Kendall cagers claim G-R Division 1 championship outright

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 12 February 2014 at 12:00 am

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Kendall’s Isaiah Brown (55) grabs a rebound over the Alexander duo of Zach Laird (14) and Johnny George (32) during the host Eagles victory over the visiting Trojans this evening.

Locking up outright possession of the Division 1 championship, Kendall romped to a 55-32 victory over visiting Alexander this evening to close out the Genesee Region League boys basketball season.

Mookie Nauden had a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and Isaiah Brown a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way for Kendall which captured its first G-R division title in 13 years.

“It’s been a long time,” said Kendall Coach Justin Laureano of the Eagles first title since the 2000-2001 season. “The kids really deserve it. They’ve really worked hard and really put in the effort in the off season.”

Garret Love added 7 points for the Eagles as Alex Sutphen and Will Condo both netted 6, Devin Appleton 5, Justin Barrett 3 and Dustin Furness 1.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Mookie Nauden puts up a shot for Kendall over Alexander defenders Laird and Nelson Burke (12).

Moving on top to stay, Kendall jumped out to a 17-9 first quarter lead as Sutphen hit a pair of threes and Nauden a three and a jumper at the buzzer to lead the way. The uprising also included a layup off a turnover by Love, a layup by Appleton and a jumper by Brown.

Keeping the momentum, the Eagles doubled their advantage to 16, 32-16, at the half as Nauden had two jumpers, Condo a pair of layups and Brown a layup and a rebound bucket in the second quarter.

Continuing to stymie Alexander with a hustling, aggressive defense, the Eagles maintained a commanding 18 point, 37-21, advantage at the three-quarter mark despite gong the first five minutes without a point. Back-to-back buckets by Brown, on a layup and a rebound, keyed a late 7-0 run which kept the Eagles in control.

“We really stress defensive effort,” said Laureano. “Our defensive effort is really critical to the success of our team.”

Kendall finishes the regular season at 12-6 and Alexander at 9-9.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Kendall’s Alex Sutphen drives by Alexander’s Zach Dunbar (10).

Attica 73, Holley 44
A big scoring burst just before halftime sparked Attica to a 73-44 victory over visiting Holley in a G-R contest.

Breaking away from a 21-21 tie, Attica closed the first half with a 13-3 run to open up a 34-24 advantage. That stretch was as a costly one for Holley as guard Joey DeFelice had to leave the game with an ankle injury and did not return.

Zach Kozma led Attica with a game high 29 points including five threes.

Josh Porter had 14 points, Corey Winter 11 and Zach Vaccarelli 7 for Holley. Winter also grabbed off 10 rebounds and Porter 7.