Purple Eagles oust Presidents in B1 opener

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Deyonci Farley puts up a shot against I-Prep defender Keonte Smith during the host Purple Eagles sectional win over the Presidents this evening.

Moving on top to stay with a big third quarter surge, No. 10 seed Albion went on to defeat visiting No. 15 I-Prep 67-58 this evening in the opening round of the Section VI Class B1 boys basketball playoffs.

Liam Ward scored 25 and Deyonci Farley 20 to spearhead the Albion offense as Bryce Pritchard chipped in with 13, Demetrius Gardner 4, Xavier Cornick 3, Vincent Zona 2 and Hunter Webster 1.

Liam Ward goes in for a layup for Albion past I-Prep defender Dajohn Cartwright.

Alex Pagan scored 20 and Keonte Smith 15 to lead the way for I-Prep.

Pagan and Smith both hit a pair of threes in the opening period to help I-Prep grab a 16-14 lead.  Farley scored the first 9 points and Ward the last 6 for Albion in the opening stanza.

Two more threes by Pagan helped the Presidents maintain a slender 29-26 advantage at the half.  Ward tallied 6 and Farley 4 during that stretch to keep the Purple Eagles close.

However, Albion came battling back opening the third period with a 15-7 run to regain the lead for good at 41-36.  Back-to-back threes by Pritchard and Ward capped off that key surge which also included another three by Ward, a three-point play by Farley and a jumper by Gardner.

A late layup by Zona helped keep Albion up by three 46-43, at the three-quarter mark.

The Purple Eagles moved out to a 10 point, 61-51, advantage with just over two minutes to go as Ward had a three and a jumper and Farley and Gardner layups to highlight the big 15-8 run.

Capitalizing on turnovers, I-Prep did rally back to within four, 62-58, with just under a minute to go after tallies by Smith, Pagan and Angel Ruiz.

The Presidents though would get no closer as the Purple Eagles finally put a lock on the victory on three clutch free throws by Pritchard who then tacked on a bucket at the buzzer.

Albion next visits No. 7 City Honors at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Roy-Hart 59, DaVinci 36
No. 9 Roy-Hart defeated No. 16 DaVinci 59-36 in the opening round of the Class B2 sectionals earning the Rams a trip to No. 8 Gowanda at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Jake Bruning scored 18 and Noah Kindron 13 to lead the way for Roy-Hart as Charlie Brigham and Charlie Bruning 9 each.

Jake Bruning scored 9 in the second period to help Roy-Hart build up a 29-16 lead at the half.

Kindron and Brigham then each tallied 6 in the third stanza to help the Rams take a commanding 46-25 advantage at the three-quarter mark.

Pembroke 59, Holley 37

Leading by a narrow 23-20 margin at the half, No. 2 Pembroke used a big 22-4 third period surge to earn a 59-37 win over visiting No. 15 Holley in a Section V Class C1 opener.

Andrew Moseman scored 9 and Patrick Bower 7 for Holley.