Albion cagers turn back late Akron rally; CSAT tops Medina; Barker bests R-H

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Des Blackmon (21) goes up for a layup between Akron defenders Jake McKenna (42) and Justin Schmid (44) during the host Purple Eagles win over the Tigers this evening.

Turning back a late challenge, Albion trimmed visiting Akron 63-55 this evening to improve to 4-3 in Niagara-Orleans League boys basketball competition.

In other N-O action, CSAT made it three wins in a row by upending visiting Medina 70-58, Barker snapped a season long five N-O game losing streak by downing host Roy-Hart 63-57 and Wilson bested rival Newfane 65-46 to remain undefeated.

Clayton Stanton scored 16 and Alex Bison 13 to lead the offense for Albion as Des Blackmon added 9, Austin Loyd 7 and Kory Reynolds 5.

Gates Abrams poured in a game high 27 for Akron which slips to 3-3.

Albion jumped out to a 19-13 first period lead as Stanton tallied 7 and Loyd 6 in the early going. Abrams answered with 9 to keep Akron close.

The Purple Eagles maintained a 35-27 lead at the half as Stanton had a big 9 point second period.

Albion then opened the third period with an 11-0 run to quickly extend the advantage to what looked to be a commanding 19 point, 46-27 margin.

Back-to-back threes by Bison and Blackmon ignited that uprising which also included a three-point play by Bison and a layup by Blackmon.

Another three by Bison helped the Purple Eagles maintain a 15 point, 53-38, advantage at the three-quarter mark.

However, Akron came battling back in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers opened the final period with a big 14-3 run highlighted by two threes by Abrams and two buckets each by Justin Schmid and Caleb Martin, to slice the deficit to just four at 56-52 with 2:30 remaining.

Albion though turned back the challenge despite going the first seven minutes of the period without a field goal. Two free throws each by Blackmon and Bison sandwiched around a layup by Reynolds upped the lead back to 10 at 62-52 finally putting a lock on the victory.

Albion’s Kory Reynolds (22) tries to put up a shot up in traffic as Caleb Martin (55) defends for Akron.

CSAT 70, Medina 58

Aided by a rash of turnovers, CSAT used s 22-14 fourth quarter scoring edge to clinch a 70-58 victory over visiting Medina and regain the .500 mark at 3-3.

“We just turned the ball over way too much,” said Medina Coach Tom Forrestel. “We had 30 plus turnovers. CSAT played very well. They are very quick and defend well.”

Jason Hellwig scored 24 and Dylan Lewis 19 for Medina which slips to 5-2 and two games behind front-running Wilson.

Justin Morgan added 7 and Brennan Zinkievich an David Garrow 4 each for Medina which led 32-30 at the half.

CSAT outscored Medina 18-12 in the third period to move into a 48-44 lead.

Barker 63, Roy-Hart 57

Trailing 42-39 after three quarters, Barker put together a big 24-15 scoring surge over the final period to earn a 63-57 victory over Roy-Hart.

Nate Luckman score 16 of his 24 points to lead the Raiders decisive rally.

Thomas Callaghan added 10, Christopher Sweeney 8 and Michael Snell 7 for Barker which led 8-4 after one period and 26-21 at the half.

Andy Xapsos scored a game high 27 points for Roy-Hart as Justin Heschke added 15 and Sam White 11.

Roy-Hart used 21-13 third period scoring edge to rally into the narrow 42-39 lead at the three-quarter mark.

Wilson 65, Newfane 46

Evan Shank scored 21, Joe Littere 18 and Kyle Bradley 12 to lead unbeaten Wilson past Newfane. Bradley also grabbed off 11 rebounds.

Leading 11-7 after one period Wilson used a big 21-11 second quarter scoring edge to open up a 32-18 halftime advantage. Littere scored 10 during that stretch including a pair of threes.

The Lakemen later pout a lock on the win by outpointing Newfnae 22-17 in the final period as Shank led the way with 9.

Kyle Burdick scored 15 for Newfane.