Steadily pulling away, Medina posted a 70-48 victory over visiting Holland in a non league boys basketball game this evening.

Jerrell Neely scored 19 and Preston Woodworth 12 to lead Medina as Trevon Shine and Cole Callard both had 9, Christian Moss 6 and Jack Cecchini 5. Moss also grabbed off 9 rebounds and Elijah Doxey 7.

The Mustangs held leads of 16-9 after the first quarter, 37-14 at the half and 52-27 after three quarters over the Dutchmen. Neely scored 13 in the second quarter and Woodworth 7 in the fourth.

Medina is now 2-2 on the young season.

Girls Basketball
Akron 60, Albion 45
Akron downed visiting Albion 60-45 in the Niagara-Orleans League girls basketball season opener.

Abby Gerstung scored 21, including five threes, to pace Akron which led 25-19 at the half.

Madison Hughson scored 17 and Alison Gibson 12 to lead Albion.

Park School 54, Roy-Hart 28
Building up a 30-16 halftime advantage, Park School went on to down visiting Roy-Hart 54-28 in a non league contest.

Madison DiNeri scored 7, Lila Brigham 6, Macie Sidor 5 and Courtney Aquilina 4 for Roy-Hart.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Brody Vercruysse puts up a shot against Akron defenders Zach Borton (12) and Brayden Lamont during the Purple Eagles home court loss to the Tigers this evening.

Getting point production from 11 players, Akron opened the Niagara-Orleans League boys basketball season in strong fashion by rolling to a 68-40 victory over host Albion this evening.

Brale Abrams scored 14, Jake Leach 11 and Darren Brooks 10 to lead the Tigers scoring parade as Trace Hill and Brayden Lamont both added 8, Ben Gerstung and Coy Patterson 4, Aiden Romesser 3 and Syras Jonathan, Liam Haak and Michael Bentley 2 each.

Wesley Olles scored 10, Blake Preston 7, Seth Krenning 6, Kyle Radder, John Eibl and Tyler Cody 4 each, Auston Johnson 3 and Brody Vercruysse 2 for the Purple Eagles.

Leading all the way, Akron grabbed an 18-10 first quarter lead as Lamont scored 7, Abrams 6 and Brooks 5.

Fast breaking at every opportunity, the Tigers went on to lead by as much as 24 (37-13) late in the second quarter and by 31 (56-25) at the end of the third period. Hill, Abrams, Romesser and Leach all hit threes in the second period which ended with the Tigers up by 17 (37-20).

Albion’s Tyler Cody puts up a shot as Akron’s Darren Brooks tries to block.

Putting together a big rally over the final two and a half minutes, Kendall edged past host Oakfield-Alabama 62-60 in a Genesee Region League boys basketball game this evening.

Trailing 58-52, the Eagles rallied to outscore the Hornets 10-2 during that late uprising to claim the win. A three by Austin Wakefield, who had a total of 11 points in the final period, put the Eagles on top to stay.

Wakefield finished with 19, and Austin Werth and Hunter Richards 13 each the Eagles. Richards also grabbed off 14 rebounds and Werth 10.

Avery Watterson took game high honors with 30 for the Hornets which led 29-25 at the half.

Barker 63, Lyndonville 32
Up 36-14 at the half, Barker went on to defeat host Lyndonville 63-32 in a non league contest.

Luey Castro scored 22, Aidan Mescall 17 and Logan Murrell  8 to lead the Bulldogs.

Colton Smith paced the Tigers with 11.

Byron-Bergen 69, Holley 48
Building up a 34-14 halftime advantage, Byron-Bergen went on to down Holley 69-48 in a G-R contest as Braedyn Chambry scored 20 and Brody Baubie 16.

Destin Kuyal scored 22 and Vinny Golisano 14 for Holley.

Albion and Roy-Hart/Barker both swept to doubleheader victories in Niagara-Orleans League swim meets Thursday.

The Purple Eagles defeated host Newfane 80-64 in the boys’ meet and 90-75 in the girls’ competition.

Finn McCue was an individual event double winner in the 50 Free and 100 Butterfly for the Albion boys squad as Matt Kania won the 100 Breaststroke an Justin Kania the 200 Free.

Keira Sidari won both the Butterfly and 200 Individual Medley for the Albion girls as Jillian LeBaron took the 100 Backstroke, Anna Grillo the 500 Free and Willow Gaines the Breaststroke.

Newfane’s Avery Stevenson won both the 100 Free and 200 Free.

The Channel Cats defeated visiting Akron 86-80 in the boys’ meet 86-80 and 106-51 in the girls’ competition.

Sean Labiak won both the 200 Free and 500 Free and Carson Hashem the 50 Free and Butterfly for the Roy-Hart/Barker boys squad as Nick Armenia took the Individual Medley and Garrett Glyshaw the Breaststroke.

Akron’s Dawson Stone won the 100 Free and Backstroke.

Madelina Pavlock was a double winner in the 500 Free and IM and Sophia Santella in both the 50 Free and Butterfly for the Roy-Hart/Barker girls squad as Maria Trombley won the 100 Free, Abby Glyshaw the 200 Free and Julia Miles the 100 Backstroke.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Colton Smith works toward a win over Albion’s Noah Marat during this evening’s non league match at Albion.

Four pins and four forfeit wins combined to earn Lyndonville a 48-21 victory over host Albion in a non league wrestling match this evening.

Ty Holmes (131) and Brody Hazel (145) both registered first period pins while Colton Smith (152) and Ben Doolan (170) both had third period falls for Lyndonville.

Josh Bovenzi (160) had a second period pin and Jaxon Lynch (138) an overtime decision win for Albion whose other 12 points came on a pair of forfeit wins.

Albion’s Josh Bovenzi in route to scoring a win over Lyndonville’s Greyson Romano.

Regaining the .500 mark at 3-3, Holley bested visiting Attica 41-36 in a Genesee Region League girls basketball game this evening.

Samantha Bates scored 10, Zoey Wolf 9, Alivia Wolf 8, Emma Brady and Jailyn Bishop 6 and Layne Walker 2 for Holley.

Emily Harmon scored 10 and Madallyn Robinson 8 for Attica.

There were seven ties and four lead changes over the first three quarters.

Attica led 9-6 after the first period, Holley grabbed a narrow 16-14 advantage at the half and the contest was tied 24-24 at the three-quarter mark. Alivia Wolf hit a pair of threes in the second period to help the Lady Hawks take the slender halftime advantage.

Holley then outpointed Attica 17-12 in the final period to claim the win.

Bates scored 8, including a pair of three-point plays. and Zoey Wolf had a three and two free throws to lead the Lady Hawks stretch run.

Albion and Akron will tip off the Niagara-Orleans League boys and basketball season on Friday.

Albion will host the boys’ game and Akron the girls’ contest, both at 6:30 p.m.

While the bulk of the N-O season schedule will be played in January and early February, a number of games are also scheduled for next week including the Roy-Hart girls entertaining defending champion Wilson on Dec. 19 and the Albion boys hosting defending champion Newfane and Roy-Hart visiting Wilson, both on Dec. 22.

The Medina girls will open the N-O season at home on Dec. 21 against Roy-Hart while the Mustangs boys squad will open on January 3 at Roy-Hart.

Newfane, which captured the N-O title last year with a 12-0 record, returns a strong nucleus led by the senior trio of Ben Dickinson, who earned first team N-O All-League honors, along with Nate Snow and Landon Braman, who were both second team selections.

The Wilson girls likewise went 12-0 to claim the N-O title for the fifth straight year and the 13th time in the last 14 years.

The Lakewomen are led by the senior duo of Peyton McInnis and Rian Faery, who were both first team All-League honorees. McGinnis, who was named N-O Player of the Year scored 308 points and grabbed off 185 rebounds while Faery had 271 points and 111 rebounds.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Holley’s Destin Kuyal puts up a shot against Kendall defender William Kludt during the Hawks exciting home court win over the rival Eagles this evening.

Rebounding from as much as a 16 point deficit early in the second quarter, Holley came battling back to edge rival Kendall 61-58 in a  thrilling down to the wire Genesee Region League boys basketball game this evening at Holley.

Trailing 48-47 early in the final period, Holley used a key burst of 8 points by Josh Silpoch, including two threes and a layup, to regain the lead for good at 55-50 with 3:45 remaining.

Kendall rallied back to within one at 56-55 after a two and a three by Jacek Kwiatkowski and a two by Louis Conte but Holley answered with a key jumper by Ben Cox with 30 seconds to go and a free throw by Destin Kuyal with 16 seconds remaining to up the Hawks lead to 59-55.

Kendall’s Louis Conte drives in for a layup.

The Eagles made the finish interesting as Austin Wakefield hit a three with four seconds to slice the deficit back to one at 59-58 but the Eagles would get no closer.

Vinny Golisano then closed out the exciting win for the Hawks by making two key free throws in the final second.

Silpoch finished with a game high 19 as Kuyal and Golisano both added 14, Cox 6, Chris Mosier 5 and Lance Babcock 3 for the Hawks.

Hunter Richards scored 17 and Kwiatkowski 14 to lead the Eagles as Conte added 8, Wakefield 7, William Kludt and Jonas Rhodes 5 and Austin Werth 2.

Kendall jumped out to a big 15 point, 22-7, first quarter lead as Richards scored 11 and Kwiatkowski hit a pair of threes.

The Eagles upped the advantage to 16, 28-12, early in the second period after two baskets by Richards and one by Rhodes.

However, Holley came storming back with a big 17-2 scoring surge to close the period and cut the deficit to just one, 30-29, at the half.

Kuyal scored 7, Silpoch 6, Golisano 4, Mosier 3 and Cox 2 in the second quarter to key the Hawks rally.

Holley finally pulled even at 34-34 early in the third period on a three-point play by Golisano. The Hawks then took the lead for the first time at 36-34 on a basket by Kuyal.

Kendall though regained a 47-43 lead, by closing the third period with a 13-7 run including two baskets by Conte and threes by Rhodes, Kludt and Kwiatkowski.

The decisive fourth quarter and the win though belonged to the Hawks which outpointed the Eagles 18-11 down the stretch as Silpoch had 8 and Cox 4 to lead the way.

Holley is now 2-2 overall and Kendall 1-2.

Holley’s Vinny Golisano and Kendall’s Jonas Rhodes go up for a rebound.

Notching victory No. 1 on the young season, Medina downed host West Seneca East 75-60 in a non league boys basketball game this evening.

Jerrell Neely scored 29, Cole Callard 14, Trevon Shine 10 and Christian Moss 9 to lead the way for Medina which snapped a brief two game season opening losing streak.

Trailing 40-38 at the half, the Mustangs rallied into a 55-54 lead at the end of the third quarter and then used a 20-6 fourth period scoring edge to lock up the win.

Neely scored 10 and Callard 5 in the third period. Neely added 7 in the decisive final period which also included key threes by Shine and Justin Pitts.

The host Trojans jumped out to a 9-0 lead at the outset and were up 18-17 at the end of the first period.

“We started slow but then we turned it on,” said Medina Coach Justin Morgan. “We held then to just 6 points in the fourth quarter and to only 20 for the whole second half.”

Medina will next host Holland in another non league game at 6:30 p.m. Friday.