Prep Talk

Note: The interviews in this video are, in order, with St. Mary's coach Dan Gill, St. Mary's senior Erik Simmons (not Canisius), St. Mary's senior Devin Redden (not Jake Cercone), Canisius coach Kyle Husband, Canisius senior Aaron White (not Erik Simmons), Canisius senior Matt Hart, and Bishop Timon-St. Jude coach Jim Palano. Our apologies regarding some technical errors on-screen.

St. Mary's recorded a huge win Tuesday night with a 73-71 victory at Bishop Timon-St. Jude. I updated the game via Twitter, posted the box score and details on our scoreboard and the writeup and a photo led our High School Extra in today's paper. 

Here's more, starting with video interviews with the victorious Lancers (classy job by St. Mary's coach Dan Gill starting his postgame comments by lauding longtime Timon coach/athletic director Jim Palano, who will be retiring at year's end):

I walked in at halftime and immediately saw that St. Mary's was ready to play in South Buffalo. Timon senior sharpshooter Kyle Kobis drained a jumper in the final seconds, but it left just enough time for Erik Simmons to speed to the other end and beat the buzzer for a tie at 33-33. 

St. Mary's shot the lights out in the second half, but it's not like they just had a good shooting night, like one of those everything-they-were-throwing-up-went-in deals. They certainly shot the ball well, but most of the baskets came off good shots created by good passing and good decisions during good possessions. Some of it came off of alert, fundamental defense and/or rebounding.

The Lancers played with a confidence, an intelligence and a togetherness on both ends of the floor that was more than impressive. That play was rewarded with a big lead, and when Timon had Kobis and Jordan Williams hit big shots to give the Tigers a chance, St. Mary's responded. 

Here's a recounting of the second half from my notebook & going over the game film (that means my iPhone video :-) ):

Third quarter

Redden hit a three-pointer (36-33). ... Ryan Winnicki hit a three off an Erik Simmons drive-and-kickout (39-37). ... Jake Denz got fouled on a three-pointer and sunk all three FTs (42-39). ... Simmons with a spectacular drive finished with an up-and-under scoop-to-the-hoop (44-39). ... Simmons again with a drive (46-39). ... Denz with a nice follow of a missed Redden drive (48-42). ... An offensive rebound by Paul Rath turned into a three by Nate Meyers (53-45). ... A Redden open three (56-47) was followed by pressure on the inbound that forced a Timon timeout with 1:25 left in the third. ... Denz with a nifty scoop vs. DeMilo Gibbs (58-49). ... Nicc Johnson with a nice-looking pop-up baseline jumper from the right side (60-51) -- that shot was the only one, to me, that was like, wow, they're hitting everything. There was some good defense and I believe the shot clock was running down, and he popped up and hit a tough jumper.

St. Mary's finished the third with a 60-53 lead after Kobis got the benefit of a goaltending call although -- from the way I saw it -- the shot never got above the rim. Kobis, Jordan Williams and Gibbs -- who played very well down low -- were effective on offense to keep Timon in the game. 

Fourth quarter

St. Mary's did a great job defending Gibbs in the post, and they did it right from the start. There was some great help defense on Timon's first possession to earn the ball back for St. Mary's. 

That was followed by two free throws by Redden after a good, aggressive drive to the basket (62-53). ... Johnson put on a fantastic drive with an off-the-glass finish (64-55). ... Denz made a great play to poke the ball free from a Timon dribbler, leading to a fast break in which Johnson's shot didn't fall but Denz was right there for the follow (66-55), prompting a Timon timeout with 5:48 to go. 

Timon made it 66-60 with a little over five minutes to go by doing what they do: Kobis hit a three; Williams drove and scored. At this point, crunch time seemed to get both sides a little tight -- no field goals for about two minutes. 

Denz made a nice play to pick off an entry pass for Gibbs, St. Mary's called a timeout with 3:15 left, and then ran a play which resulted in a Denz kickout to Simmons for a three (69-60).

This started a nice-back-and-forth (video below) that saw a Jordan Williams crossover-and-fadeaway (69-62), then a Redden jumper off a Meyers kickout (71-62), then a Zach Hayes follow of a missed Kobis drive (71-64) that prompted a Timon timoeut with 2:03 left.

Redden took advantage of some loose Timon defense to score on a drive (73-64); Kobis hit a three (73-67) to make it a two-possession game with about 1:20 to go. St. Mary's had some great ball movement against some aggressive defense that resulted in Denz finding Redden on the baseline but that was one shot that rimmed out for the Lancers. It was still a two-possession game with 1:00 left. 

Big play here. Jordan Williams got the ball on the left wing, faked out his man and drove to the basket, and Denz came off his man (Gibbs) and drew a charging foul on Williams with 37.6 to go.

Now, I am the biggest anti-flopping basketball fan in the world. I think the beautiful game of basketball is soiled by "take a charge," which I like to call flopping, because that's what it is most of the time. That being said, and this is a testament to how difficult this call is to make for officials (maybe the most difficult in sports?), at first glance I thought this was a good call.

But when I went to the iPhone video, it was a block. Williams is leaving the floor as Denz slides over. Denz makes sure he gets a shoulder in Williams' way and falls to the floor. That's defense? That's not defense, but that's what passes for defense in basketball for many people these days. The offensive player blows by his defender, has a clear lane, and he's made his move to the basket truly before the help defender has established position. 

The shot didn't fall, and it would have been two free throws, so Timon would certainly have had a better shot to win. I don't think they got robbed of the game whatsoever. St. Mary's went 0 for 2 down the stretch so Timon still had a shot to win. I definitely think St. Mary's deserved this one, big-time. And to be clear: This is not a knock on Denz by any means. He was fantastic on both ends, he did a great job fronting DeMillo in the fourth quarter, and the charge play was one of several smart ones he made during the game -- including not inbounding the ball on this final play.

Overall, a fantastic performance by St. Mary's. Timon may have underperformed a bit, but they were mostly outplayed by St. Mary's.

I'll be headed to another top 10 large school-small school matchup of the Monsignor Martin Association this evening when Canisius hosts Archbishop Walsh at 6:30 p.m.

I'll talk about that game, the St. Mary's game, Friday's Canisius at St. Joe's game, today's Prep Talk column, the basketball polls, the Power 10 and whatever else comes up during our video chat starting at 9 p.m.

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

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

Here's some bonus iPhone video footage from my visit to Cardinal O'Hara, where St. Mary's beat the Hawks, 28-6, for the first time in seven years.

Here are the postgame interviews with senior Al Kelly and coach Dave Hersey as well as the second touchdown of the game by Nick Vallone.

Highlights and analysis of St. Mary's win are also part of the Week Four episode of PrepTalkTV.

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

PrepTalkTV met up with a few coaches before the Kensington Lions All-Star Classic at Depew High School to ask them about the upcoming season. Here's what they had to say about their teams and divisions:

St. Francis head coach Jerry Smith:

Burgard head coach Jason Kolb:

Sweet Home head coach John Faller:

Wilson head coach Bill Atlas:

South Park head coach Tim Delaney:

Hamburg head coach Mike McFadden:

St. Mary's head coach Dave Hersey:

Be sure to check back to the PrepTalk blog as we gear up for the first day of practices all around Western New York on Aug. 15.

--Lauren Mariacher

I had a summer break that started as soon as the 2010-11 season concluded, and now I'm back -- and here to throw some notes out regarding some summer news and notes ... 

* Late in the spring season we told you about the BCANY Hoops Festival set for Johnson City from Aug. 5-7. The event seems like a great one, and it's one that came about due to the unfortunate absence of the Empire State Games this summer. 

The roster has been selected by the coaching staff of head coach Larry Jones (Depew) and assistants Mike Haskell (retired Pioneer) and Mike Berkun (Medaille):

Reggie Agbeko (St. Joe's), Stan Wier (who has transferred back home to East Aurora), Sterling Taplin (Williamsville North), Ryan Whelpley (Walsh), Matt Hart (Canisius), Aaron Frasier (Seneca), Aaron White (Canisius), Jamaal Carter (City Honors), Adam Weir (Canisius), Jordan Williams (Bishop Timon-St. Jude).

Alternates are: Matt McDonald (Canisius), Demone Harris (Timon), Kyle Kobis (Timon), Derrick Sekuterski (Depew).

The team will play Long Island on Friday, Aug 5 at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, Aug. 6, the Buffalo team plays New York City at 9 a.m. and Hudson Valley at noon. Saturday's evening session includes a dunk contest and three-point contest at 4:30 p.m.; a parent clinic on recruiting at 5:30 and a player clinic with college coaches at 6:30.

The event concludes on Sunday, Aug. 7 with the seventh-place game (9 a.m.), fifth-place game (10:30 a.m.), consolation (noon) and championship (1:30 p.m.).

While the event is being run by BCANY, there are some expenses that will need to be covered for teams and players (food, lodging, transportation -- costs mostly taken care of by the ESG during the Games). The squad is seeking sponsorships -- if you are interested in helping the team defray some costs, call Jones at (585) 746-8327.

This team deserves some serious commenting -- that squad is a really good one, a much better collection than I expected for what is a startup event this year. Great talent, great depth, great mixture of schools. Excellent job by the basketball community in getting the word out and credit the coaching staff for what must have been some difficult choices after the tryouts. 

* Speaking of some good hoops competition, this weekend might be the Taste of Buffalo but fans can get a taste of hoops up in Niagara Falls. Some top programs are in action at the Niagara PAL Team Camp at Niagara Falls. Here's the lineup: 

Friday: 5 p.m. -- Main gym, Niagara Falls vs. Canisius; Aux. gym, St. Joe's vs. Niagara-Wheatfield; 6 p.m. -- Batavia vs. Grand Island; Aux. gym, Wilson vs. Holland; 7 p.m. -- Main gym, Jamestown vs. Sweet Home.

Saturday: 9 a.m. -- Main gym, St. Joe's vs. Niagara Falls; Aux. gym, Canisius vs. Jamestown; 10 a.m. -- Main gym, Sweet Home vs. Wilson; Aux. gym, Batavia vs. Niagara-Wheatfield; 11 a.m., Main gym, Grand Island vs. Holland.

Single elimination tournament begins at noon, with championship at 5 p.m.

There is a $2 admission for fans 13 and older.

* I will hopefully hit some summer events of all sorts -- I'll be soon selling raffle tickets to benefit the Tom Borrelli Award and Scholarship Fund. We have some great prizes and it's a great cause as we continue to honor our fallen coworker. 

The third Borrelli Award for boys and the inaugural Borrelli Award for girls will be announced later this month and the winners will receive their trophies at the July 27 Tom Borrelli Golf Tournament at Holland Hills. For those interested in golfing ($100 per person) or donating, please email me at kmcshea@buffnews.com. 

* By the way, the spring All-WNY teams and all-league teams (for baseball, softball and boys and girls lacrosse), which have been published over the last month, have all been collected at the high school home page.

---Keith McShea

(@KeithMcSheaBN on Twitter)

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

Hello from Canisius College for the Manhattan Cup semifinals. We'll do separate live blogs for each game below.

You can check our scoreboard with box scores of today's Section VI quarterfinals and we'll have the Manhattan Cup box scores there as soon as we can. Tonight's winners meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Canisius College.

Here's the postgame show from both games as Canisius and St. Joe's talk about their victories and their upcoming third meeting of the season.

Canisius talked about how defense keyed its win:

St. Joe's talked about how the Marauders rallied despite Reggie Agbeko going down in the opening seconds:

Here's my game story for Sunday's paper.

Stay tuned for what should be an exciting Championship Week, including a live blog from Wednesday's final.

For a look at the Section VI final fours and how those teams got there, check our video after Quarterfinal Friday.

---Keith McShea

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

Hello from the first of what are going to be many playoff basketball games for this reporter. It's the most wonderful time of the year :-).

Big game tonight as Archbishop Walsh meets St. Mary's in the Manhattan Cup quarterfinals, a game that will likely determine the league's representative in the Catholic state championship game.

Keep track above and chime in at our comments section -- and let us know what game you saw tonight, if any.

Check our scoreboard for the box score from this game as well as all of the night's action.

Barring what would be a massive upset by Niagara Catholic over St. Joe's on Wednesday night, St. Mary's will be the Monsignor Martin's representative in the state Catholic Class B playoffs. The Lancers, as they were last year when they won it, are one win away from a Catholic state championship and a trip to the state Federation championships in Albany on March 25-27.

---Keith McShea

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

Wednesday's basketball schedule wasn't the busiest (two boys games and 10 girls games), but it's likely to be wiped out due to several school districts already having canceled classes.

In other scheduling notes to pass along:

* Tonight's Archbishop Walsh at St. Mary's game has been postponed to Saturday, Feb. 12 at 4 p.m. due to weather forecasts and travel concerns.

Also, the Cardinal O'Hara at St. Mary's game originally scheduled for Friday has been rescheduled to Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

* An email send out by Jamestown's athletic department states that the rescheduled game of Jamestown at Williamsville North (which was postponed two Fridays ago) is now set for Monday, Feb. 7. Originally word was that the game had been scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 8.

* * *

Coaches and/or athletic directors should notify The News ASAP if you have postponements. Call 849-4461 or email kmcshea@buffnews.com AND sports@buffnews.com.

Check out our basketball scoreboard through the evening -- and every evening -- for updates on all the action.

---Keith McShea

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

Hello from Laverack Road in Lancaster where St. Mary's hosts Bishop Timon-St. Jude in a nice Monsignor Martin meeting of a ranked small school in the No. 2 Lancers and the No. 7 large school Tigers.

Check out our basketball scoreboard through the evening -- and every evening -- for updates on all the action.

7:51 p.m. Our computer is finally warmed up after we arrived at for the tip of the game, and the Tigers are warmed up as well.

After the first quater, Timon leads St. Mary's, 17-5. The Tigers did what they do -- hitting three straight three-pointers early on. Two straight by Jordan Williams followed by one from Kyle Kobis to give Timon an 11-2 lead just 3:13 into the game, prompting a timeout from an irate Dan Gill. The St. Mary's coach to his players: "What did we say?!?!!?!?" He was referring to Timon's ability to hit threes, but the Lancers were not defending Timon like they are a team that hits threes.

8:07 p.m. Timon's scoring slowed down in the second quarter for just a bit, but St. Mary's remained out of sync on offense. At halftime, Timon leads St. Mary's, 29-13.

Here's a Kyle Kobis drive from the second quarter:

That great start by Timon has allowed them to cruise -- St. Mary's just never snapped out of it after the slow start. The opportunity is there to get a few baskets to make it a game. St. Mary's big man Peter Notaro has been good on the boards and he's hustled on defense, but the Lancers haven't been able to get him the ball. He's a key because Timon is on the smaller size, thus the three-pointer is their main weapon. Kobis and Williams have also had some nice drives to the basket, while the Tigers have moved the ball around very well -- no surprise there.

8:25 p.m. Things have not slowed down. Timon with some nice plays in the opening minutes, including a three by Williams and two nice finishes by Ryan Dougherty. Timon leads, 44-17, with just under three minutes left in the second quarter.

Unfortunately an official requested security pay a visit to one fan who apparently was all over the refs. A police officer did come on the court and do that. 

8:33 p.m. After three quarters, Bishop Timon-St. Jude leads St. Mary's, 44-22. A lot of slamming of the bench, slamming of water bottles, and yelling in general from the extremely frustrated St. Mary's bench.

8:40 p.m. After a timeout by Timon, both teams score and St. Mary's calls a timeout with 4:05 left and Timon up, 48-30.

8:49 p.m. We have a FINAL SCORE: Bishop Timon-St. Jude 54, St. Mary's 34.

The box score is at our basketball scoreboard.

A very nice win for Timon, particularly coming off a stretch in which it had lost three of its last four -- albeit all three to extremely good teams in St. Joe's (at home in OT) and road losses to Section V powers Batavia and Bishop Kearney.

Pollster and first-ballot Hall of Fame Prep Talk blogger Centercourt told me he wasn't going to this game tonight. His reasons turned out to be dead-on: He said that the disparity between the best large schools and the best small schools was so large, he didn't think it was going to be a game. He had also seen both teams before.

(Sidenote: Holey moley -- I think he said he was going to check out Niagara-Wheatfield at Maryvale, and if he did, he saw Blair Estarfaa score 42 for the Flyers. Check our scoreboard. Whoaaaaa).

I wanted to see St. Mary's tonight because their schedule heads toward League A teams the rest of the way, and I wanted to see Timon again after just seeing one full game. They were definitely impressive in the win, but I'm not sure I learned anything more to help figure out poll status and such. St. Mary's has certainly shown it can beat many top small schools. But I'll stick with my large school top 10 after tonight -- I think most of those teams are capable of the kind of win that Timon had here tonight (Canisius did just that, while St. Joe's won by five in early January).

And now the post-game show:

Coach Jim Palano must have left through the other door to the locker room, because he evaded me like Timon players evaded the defense tonight. Baddump-bump.

He did call in his game and you can find out more details in a recap on the game at our basketball scoreboard.

I'm back Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. for our weekly live chat during what continues to be a fun week: Niagara Falls at Kenmore West on Thursday, Newfane at Wilson on Friday, St. Joe's at Canisius on Saturday.

---Keith McShea

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk

The ADPRO Monsignor Martin-ECIC Challenge rescheduling is complete, and it results in a Christmas present of a doubleheader. 

The final two games of the challenge will be played next Thursday, Dec. 23 at St. Mary's, with Bishop Timon-St. Jude and Amherst playing at 6 and Canisius vs. Sweet Home following at 7:30.

Both games were originally scheduled for tonight but were squeezed out due to Tuesday's postponements leading to tonight's four-game lineup.

Timon and St. Mary's were scheduled to play on Dec. 23, so the schools are working on finding a new date for that game.

* * *

Coaches and athletic directors are asked to send rescheduled games, times and dates to sports@buffnews.com as soon as they are set. It is especially important for us to have rescheduled games as soon as possible so we can adjust our new Web scoreboard/schedule feature.

---Keith McShea

buffalonews.com/high-schools     facebook.com/preptalkblog     twitter.com/bufnewspreptalk