Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Austin Seefeldt works toward a decision win over Albion’s David Rosario during early round action of today’s annual Gary Gross Memorial Tournament hosted by the Mustangs.

A quartet of local wrestlers captured titles today at Medina’s annual Gary Gross Memorial Tournament.

The local foursome includes Medina’s Dominick Callara (102), Holley-Kendall’s Bruce Rasmusson (110), Albion’s Jr. Morales (138) and Roy-Hart/Barker’s Zach Hill (189).

In their title bouts Callara pinned Brenden Eichas (Holley-Kendall) in :27, Rasmussion decisioned Wyatt Opferbeck (Pioneer) 4-0, Morales scored a 21-16 technical fall win over Kaleb Rang (Grand Island) and Hill decisioned Dayne Aina (Albion) 3-2.

Medina also had Reese Senske (102) and Gabe Casanova (285) place third.

Ellwood Hafner (145) placed second and Alex Hafner (152) third for Albion.

Lyndonville had Sebastian Temich (152) place second as Christian Garver (110), Maddox Stirk (189) and Sam Doolan (215) all took third.

Hilton led the way with four champions including Tyler Simons (132), Landon Lazarek (145), Rocco Camillaci (160) and Cheis Fromczak (215).

Pioneer had a trio of champions including Daniel Kirsch (118), Xander Kirsch (126) and Brady Heckathorn (152).

Rounding out the list of champions were Grand Island’s Brian Bielec (172) and Lockport’s Stefaan Fearon (285).

Pioneer captured the team title with 203 points followed by Hilton 128, Lyndonville 124, Albion 103.5, Grand Island 84.5, Medina 80.5, Holley-Kendall 64, Roy-Hart/Barker 59.5, Randolph 58.5, Byron-Bergen 49, Lockport 26 and Williamsville South 25.

Albion’s Bryce Froman in route to scoring a decision win over Roman Klug of Roy-Hart/Barker.

Branden Ricker of Roy-Hart/Barker works toward earning a pin over Jeffrey Moynihan of Holley-Kendall.

Roy-Hart downed host Barker 50-35 and Akron bested visiting Medina 66-45 this morning in Niagara-Orleans League girls basketball make-up games.

Claire Halstead scored 17, Ava Owens 11 and Kaitlin Metter 10 to spark Roy-Hart which led 22-14 at the half.

Mia Herman scored 11 for Barker.

Sophia Jones tallied 18 and Sloan Jonathan 16 for Akron which held a 33-21 lead at the half.

Rylee VanNostrand scored 27 and Stella Poler 13 for Medina.

N-O Standings: Wilson 7-0, Newfane 5-2, Akron 3-2, Albion 2-3, Roy-Hart 2-4, Barker 1-5, Medina 1-5.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Aiden Petrie puts up a shot against Starpoint defender Evan Floss during the Rams non league win over the Spartans at NCCC this afternoon. Brandin Masters moves in on the play for the Rams.

Renewing an old Niagara-Orleans rivalry, Roy-Hart rallied from a slow start to defeat Starpoint 63-57 in a non league game this afternoon at Niagara County Community College.

Trailing by 14, 19-5, early in the second quarter, Roy-Hart got back into the game by putting together a key 13-0 run. Aiden Petrie scored 7 and John Conley and Brandon DiNeri both hit threes during that rally which pulled the Rams to within one at 19-18.

The Spartans though answered with a 9-3 run, including two baskets by Tyler Milleville, to take a 28-21 led at the half.

Roy-Hart quickly pulled back to within one, 28-27, with a 6-0 run to open the third period on two free throws by Jamel Johnson Jr. and a pair of baskets by Vinny Buscarino.

The Rams stayed within one, 41-40, at the three-quarter mark as Johnson had a total of 7 in the period, Buscarino 6 and Petrie 4.

Roy-Hart finally grabbed the lead for the first time at 48-47 early in the final stanza after back-to-back threes by John Conley and Buscarino.

Two more threes and a rebound bucket by Buscarino along with two baskets by Petrie and one by Johnson helped Roy-Hart build up an eight point, 59-51, advantage with just :20 remaining.

Four clutch free throws by Buscarino in the final 10 seconds then put a lock on the victory for the Rams.

Petrie finished with 19 and Buscarino 18 to lead the Roy-Hart attack as Johnson added 9, Conley and DiNeri 6 and Brandin Masters 5.

Sam Parise scored 15 and Jackson Griesmer and Evan Floss both had 11 to pace the Spartans. Parise 7 in the opening period.

Roy-Hart’s Vinny Buscarino drives against Starpoint’s Sam Parise.

Improving to 12-2, Kendall trimmed host Wheatland-Chili 30-27 in a Genesee Region League girls basketball game this evening.

Aleza Brown scored 15 to lead the way for Kendall which was up 18-12 at the half.

Libby Snyder grabbed off 11 rebounds for Kendall as Brown and Julia Szczepnski both had 10. Snyder also had a key late basket to put the Lady Eagles back on top to stay.

Pembroke 64, Lyndonville 63
Regaining the .500 mark at 7-7, Pembroke nipped Lyndonville 64-63 in a G-R contest.

Izzy Breeden and Sydney Johnson each scored 14 and Karli Houseknecht 12 to lead the way for Pembroke which led 37-28 at the half.

Ashlee Stephens scored 19, Addison Dillenbeck 15, Karli Rounds 13, Ella Lewis 8, Lorelei Dillenbeck 7 and Haley Shaffer 1 for Lyndonville which is now 9-4.

In other G-R action, Elba downed Holley 49-19.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Barker’s Aidan Mescall drives to the basket against Medina defender Anthony Bowman during the Raiders narrow win over the host Mustangs this evening.

Avenging an early season 22 point (59-37) home court loss, Barker upended host Medina 53-51 this evening knocking the Mustangs out of a share of the Niagara-Orleans League lead.

The loss drops Medina to 4-2 as Roy-Hart, which downed host Wilson 52-40, regains sole possession of the N-O lead at 5-1.

A free throw by Aidan Mescall with 11 seconds remining, which snapped a 51-51 tie, proved to be the game winner for Barker as Aidan Voss added another free throw with a second to go.

Voss finished with 15, Mescall 12, Luey Castro 10, Nathan Meza Ray, Brad Cantrell 5, Steven Class 2 and Seth Gerhardt 1 for Barker which is now 2-4 in N-O action.

Anthony Bowman scored 18, Jarin Rhim 14, Joe Cecchini 13, Amari Soule 3, Justin Pitts 2 and Kaedon Cleveland 1 for Medina.

Medina jumped out to a 16-10 first quarter lead as Cecchini scored 7 and Rhim 5.

However, Barker battled back to take a 26-25 lead at the half after back-to-back threes by Meza Ray and Cantrell followed by a rebound basket by Castro late in the second period.

Medina did regain a narrow 43-41 lead at the end of a sea-saw third period as Bowman scored 8, Rhim hit a three and Cecchini had a three-point play in the stanza. Voss scored 8, including a three, in the period for the Raiders.

The Mustangs took a 47-43 lead early in the final period after baskets by Rhim and Bowman but the Mustangs could not score from the field again.

Medina’s last lead came at 51-50 with 3:23 to go after three free throws by Cecchini.

Barker answered with a pair from the free throw line by Castro with 1:36 remaining to take a 51-50 lead.

The Mustangs pulled even at 51-51 on a free throw by Cleveland with 13 seconds remaining but again the Raiders answered right back, this time with what proved to be a game winning free throw by Mescall just two seconds later for a 52-51 lead.

Barker’s Nathan Meza Ray drives against Medina defender Amari Soule.

Roy-Hart 52, Wilson 40
Aiden Petrie scored 15, Jamel Johnson Jr. 13, Vinny Buscarino 10 and Brandon DiNeri 6 to lead the way for Roy-Hart.

Paul Smith scored 12 and Mason Branca 9 for Wilson which slips to 3-4.

Roy-Hart built up a 26-19 half-time advantage which the Rams never relinquished. Johnson scored 6 in the first period and Petrie 10 in the second to get the Rams going.

Roy-Hart led 37-31 after three quarters and DiNeri hit two threes in the final period to help keep the Rams on top.

Newfane 61, Albion 50
Leading by a narrow 43-40 margin after thee quarters, host Newfane used an 18-10 fourth period scoring edge to lock up a 61-50 win over Albion.

Evan Myers scored 10 of his 14 points in the final stanza to key the Panthers big stretch run.

Landon Braman took game high honors with 20 and Brady Harrington added 10 for Newfane.

Shakarion Drisdom scored 13, Jahmeek Riley 12 and Tyler Gibson 8 for Albion which trailed 35-29 at the half.

N-O Standings: Roy-Hart 5-1, Medina 4-2, Akron 3-2, Newfane 4-3, Wilson 3-4, Barker 2-4, Albion 0-5

Wheatland-Chili downed Kendall 77-63, Elba bested Holley 50-29 and Pembroke topped Lyndonville 69-38 in Genesee Region League boys basketball games this evening.

Trailing 30-23 at the half, Kendall did rally into a 35-35 tie midway through the third period but W-C answered with a key 7-0 run to regain the lead for good by a 50-42 margin at the three quarter mark.

Aaron Lund scored 16 of his game high 33 points in the third period to spark W-C.

Jacek Kwiatkowski scored 13, Louie Conte 11, Jeffrey Pratt and Zach Barrett 8 and Braxton Zarpentine 6 for Kendall. Zarpentine also grabbed off 10 rebounds as Conte and Pratt both had 6.

Trailing by just seven, 22-15 at the half, Holley saw Elba put together a 20-5 third period scoring edge to key the win.

Erick Lang scored 11 and Broek Ostrom 9 for Holley.

Cayden Pfalzer scored 24 and Tyson Totten 19 to spark Pembroke which jumped out to a 15-0 lead at the half. The Dragons went on to lead 39-15 at the half.

Ian Mank scored 11, Mason Nicholson 9 and Roman Heinsler 8 for Lyndonville.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Rylee VanNostrand

Medina and Albion both scored victories in Niagara-Orleans League girls basketball action this evening.

Medina snapped a season long four league game losing streak by edging host Barker 50-46 and Albion made it two wins in a row by besting visiting Newfane 43-35.

In the other N-O contest, defending champion Wilson stayed perfect at 7-0 with a 47-21 win over Roy-Hart.

Rylee VanNostrand poured in a game high 26 points to spearhead the Medina offense as Lily Carpenter added 9, Stella Poler 7, Iyla Lilleby 6 and Dani Williams 2,

Medina rallied from a 23-20 half-time deficit to claim the win as VanNostrand scored 15, Carpenter 6, Poler 5 and Lilleby 4 in the second half.

“I couldn’t be more proud of them tonight,” said Medina Coach Connie Heschke.

Keira Dalton scored 18 and Anna Bowerman 15 for Barker.

Abby Scanlan had 17 points and 10 steals to lead Albion as Sydney Mulka and Skoi Sanders each tallied 8 points.

Mulka scored 6 in the second quarter, Scanlan 5 in the third and Sanders 5 in the fourth.

Jensen McGhee led Newfane with 14.

N-O Standings – Wilson 7-0, Newfane 5-2, Akron 2-2, Albion 2-3, Barker 1-4, Medina 1-4, Roy-Hart 1-4