Purple Eagles set to begin Section VI Class B1 title defense

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Manwell Taylor and his Purple Eagle teammates will begin defense of their Section VI Class B1 title with a home game on Wednesday.

A year ago, after a so-so 8-6 Niagara-Orleans League campaign, Albion caught fire in postseason play capturing the Section VI Class B1 boys basketball championship.

The sectional title was the first in 43 years for Albion which upended top seeded Burgard 62-54 in the semifinals and then downed Maryvale 65-57 in the championship game.

Now, coming off a similar 6-7 N-O season, the Purple Eagles are prepping to defend their title and make another strong postseason run.

Seeded No. 7, Albion will begin its B1 title defense by hosting a pre-quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s opening round contest between No. 10 CSAT (7-12) and No. 15 Eden (1-18).

Albion split with CSAT during the N-O season losing the first meeting 56-47 and winning the rematch by a nearly identical margin of 55-49.

If successful on Wednesday, Albion would then visit rival No. 2 seed Medina in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Tommy Mattison has scored 254 points and grabbed off 112 rebounds and Kory Reynolds has tallied 148 points and pulled down 175 rebounds to lead the Purple Eagles so far this season.

In another Class B1 pre quarterfinal on Wednesday, No. 6 Newfane will host the winner of Tuesday’s opening round game between No. 11 Tonawanda and No. 14 Springville.

In Class B2, Roy-Hart is seeded No. 2. The Rams will host a quarterfinal round game on Friday against the winner of Wednesday’s contest between No. 7 Math Sciences and No. 10 Lackawanna.

Also in Class B2, No. 13 Akron will face No. 12 Oracle in an opening round contest on Tuesday while on Wednesday, No. 9 Wilson will visit No. 8 JFK in a pre-quarterfinal contest.

In Class C2, No. 5 Barker will visit No. 4 Randolph on Friday.

Section VI girls Class B1 playoff competition gets underway on Tuesday as No. 9 Medina (11-9) visits No. 8 Tonawanda (11-9) and No .11 Albion (9-12) travels to No. 6 CSAT (13-7) at 6 p.m. and No. 4 Newfane (16-4) hosts No. 13 Dunkirk (9-12) at 7 p.m.

CSAT nipped Albion twice during the N-O season by narrow margins of 42-41 and 52-49.

The Medina/Tonawanda winner will face top seeded East Aurora while the Albion/CSAT visit will face No. 3 Buffalo Arts, both on Thursday.

In Class B2 on Tuesday, No. Roy-Hart (6-13) hosts No. 9 JFK (6-11) and No. 10 Akron (2-16) visits No. 7 Gowanda (6-14) at 7 p.m. The Akron/Gowanda winner will visit No. 2 Wilson (17-1) on Thursday.