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🏀
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