Photo by Cheryl Wertman – David Rhim and his Medina teammates face two key Niagara-Orlesns League games this week against rival Albion and co-leader Newfane.

Having just cleared the first of three straight league hurdles by a slender one point margin, Medina now gets set to face the other two key contests this week as the co-leading Mustangs seek to claim at least a share of the Niagara-Orleans boys basketball title.

Medina survived a scare in a narrow 57-56 home court win over Akron on Saturday to remain deadlocked for the N-O lead at 7-1 with Newffane which downed Roy-Hart 57-44.

Currently the Mustangs and Panthers hold a two game lead over runners-up Akron and Albion which are both 4-3.

The Mustangs now visit rival Albion on Tuesday and then host Newfane on Thursday.

Medina downed Albion 54-42 in their first meeting at Medina but the Purple Eagles have gone 4-1 since then. That lone loss was a narrow 58-52 setback at the hands of Newfane this past Thursday.

Newfane downed Medina  64-44 in their earlier meeting at Newfane. That was a tight 38-36 game after three quarters but the Panthers erupted for a big 26-8 scoring burst in the final stanza to close out the key victory.

Leading the offense for Medina has been the senior duo of Tyler Chinn and Brian Fry who are each averaging 16 points per game. Fry also leads the Mustangs in rebounds with 72.

Bailey Blanchard is also averaging 16 points per outing to lead Albion while Jeremy Foltz is averaging 12.9, Sam Capen 10,5 and Zach Snow 9.6 for Newfane.

In N-O girls basketball, undefeated (7-0) defending champion Wilson will host runner-up Akron (5-2) on Tuesday.

N-O Standings

Boys: Medina 7-1, Newfane 7-1, Akron 4-3, Albion 4-3, Roy-Hart 2-6, Wilson 2-6, Barker 1-7.

Girls: Wilson 7-0, Akron 5-2, Roy-Hart 4-3, Albion 3-4, Newfane 2-2, Barker 2-5, Medina 0-7.

The Roy-Hart/Barker/Medina Club Hockey team dropped a narrow 4-3 decision to ELPS (Eden,Lake Shore, Pioneer, Springville) this afternoon in a rematch of an earlier season game which they had lost 12-5.

RBM jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a short- handed goal by Corey Saj (Medina) unassisted followed a couple of minutes later by an unassisted goal by Dayton Ruppel (Akron).

ELPS managed a goal in the last minute of the period.

In the second period, ELPS did all of the scoring taking a 3-2 lead into the final period.

Early in the final period, Saj scored his second short- handed goal getting assists from Ruppel and Joel Harris (Barker) to pull RBM even.

ELPS scored the winning goal with 11:32 left in the game, but the contest was far from over as RBM put up a furious fight to the end.  At the final buzzer, RMB scored what would have been the equalizer but the goal was disallowed.

The RBM defense led by Dominic Peracciny (Roy-Hart), Ruppel, Aaron McCollum (Roy-Hart) and Reed Winslow (Roy-Hart) played an impressive game as did goalie Jaymis Taylor.

After playing six games in eleven days, RBM will finish the season with three homes games, the next being against Jamestown next Sunday at 12 noon.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Aly Knaak, who scored the game winning basket, here looks to pass against Lyndonville defender Lorelei Dillenbeck during the Purple Eagles victory over the host Lady Tigers this evening.

Blanked for the first 6:45 of the fourth quarter, Albion rallied to score three baskets in the final 1:15 to nip host Lyndonville 34-32 this evening in a non league girls basketball game.

A layup by Honesty Little with 1:15 remaining ended Albion’s lengthy drought and knotted the contest at 30-30.

A jumper by Aly Knaak then put the Purple Eagles up 32-30 with 57 seconds to go but the Lady Tigers answered with a layup by Ashley Hughes 10 seconds later to retie the contest for the final time at 32-32.

Albion’s Sydney Mulka puts up a shot against Lyndonville’s Ashlee Stephens.

However, the last basket and the win belonged to Albion as Knaak connected on a baseline jumper with just nine seconds to go to put the Purple Eagles back on top to stay.

Little finished with 13 and Knaak 10 to lead Albion as Sydney Mulka and Abby Scanlan each added 4 and Madison Hughson 3.

Ella Lewis scored a game high 14 and Lorelei Dillenbeck had 11 to pace Lyndonville as Hughes added 3 and Prezli Silversmith and Kaylee Nesbitt 2 each.

Albion jumped out to a 12-6 first quarter lead as Little, Mulka, Knaak and Scanlan all contributed baskets.

Lyndonville though put together a big 15-0 run in the second quarter to rally into a 21-16 lead at the half.

Two threes by Dillenbeck and three free throws by Lewis ignited that uprising which also included layups by Silversmith, Dillenbeck and Lewis.

Albion rebounded with a 12-6 scoring edge in the third period including six by Little to regain a 28-27 lead.

Lyndonville did regain the lead at 30-28 on a three by Dillenbeck to open the decisive final period but the Lady Tigers could manage only two more points the rest of the way as Albion rallied in the final 1:15 to claim the win.

Lyndonville closes the season with a 2-9 record.

Albion, which is now 5-6, will return to Niagara-Orleans League action on Tuesday with a game at rival Medina.

Lyndonville’s Ella Lewis drives to the basket as Honesty Little comes in to defend for Albion.

Improving to 4-3, Roy-Hart bested visiting Newfane 46-31 this afternoon in a Niagara-Orleans League girls basketball game.

Shelby Wolf scored a game high 19 to lead the way for Roy-Hart as Claire Halstead added 7, Ava Owens 6 and Miah Glena and Kara Choate 5 each.

Hannah Hambruch scored 8 and Jensen McGhee 7 for Newfane which trailed 25-21 at the half.

Wilson 49, Barker 34

Bulding up a 27-14 halftime advantage, defending champion Wilson went on to defeat Bareker 49-34 to remain unbeaten at 7-0.

Julia Faery scored 13 and Bella Lemke 12 to lead Wilson while Chloe Lee had 9 for Barker.

Akron 59, Medina 22

Ten players contributed to the point production as Akron downed visiting Medina 59-22 to improve to 5-2.

Ella Hill scored 11 and Naya Lomayestewa 10 to lead Akron’s balanced attack.

Faithann Vanderwalker had 13, Anya Bloom 5 and Lily Carpenter 4 for Medina.

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

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Christian Drisdom goes in for a layup against Akron defender David Kalinowski during the Mustangs narrow one point home court win over the Tigers this afternoon.

Surviving a late scare, Medina edged past visiting Akron 57-56 this afternoon to maintain a share of the Niagara-Orleans League boys basketball lead.

Medina improves to 7-1 and remains deadlocked for first place with Newfane which downed Roy-Hart 57-44.

A three point play by Joe Cecchini, a three by Christian Drisdom and a free throw by  Tyler Chinn gave Medina a seven point, 54-47, lead midway through the decisive final quarter.

Two free throws by Jarin Rhim then helped to offset a three by Akron’s Josh Mazza to keep the Mustangs up by six, 56-50, with 2:20 remaining.

Akron though battled back to within two at 56-54 with 1:27 remaining after a pair of free throws by Adam Mietz and a layup off a turnover by Jake Mazza.

A free throw by Chinn put Medina back up by three, 57-54, with 13 seconds to go for what proved to be the game winning point.

Akron did slice the deficit to one, 57-56 with five seconds to go after a pair of free throws by Mietz.  The Tigers got the ball back one more time after a missed Mustangs free throw opportunity but misfired on a long half court shot at the buzzer.

Medina’s Brian Fry drives to the basket against Akron’s Mitchell Holtz.

Brian Fry finished with a game high 17 and Drisdom had 16 to lead Medina as Chinn and Rhim each added 6, Cecchini 5 and Matt Henning 3.

Mietz led Akron with 16 as Holtz added 13, Jake Mazza 10, Josh Mazza 8, Jack Fowler 5 and David Kalinowski 4.

Akron jumped out to leads of 11-8 after the first period and 36-27 at the half.

Holtz had 11, including two threes, Mietz 8, including two threes, and Jake Mazza 8 over the first two periods for the Tigers. Drisdom tallied 10 to pace the Mustangs during that stretch.

Medina though came storming back in the third period outscoring Akron 20-5 to take a 47-40 lead at the three-quarter mark.

Fry spearheaded the Mustangs rally with 11 points in the stanza on two layups, a jumper, a three point play and a layup off a steal.

That set the stage for the exciting stretch run as the Mustangs held off a late Tigers rally to claim the slender win and maintain a share of the N-O lead heading into Tuesday’s game at rival Albion. Click here to view the last 30 seconds of the game.

Newfane 57, Roy-Hart 44

Newfane kept hold of a share of the N-O lead by downing visiting Roy-Hart 57-44 as Sam Capen scored 21 and Zach Snow and Jeremy Foltz 10 each.

Rhett Goodwin scored 14, Aiden Petrie 12 and Gavyn Boyle 10 for Roy-Hart which trailed 17-15 after one quarter, 28-21 at the half and 40-35 at the three-quarter mark.

Wilson 54, Barker 41

Trailing by eight, 44-36, after three quarters, Wilson rallied to outpoint Barker 18-7 in the decisive final period to claim the narrow 54-51 victory.

Ben Lyman hit two threes and Michael Miller had a three and a two to lead the late surge by the Lakemen. Miller finished with a game high 21.

Brad Cantrell scored 19 to lead Barker as Joey Brandt and Nicholas Guevara both had 8 and Devonte Hill 7.

N-O Standings: Medina 7-1, Newfane 7-1, Akron 4-3, Albion 4-3, Roy-Hart 2-6, Wilson 2-6, Barker 1-7.

The Roy-Hart/Barker/Medina Club Hockey team made the long journey to Jamestown Friday  evening for a 9 p.m. game and dropped a 12-1 decision in the Western New York Club League contest.

The contest began well enough with Jamestown taking a 2-0 lead in the first eleven minutes, but RBM made it 2-1 on a power play goal by Joel Harris (Barker) with the assist going to Dominic Peracciny (Roy-Hart).

However, Jamestown went on to take a 5-1 lead at the end of one period.

The home team would go on to score six goals in the second period and one in the third.

This was RBM’s fourth game in six days (three away) with their next contest tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Lockport against ELPS.

Attica scored a doubleheader victory over Kendall this evening in Genesee Region League basketball action.

The Blue Devils downed the Eagles 75-43 in the boys game at Kendall and 46-41 in the girls contest at Attica.

Leading by a narrow 35-27 halftime margin in the boys game, Attica used a big 24-10 third period scoring edge to key the victory.

Ian Romesser and Adam Bukowski each scored 15 to lead the way for the Blue Devils.

Derek Edick scored a game high 22 for Kendall as Zach Barrett added 7 and Devin Edick 6.

In the girls contest, Kendall held a 37-33 lead at the three-quarter mark but Attica rallied with a 13-4 fourth period scoring edge to claim the win.

Makenna Jarnot led Attica with 12 points.

Alezya Brown had 12 points and 7 rebounds, Elizabeth Snyder 11 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocks and Kailie Regan 7 points and 8 rebounds for Kendall.

Holley games cancelled

The Holley boys games against Notre Dame this evening and against Lyndonville on Saturday have been cancelled.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Carter Green was a double winner in the 200 Freestyle and 500 Free this afternoon in the Channel Cats sectional win over Medina.

Niagara-Orleans champion No. 4 seed Roy-Hart downed league rival No. 5  Medina 102-68 this afternoon in a Section VI Ontario Bracket quarterfinal round swim meet which was held in a “virtual” format.

Carter Green was a double winner in the 200 Freestyle (1:54.08) and 500 Free (5:13.39) to lead the way for Roy-Hart which will next visit top seeded Springville in the semifinals on Tuesday.

The Channel Cats also had Andrew Ossont win the 200 Individual Medley (2:27.36), Noah Stern the 100 Butterfly (1:03.24), Charles Rickard the 100 Free (:55.96) and Sean Labiak the 100 Backstroke (1:08.05).

Ossont, Green and Stern also teamed up with Rickard to win the 200 Free Relay (1:39.22) and with Jacob Hagen to take the 400 Free Relay (3:47.66).

Isaac Pace was an individual event double winner for Medina in the 50 Free (:23.18) and the 100 Breaststroke (1:02.61). He broke his own school record in the Breaststroke.

Pace also teamed up with Jackson Moreland, Bryson Costich and Xander Payne to win the 200 Medley Relay (1:54.31).

Springville defeated no. 8 Maryvale 99-77.

Akron gains Niagara Bracket semis

No. 4 seeded Akron defeated No. 5 Pioneer 99-69 in the quarterfinal round of the Niagara Bracket as Zander Borton was a double winner in the 200 Free and 500 Free and Aiden Polkowski in the IM and Butterfly.

Akron will next face top seeded Frontier in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Medina’s Isaac Pace was a double winner in the 50 Free and 100 Breaststroke in this afternoon’s sectional meet against Roy-Hart. He broke his own school record in the Breaststroke with a time of 1:02.61.