The View From Centercourt

Ranking the Top 10 Large & Small 2025 - Week 5

 

Large Schools

1. St. Joe's (AA) - After flying past St. Francis by 30, the Marauders earned a 10-point victory in South Buffalo, something they didn’t even do during the 2021 Manhattan Cup Championship season.  The big week is here finally, so after a trip to Park on Monday, preparations will be in full swing for a Saturday afternoon dance at…

2. Canisius (AA) - Delaware Avenue, Home of the Canisius Crusaders, a team who has owned the rivalry series with St. Joe’s on the hardwood.  These guys aren’t buying the power shift suggestion from my season preview for one minute and aim to show WNY who the real McCoy is on Saturday.  They earned a couple victories over Nichols & Park last week, and will need to do the same at St. Francis on Monday.  Then we get to finally watch the top two teams in the area dance! 

3. Niagara Falls (AAA) - Nothing to report here on the Wolverines front, except a pair of double-digit victories over a pair of programs you may have heard of… Health Sciences & Aquinas.  Falls is really good, something Williamsville South will find out on Monday night when they visit the Cataract City.

4. Timon (AA) -  Knocked off Park to start the week off, before falling at home to St. Joe's on Friday.  The Tigers get right back to it on Monday with a trip to O’Hara and then host another Friday night special, this time against what has been a most competitive Nichols squad.

5. Jamestown (AAA) -  The Red & Green are going to start calling league games 'Hammer Time' if this keeps up.  A 30-point victory at Williamsville North, followed by a 21-point victory at Orchard Park make it three straight double-digit victories in league play to open the season.  They return to the cozy confines of 'The Mac' and will try to keep that trend going with visits from Lancaster & Frontier this week, before ending the week with a nongame against St. Mary’s on Saturday. 

6. Lockport (AA1) -  Earned a hard-fault victory over visiting Ken West by just three points, before returning to form with a 40-point blowout at CSAT.  The energy should be at a fever pitch on Tuesday night when undefeated Grand Island visits, can’t wait!

7. Health Sciences (AA2) -  Took an early 9-point lead on Niagara Falls Thursday night, before getting schooled for three quarters.  The Falcons are winning their Yale Cup games by an average margin of 48 points, a 61-point margin if you take out the McKinley win by eight points.  They face Hutch-Tech for a second time on Friday.

8. Grand Island (A1) -  Knocked off Ken East by 28 points and then took down Maritime by a lot more than that.  Time to find out how good these Vikings really are on Tuesday when they put their 8-0 record on the line against a most legitimate Lockport team at the Lions' Den.

9. Amherst (A1) -  Bounced back with a 13-point victory at Sweet Home and then earned their way into the rankings with a 13-point win over rival South on Friday.  The division in ECIC II has started off every bit as competitive as it looked like it would and there’s plenty more fun ahead with Amherst taking to the road for games at Williamsville East and Hamburg, before finishing the week with a third straight Friday night home game, this time against Starpoint.

10. Williamsville South (A1) -  Improved to 6–1 with a 12-point win at Hamburg to start the week before the rubber met the road on Friday night and the Billies were forced to hand over possession of Main Street at the hands of Amherst.  Besides the ultra competitive league they moved into, they also signed up for a grueling nonleague schedule to prepare for another championship run this season.  They won’t find many challenges bigger than the one they signed up for on Monday, a trip to Niagara Falls.   Right back at it on Wednesday against Starpoint, and then their first of two tilts with Williamsville East on Friday.  So many good games to monitor this season, love this stuff!

 

Small Schools

1. Randolph (C) -  The team that hasn’t lost a league game in years is up to their old tricks, demolishing divisional opponents again.  A win at Portville by 34 points was followed by a 72–19 shellacking of Silver Creek.  So great news for Frewsburg and Cassadaga Valley, the two teams that host the Cardinals this week. 

2. Westfield (C) -  A 47-point victory over Maple Grove on 2K night in Swanson Land was followed by a 16-point victory over Chautauqua Lake.  Undefeated locally with games at Brocton and then against Clymer on the slate this week.

3. Salamanca (B2) -  One of those Class C teams is going to have to lose for me to move the Warriors ahead of them, but they have certainly handed in an application that would qualify them for a higher ranking.  A 25-point win over Niagara Wheatfield followed by a 19-point victory over previously undefeated Allegany-Lmestone.  Yes, Lucus graduated, it’s just those Southern Tier hoop teams you know?  Salamanca heads to Falconer on Monday and then welcomes in Dunkirk Thursday.  I know I said I wouldn’t make it down before the 28th, but you’ve got me reconsidering plans.

4. Akron (B1) -  All these guys do is win exciting games...well at least that was the case last week.  I got to watch an exciting one-point victory for the Tigers against an equally tough Roy-Hart squad, and then predicted a thriller that delivered just that, when North Tonawanda visited Friday night.  Akron earned their second overtime victory of the season against the Jacks that night after taking down BASCS in the extra session before the holiday break.  Those are the kind of games you need to play in!  

5. Panama (D) -  Victors for the third straight time by a lot of points when they knocked off Clymer last week.  The Panthers are at Sherman on Monday and then host Chautauqua Lake on Thursday night.

6. Falconer (B2) -  Suffered a tough three-point loss at Allegany-Limestone last week.   Any sting left from that one would be long gone with a victory over visiting Salamanca on Monday night.  They also visit Southwestern on Thursday and take on Rochester SOTA at SUNY Fredonia on Sunday.

7. Holland (C) -  The Dutchmen stated their case with a 57-55 victory over Olmsted and now sit at 8-3 on the season with no bad losses.  They’ll get a chance to add a couple good victories to their résumé against a pair of teams just under them in these rankings, with games against Eden and MST coming up.

8. Olmsted (B1) -  After getting clipped by Holland, they were the ones doing the clipping when they took a one-point decision over MST on Wednesday.   The Owls will go for the season sweep over Middle College on Wednesday.

9. MST (B2) -  The Wolves dropped a heartbreaker against Olmsted on Wednesday and are now eyeing up three more tough games this week, been beginning with a trip to Wilson, where a victory will not come easy, if at all.  On Wednesday, they host Bennett and then Saturday they take on Holland over at McKinley.

10. Eden (B2) -  Remember these guys?  The Raiders are still playing good basketball this season and they’ve earned their place in these rankings.  They will need a victory on Monday against visiting Tapestry, a team they’ve already defeated once.  Then on Wednesday, Holland comes to town.

 

-🏀centercourt🏀

Centercourt 'Game of the Week' 2025 - Game 6

Centercourt 'Game of the Week'

* Thursday, January 9th at 7 pm *

 

Niagara Falls Wolverines  (3-5)

Class AAA  -  Independent  -  Ranked #3

at

Health Sciences Falcons  (5-2, 4-0)

Class AA2  -  Yale Cup I  -  Ranked #6

 

Game of the Week LINK

 

* Centercourt & 2017 Coach of the Year Ryan Mountain on the call *

** Brought to you by Empire Electric **

 

-🏀centercourt🏀

Random Smatterings: 2025 - Week 4

 

- In 2023, Niagara Falls had a 23-point lead at halftime over Canisius, but behind Shane Cerone’s career-high 43 points, the Crusaders won that game in overtime.  Last season, Canisius trailed by 13 points against Niagara Falls, but a 27-4 run flipped the game.  On Saturday afternoon, the Crusaders trailed by 16 points, before a 29-3 run got them back in a position to win.

 

- Saturday's game between Canisius and Niagara Falls was just the 6th time the two teams have squared off in the last 15 years, with the Crusaders winning the four most recent meetings.   Canisius hosted matchups in 2011 2020, and this season. The other three games were played on a neutral court, in 2019 at the Centercourt Classic, Hilbert in 2023, and last season at D’Youville. 

 

- Kirill Sorkin and Elijah Dixon treated fans to a classic scorer's duel on Friday night, going back-and-forth with big moments and big shots as both players finished with 35 points by game’s end.  It was a career-high mark for both players.  

 

- The 80-69 victory for Williamsville East at Amherst on Friday night was the first league loss for the Tigers since January 11, 2022 (at Will East), snapping a 32-game league winning streak.  The victory for the Flames was the first time Amherst has lost a league game at home since February 13, 2018 against Hamburg.  The last time the Tigers had lost by double figures at home was against the Gabe Michael & Greg Dolan led Williamsville South Billies on December 22, 2017.

 

- Iroquois junior Justus Kleitz dropped a career-high 47 points in an overtime victory against St. Mary’s and followed it up with two more performances of 30+ points.  His career scoring total is now past the halfway point to the all-time record set by Jaiden Harrison last season.  More importantly, he has led his team to a 6-1 start to the season.

- Kleitz is one of two players along with Westfield's Carson Swanson to have four games of 30 points or more this season. Falconer's Roger Markham has done it three times, while Tacari McCray (Olmsted), Chris Krencik (Eden), Jackson Griesmer (Starpoint), Carson Kwiatkowski (Allegany-Limestone), & Carter Brink (Panama) have all accomplished it twice.

 

- Two of Falconer junior  Roger Markham games over 30 points came against the same opponent, Dunkirk , with the 2nd coming in an overtime victory against the visiting Marauders.

 

- There have been 38 occasions so far this season where a WNY player has netted 30+ points in a game.

 

- Some recent Tournament MVPs:

Frewsburg Tournament - Roger Markham (Falconer),  Live Like Luca Tournament - Matt Zielinski (St. Francis), Westfield Winter Classic - Carson Swanson (Westfield), Clarence Tournament - Riley Lincoln (Clarence), Greg Martin Tournament at Iroquois - Justus Kleitz (Iroquois), Maryvale Tournament - Jaleel Flowers (BASCS), CCA Tournament - Jayce Wylke (Grand Island), & Tully Tournament - Drew Hind (Randolph). 

 

- The Tonawanda Timberwolves have played just three games this season.

 

- At the Hoops for Hope Tournament over break, the Fairport/Timon game was one of the best I’ve watched this season.  Nakyhi Harris had just scored with 5 seconds left to put the Tigers in front, before the Red Raiders went the length of the court and got a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer from Landon Brunken off an incredible assist from Leshard Lowry.

 

- The last second victory for Fairport prevented a game taking place between Health Sciences and Timon, instead moving Fairport onto the championship game.  These two annual Top 10 programs in WNY should be getting together on the hardwood every season to entertain fans.

 

- The Hoops for Hope Tournament was my first look at Health Sciences on the new season.  The additions of Nas Young and Zayvion Hawkins to the backcourt and the way the Falcons are able to attack offensively reminds me similarly of when they had Amir Moye and Xavier Benton in that same role.  Two players who really stood out for Health over the two games were Joel Ball and Angel Pedro.

 

- Antonio Andrews recorded a 22 point/20 rebound double-double in Amherst's 72–53 win over McKinley.  In that same game, junior Adam Sarzynski earned a triple-double with 15 points, 12 dimes, & 10 boards.

 

- Without naming the team, there was an instance recently where a team was left looking for a game after deciding not to reschedule, due to the reason in the game was postponed in the first place.  A team actually backed out of a contest because a player was on vacation and another was injured and thought their opponent would kindly reschedule.  You can’t make this stuff up! 

- Grand Island senior Jayce Wylke scored 26 points in the team's victory over CSAT on Friday night, which placed him in the career 1000 point club.

 

- The change in venue for the NYSSPA state championships to Binghamton has also tweaked the format for the times games are played.  This season a state championship game in Class B will be played at 10 am and a state championship game in Class A tips at 11:45 am.  I just want know why there is such a hurry to get home on a Sunday night that games couldn't at least start in the afternoon hour as they always have for at least 40 years?  These kids will have reached a state championship, and it says to me that there is more concern for getting home from a long weekend than allowing the game to be played at an appropriate championship time.  It's rare to see a random nonleague game on a Saturday in January tip prior to noon or 1 pm.  I think the kids deserve better here.   

 

- Just 6 teams remain unbeaten in WNY on the season:  

Grand Island, Orchard Park, Akron, Olmsted, Allegany-Limestone, and Forestville.

 

- There are still 8 teams in WNY without a victory on the season.

Grand Island, Orchard Park, Health Sciences, McKinley, and Westfield all continue to have a point differential over +20.

 

- The 8 highest scoring teams in WNY in order this season:  

Grand Island, Timon, Westfield, McKinley, Panama, Lockport, Cheektowaga, & Orchard Park.

 

- The 8 teams allowing the fewest points this season in order:  

Grand Island, Randolph, Health Sciences, Allegany-Limestone, Forestville, Westfield, Silver Creek, and Salamanca.

 

-🏀centercourt🏀

Ranking the Top 10 Large & Small 2025 - Week 4

 

Large Schools

1. St. Joe's (AA) - A 12-point win at Niagara Falls is enough for me to keep the Marauders in the top spot, despite a disappointing showing on the road at Albany Academy, ranked #1 in NYS Class AA.  They take to the road this week for a pair of league games at St. Francis and then a Friday night tilt with Timon. 

2. Canisius (AA) - Traveled to New Orleans over Christmas break for a Jesuit Tournament and returned home with one victory over Regis and a pair of losses to out-of-state teams.  Began the New Year with an exciting one-point victory over visiting Niagara Falls.  The Crusaders will host Nichols and Park this week.

3. Niagara Falls (AAA) - Not too many teams would remain #3 in WNY coming off of four straight losses.  However, they took a long trip to Rome  Free Academy, a team highly ranked in NYS Class AAA above Falls, for one of those losses, another at Cicero-North Syracuse, and the other two to the teams ranked ahead of them locally.  They do own a win over Timon and they visit Health Sciences on Thursday night, where a win would keep everything in perspective.

4. Timon (AA) - Knocked off Pioneer after falling the day prior at the buzzer to Fairport in overtime.  The Tigers also added a 30-point win over Lackawanna on Thursday.  After a visit to Park on Tuesday, Timon will prepare for a Friday night special against #1 ranked St. Joes.

5. Jamestown (AAA) - Long road trips north for afternoon games, one over break at Sweet Home, and the other on a Saturday at Clarence.  Jamestown took home a pair of wins from both trips and presumably snagged some pizza for the ride back.  Two more road trips north this week, first at Williamsville North and then a Saturday afternoon affair with undefeated Orchard Park.

6. Health Sciences (AA2) - Looked thoroughly impressive in a 63-27 win against Pioneer in the Hoops for Hope Tournament, before falling short of the mark against tournament champion Fairport the following day.  Big Health has a big game on Thursday night against an angry Falls squad riding a four-game skid.

7. Lockport (AA1) - Bounced back from a loss at Rush-Henrietta over break to make quick work of North Tonawanda on Friday night.  The Lions will look to remain undefeated in league play, beginning with a visit from Kenmore West.

8. Williamsville South (A1) - Improved to 5-1 on the season, collecting wins at Webster Schroder over break and then at Sweet Home on Friday night.  The Billies can claim sole possession of first place in ECIC II with a pair of victories this week.  They host Hamburg on Monday, a team coming off a victory at Starpoint.  Then, on Friday night, they travel down Main Street, a street they currently own, to put possession of the pavement on the line at Amherst.

9. Orchard Park (AA1) -  Now sitting at 4-0 after a 31-point win at Frontier on Saturday.  The Quakers will get ready for a huge early season league battle with reigning champ Jamestown on Saturday afternoon by making the trip to Lancaster on Tuesday night.

10. Grand Island (A1) -  It has been full throttle for the Vikings through their first six wins of the season, boasting the best point differential in WNY, including a 33-point win over CSAT on Friday night.

 

Small Schools

1. Randolph (C) -  Defeated Southwestern over break and then emerged victorious on the road at the Tully Tournament.  The Cardinals begin league play this week at Portville on Monday and then host Silver Creek on Thursday.

2. Westfield (C) -  Winners of the Westfield Winter Classic over break to improve their record to 8-1 on the season.  The Wolverines can make it 10-0 with victories over visiting Maple Grove and Chautauqua Lake in the days ahead.

3. Allegany-Limestone (B2) -  The team that reached Glens Falls in 2022 is once again making a lot of noise down south. Victories over Cuba-Rushford, Bradford, and Fredonia have the Gators sitting at 7–0 on the season.  They host Falconer on Monday night and then take to the road for a big one at Salamanca on Thursday, so the Gators will get a couple nice tests in the no-nights-off CCAA I West.

4. Salamanca (B2) -  Handled Bradford before dropping their first game of the season to Wellsville the following day.  The sting of their first loss propelled them to a lopsided win at Cleveland Hill, followed by a convincing victory against Southwestern.  The Warriors welcome Niagara Wheatfield to the Southern Tier on Tuesday, ahead of that huge league battle with the undefeated Gators.

5. Akron (B1) -  Conversely, the Tigers from Akron have yet to let a team get within 10 points of them in league play up north in the N-O through four contests.  They will try to keep that trend going on the road at Roy-Hart, never an easy facility to play at, and then host North Tonawanda for a nonleague game at the end of the week. 

6. Panama (D) -  It was like old times down in Panama on Friday night with a Barmore swinging from the rim and the team celebrating a victory.  This time it was a 91–46 blitzing Gowanda.  On Wednesday night they host Clymer.

7. Olmsted (B1) -  Defeated Middle College by 10 points to remain undefeated on the season heading into a week with three games on the slate.  The Owls begin by traveling to Holland and then to MST on Tuesday night in what should be a most interesting game to monitor.  They finish off the week versus Burgard.

8. Fredonia (B1) -  Knocked off Park in the first round of the Clarence Tournament, before falling to the hosts on the following day.  Then the Hillbillies lost again at Allegany-Limestone on Friday by 17.  They'll look to get back in the win column against visiting Olean and Dunkirk this week.

9. Falconer (B2) -  Avenged an earlier loss to Dunkirk and then earned a pair of victories over Chautauqua Lake to improve their record to 6-3 on the season.  The Golden Falcons head to undefeated Allegany-Limestone on Monday night.

10. MST (B2) -  Tough call for the last spot.  Why not Middle College who just beat them handily over break?  Why not Global Concepts, who have only lost to CG Finney & O'Hara?  Why not Forestville, who is undefeated?  Instead of answering why not, here's why...call it a hunch.  Christmas break games can be deceiving.  Resumes boasting quality wins are lacking for any team vying for this spot.  I like the roster at MST.  I like the coach.  I believe their best is yet to come and they will back this up with a strong showing, or even a win, when they host undefeated Olmsted on Tuesday.  If I'm wrong, I'll own it and reassess the situation next week.

 

-🏀centercourt🏀

Centercourt 'Game of the Week' 2025 - Game 5

 

Centercourt 'Game of the Week'

* Friday, January 3rd at 7 pm *

Williamsville East Flames  (3-3, 0-1)

Class AA2  -  ECIC II

at

Amherst Tigers  (6-0, 0-0)

Class A1 - ECIC II

 

Game of the Week Link

 

* Centercourt & 2017 Coach of the Year Ryan Mountain on the call *

** Brought to you by Empire Electric **

 

-🏀centercourt🏀