Donahoe was among those in attendance.

And now, some additional quotes from Tuesday's games:

Sacred Heart sophomore Katie Healy

On the win: "We stayed under control and looked for good passes. We got some good open looks."

On playing varsity with her older sister: "It’s a lot easier. We know how each other’s game goes."

Sacred Heart coach Sister Maria Pares

On how Nichols beat them last game: "They pressed us. That’s exactly what happened to us. We know whoever we’re going to play is going to press us, so we’ll be working on it."

Nardin coach Jackie D'Orazio

On her team's energy level and the use of the full-court press: "In the first half we started slow. We did [use the press] in the beginning of the game, we just weren't getting what we wanted out of it."

Nichols coach Bob Torgalski

On the prospect of facing Sacred Heart a fourth time this season: "I just hope I’m healthy for Sacred Heart so we can give them a good run. They’re big. Sister [Maria Pares] is going to make her adjustments. She’s a smart coach, she’s been doing it for ages."

On how far the team has come: "The kids just hung in there. We talked about where we came from and where we are. Our tallest starter is 5-10."

Nichols senior Siobhan Hanley

On playing Sacred Heart: "They’re always a tough team. They’re really aggressive. I feel like if we play like we did today, we play as a team, we’ll definitely have a shot."

Mount St. Mary coach Steve Gathers

On is team's offensive struggles: "I think the whole night we played timid. The plan was to attack the inside. We were making passes from NBA range instead of attacking and dumping off. They weren’t that deep. They didn’t have as many players after their five starters. The idea was to get them into foul trouble and we didn’t even get near it.

On Hanley's shooting: "We really weren’t expecting her to be the shooter, but they’re all good shooters. I figured in this gym it’s going to be even tougher to hit the big threes. But once you hit one or two and you’re a shooter that’s just the way it happens."

Nichols and Sacred Heart will play at 1 p.m. Sunday for the MMA title at Daemen College.

---Jay Skurski

We're live at Canisius College for the first of two Monsignor Martin girls semifinals games. The first matchup features Nardin and Sacred Heart, with Nichols and Mount St. Mary to play at 7:30.

As the Black Eyed Peas say, let's get it started ...

First quarter

6:06 p.m.: A slow start and some good defense have added up to few points. Sacred Heart leads, 2-1, on a pair of free throws with less than six minutes to go in the first quarter. Nardin's Brianna Smith has been a force so far down low, recording a pair of blocked shots.

6:08: A free throw and the first field goal of the game, by Smith, give Nardin a 3-2 lead with less than four to play in the opening quarter.

6:10: First field goal for Sacred Heart comes from Sarah Pawlak. Her jumper from the right side puts the Sharks up, 4-3.

6:17: Sacred Heart leads, 8-5, after the first quarter. Victoria Krantz hit a 12-footer with about 20 seconds to play to extend the lead.

NOTE: We've made an executive decision on the blog from here on out: We'll go with the time left remaining in the quarter at the start of the update instead of the actual time.

Second quarter

6:07 remaining: First timeout sees the Sharks lead, 10-7. Nice jumper by Nardin's Hannah Gardner cut the Shaks' lead to three.

Continue reading "Live from the Monsignor Martin girls semifinals: Nichols, Sacred Heart set up rematch" »

The latest episode of PrepTalkTV is all about Nichols completing its Manhattan Cup mission.

The video is accessible at the buffalonews.com home page or via our video player page. 

Reporter/videographer/producer Lauren Mariacher and I will be back with Section VI final four action this week.

Let us know what you think.

* * *

Here's your own PrepTalkTV DVR loaded with our previous episodes:

* Section VI quarterfinals (Feb. 27): Clarence and North Tonawanda have big wins and we look ahead to the final fours at Buffalo State and Jamestown Community College. 

* Manhattan Cup semifinals (Feb. 23): Nichols-Canisius showdown set after both win big.

* Scarcello's buzzer-beater helps Timon to final four (Feb. 21): Bishop Timon-St. Jude got past St. Joe's in a Manhattan Cup quarterfinal thriller to join Nichols, Canisius and St. Mary's in the semifinals.

* Last day of the regular season (Feb. 19): Middle College wins the Yale Cup, Lancaster beats Depew.

* Big wins for Nichols, East (Feb. 17): Nichols clobbers Canisius, East tops Grover Cleveland.

* Nowak's buzzer-beater stuns Jamestown (Feb. 12): Orchard Park's thrilling win, plus action from Nichols and Lackawanna.

* Super Tuesday (Feb. 9): North Tonawanda sweeps Niagara Falls; Maryvale and McKinley win on the busiest night of the year.

* Sweet Home is ShellStrong (Feb. 5): Panthers basketball hosts a great fundraising night.

---Keith McShea

Hello from Canisius College's Koessler Athletic Center for one of the most anticipated showdowns of the season.

Canisius vs. Nichols, same final matchup as last year's, won by Canisius. This is Nichols' fourth straight trip to the Manhattan Cup championship. Seniors Will Regan and Ron Canestro have been part of every final, winning as freshman, losing to St. Joe's as sophomores and falling to Canisius last year.

5:51 p.m. A good crowd is filing in here, as expected. Part of the pregame buzz is the USA tying Canada in the gold medal game. I listened to the tying goal in the car after getting a key parking spot out front just before 5:30.

Also some pregame buzz about North Tonawanda's win and Niagara Falls' loss (that's Clarence's win as well, of course) in Saturday's quarterfinals.

6:07 p.m. Game just tipped off. Seems like a lot of fans are making their way in after watching the hockey game. Interesting note -- the scoreboard here has "CANISIUS" listed as the home team for the college games, of course, but the home team in the game is Nichols.

6:11 p.m. Tied at 2-2 after 2:30.

6:17 p.m. We're tied at 7-7 with 2:33 left in the first after Blair Helton hits all three free throws after being fouled on a three.

6:18 p.m. Canisius calls a timeout off a scramble with 1:46 left in the first. Connor Vandegriff scored off an inside lob to give Nichols a 9-7 lead.

6:23 p.m. At the end of the first quarter, Nichols leads Canisius, 13-9.

Both teams started slow but seemed to find some flow late in the quarter. Nichols got out in transition as it likes to do.

6:30 p.m. Nichols up, 17-10, with 4:57 left after a 1-for-2 trip to the line by Canestro. Both teams in the bonus.

6:34 p.m. Nichols calls its first timeout of the game with a 23-13 lead with 2:23 left in the second quarter. Senior Evan Grenda has hit back-to-back three pointers for the Vikings, a huge contribution from the reserve. He also played some in-your-jersey defense against Helton on the last possession.

Continue reading "Live from the Manhattan Cup final: Nichols routs Canisius, 73-50" »

Our sixth episode of PrepTalkTV focused on extremely impressive performances by the top two large schools in Western New York as Nichols and Canisius routed their way into a matchup in the Manhattan Cup final.

The video is accessible at the buffalonews.com home page or via our video player page. 

Reporter/videographer/producer Lauren Mariacher and I will be back at Canisius College on Sunday for the final, but before that we'll have our hands full trying to wrap up 28 Section VI quarterfinal games on Friday.

Let us know what you think.

* * *

Here's your own PrepTalkTV DVR loaded with our previous episodes:

* Scarcello's buzzer-beater helps Timon to final four (Feb. 21): Bishop Timon-St. Jude got past St. Joe's in a Manhattan Cup quarterfinal thriller to join Nichols, Canisius and St. Mary's in the semifinals.

* Last day of the regular season (Feb. 19): Middle College wins the Yale Cup, Lancaster beats Depew.

* Big wins for Nichols, East (Feb. 17): Nichols clobbers Canisius, East tops Grover Cleveland.

* Nowak's buzzer-beater stuns Jamestown (Feb. 12): Orchard Park's thrilling win, plus action from Nichols and Lackawanna.

* Super Tuesday (Feb. 9): North Tonawanda sweeps Niagara Falls; Maryvale and McKinley win on the busiest night of the year.

* Sweet Home is ShellStrong (Feb. 5): Panthers basketball hosts a great fundraising night.

---Keith McShea

My bad (chest tap) -- I neglected to put a separate posts for some cool stuff we put together on Sunday:

* Allen Wilson's wrote his column in Monday's paper on Nichols' Will Regan. Good stuff by the author and the player.

* News Photographer James P. McCoy had put together a cool photo gallery from the quarterfinal victories by St. Mary's and Bishop Timon-St. Jude, including several reaction shots of Mike Scarcello's game-winning three-pointer.

---Keith McShea

Our fifth episode of PrepTalkTV is our first of the postseason.

Watch Mike Scarcello hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to send Bishop Timon-St. Jude's game with St. Joe's to overtime, as well as highlights and interviews from the Manhattan Cup's final four:

The video is accessible at the buffalonews.com home page or via our video player page. 

Reporter/videographer/producer Lauren Mariacher and I will be back at Canisius College Tuesday night, putting another episode together on the Manhattan Cup semifinals. We'll have more action later in the week as the Section VI boys basketball tournament tips off.

Let us know what you think.

* * *

Here's your own PrepTalkTV DVR loaded with our previous episodes:

* Last day of the regular season (Feb. 19): Middle College wins the Yale Cup, Lancaster beats Depew.

* Big wins for Nichols, East (Feb. 17): Nichols clobbers Canisius, East tops Grover Cleveland.

* Nowak's buzzer-beater stuns Jamestown (Feb. 12): Orchard Park's thrilling win, plus action from Nichols and Lackawanna.

* Super Tuesday (Feb. 9): North Tonawanda sweeps Niagara Falls; Maryvale and McKinley win on the busiest night of the year.

* Sweet Home is ShellStrong (Feb. 5): Panthers basketball hosts a great fundraising night.

---Keith McShea