Canisius & St. Joe's set the stage for rivalry game with big wins

Saturday afternoon featured a pair of nonleague games between catholic teams that held a high level of interest for those following the WNY hoops scene.  Canisius hosted Cathedral Prep, who a week earlier defeated Niagara Falls, the team keeping the Crusaders from being a unanimous number one in the large school poll.  St. Joe's hosted Aquinas, who boasted wins at Canisius and against Bishop Kearney - a team that opened its season by knocking off Falls.  At the end of the day, the results only ramped up the excitement for a game that's already flooded in hype...the Canisius/St. Joe's rivalry.

 

Canisius scored 37 points over the final 10 minutes against the visiting Ramblers, in a 71-59 victory.  The Crusaders led by five at halftime, but a 13-0 run by the Ramblers put Canisius behind by eight points with 2:08 remaining in the third quarter.  After the Crusaders responded with a pair of buckets, junior Matt MacDonald put on a shooting display.

 

MacDonald canned five of his six 3-pointers during a three-minute span between the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters to ignite the strong finish from Canisius.  Adam Weir and Aaron White would add traditional three-point plays over the next minute in helping to put the Crusaders in front 63-48 by the 4:49 mark in the fourth.  MacDonald and Matt Hart would add treys in the final two minutes of the game to help cap off the late-game scoring explosion.

 

MacDonald finished with a game-high 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.  Weir scored 20 points, while White netted 16 points and dished 10 assists.

 

*****

 

As the buzzer sounded to end the half, Jordan Glover's three-quarter court heave found its way into the basket, only to be waved off.  As it turns out, the Marauders didn't need any Lil Irish luck, because on Saturday they were simply the better team.

 

St. Joe's outscored Aquinas in all four quarters and handed the fifth ranked Class AA team in the state a 67-58 loss.  Reggie Agbeko, Louis Oliveri, and Kyle Briggs each tallied 16 points in the victory for the Marauders.  Agbeko also pulled down 11 rebounds.

 

Agbeko and Briggs were each charged with the task of defending the top two players from the Lil Irish, in Division 1 signees Phil Valenti and Christian White.  The pair were held to nine and ten points respectively.  The game's most exciting play came in the fourth quarter, when Briggs lobbed a pass for Agbeko in transition that was finished with a two-handed flush.

 

-centercourt

 

 

 

 

Comments

[MMA]

This game will tell us a lot about both teams. I think Canisius is the better team but actually think Joe's has had a better season to this point. Both teams got their best win of the season on Saturday. One thing for sure is the winner on Friday should be ranked #1 in poll. I think Canisius will continue recent success against Joe's...too many weapons.

[Lucky13]

MiG,...you gave your #1 vote (that you don't really have) to St. Joe's?!!!

[McShea is God]

Lucky 13 I still have Joe's 5th IF I had a vote! That would b so cool 2 have 1. Maybe 1 day. Canisius, Falls, Jamestown, Timon did nothing last week 2 make me think Joe's should go ahead of them. Keith McShea tweeted they were missing a N Dame FOOTBALL recruit. Plus CC thinks Bishop Kearney is better than Aquanis cause they had 2 go 2 Double OT 2 beat them at home w/out their best player. Unless i miss-heard what I could have sworm CC said 2 me. I will b in Ft Myers Beach Thur-Tues w my boy so I will miss the big game Friday. I think Canisius wins by 7. We will c. BTW the pizza at Franco's near Joe's is HORRIBLE. How can they sell that crap?

PS - I hope Pat Moran survives. I hear he was near death, truly hope he pulls through. Will miss our banter if he passes away.

[Lucky13]

Yea, I know about Jones & Obokoh. I was being facetious (above) because someone gave Joes a #1 vote. Obviously, I knew it wasn't you. Obokoh is back playing, probably not 100%.

Pat, glad to read on Buffalo Sports Daily that you 're feeling better and back.

[COACH MACKINNON [NICHOLS]]

Last night Nichols @ Walsh final score 61-53 Walsh winner. Nichols was up @ halftime by 3pts. holding Whelphey to 4pts.Nichols played a solid game lead by senior Tommy Noonan 18pts. and solid effort by the three freshmen bigmen but in the end Walsh three point shooting was the big factor hitting 11 3pointers.Whelphey 14pts and Clarke 19pts.

[Use Ya Left]

Have to hand it to the quality of basketball in Olean area. We all know about Olean High in Class B. But at least 3 if not 4 starters for Walsh are from Olean. Whelpley lives just across the Olean district line in Portville.

Marcus Clarke especially developed into a nice high school player after he was basically written off in Olean because of all the young guards coming up.

Meanwhile, there's a group of Olean 7th- and 8th-graders playing in the top level of a Rochester junior high league on the weekends. They are beating teams from the AA and A school districts, as well as from the Catholic feeder programs and combo teams that will be AAU clubs in the spring.

So far, none of these kids are expected to end up at Walsh.

Food for thought for anyone hoping for an Olean High drop-off after 2014.

[Patrick Moran]

Thanks for the concern, fellows. I certainly wasn’t near-death but was hospitalized for several days and am suffering from a lung conditions. Many changes immediately had to be made, not exactly a lot of fun. Anyways, I missed a few good hoops games over the past 10 days or so that I’m not happy about, particularly the Joe’s vs Aquinas game on Saturday.

I’ll be at Timon tonight for the St. Mary’s game and I’m excited to see it. With 3 of the top 4 large schools in the poll MMA schools this year and Mary’s No. 2 in small schools, this is clearly a strong catholic year. By losing to Canisius by just 3 points and Joe’s by 6, Mary’s has proven they can play with the big boys. I wouldn’t be shocked if they played Timon real close or even defeated them tonight.

Conversely, I have absolutely no doubt Timon can beat Canisius or St. Joe’s. They could also go 0-5 (including playoffs) against the two schools just as easily. With them, I truly think it comes down to chemistry issues. I think 1-8 they’re as good if not even better than Canisius. The Crusaders have WNY’s best 1-4 punch (Weir, Hart, White, MacDonald) in my opinion but have question marks after that.

All in all, this is going to be an exciting stretch run of the season for Catholic hoops fans.

Of course, there’s plenty going on in Section VI as well—I really need to throw myself more into that.

[wny hooper]

Is Nichols talking about the players that they recruited that played well vs Walsh?

[Bill]

Yeah cause Joe's and Canisius don't recruit

[Section VI]

That last comment is laughable! Canisius and Joe's give more bills than anyone Bill!

[Dark TML]

Here is my main reasons why the Catholic schools should not be allowed in Section VI. A public school coach only has a pool of players that attend the school where they coach. In contrast a private school coach can have players from several different school districts attend his institution. Most of which are traditionally good students and most of the time are choosing to attend a private school for athletics. Akeel Lynch went to St. Francis in order to get a US college football scholarship. Catholic schools have a better player pool to choose from which will normally result in stronger teams. It is tough for public schools to compete with that. It would be interesting to poll Rochester public school coaches on whether they would still favor allowing private schools in Section V. It seems with Aquinas being in the section, public schools have a slim chance of winning football and maybe even now basketball titles.

[Bill]

Section VI, the comment was meant to be sarcastic

[WT716]

When Schintzius was the head coach at Sweet Home (best coach to watch during a game) he recruited players from the city. I graduated from CHS in 06 and played baseball in college and I was not recruited to attend CHS out of Sweet Home Middle School.

[coach]

CHS 42-26 at half, game never in doubt. Dominated all phases. Hart big time two hander to end the third and call it a night for the starters. This team looks ready for Friday.

[McShea is God]

Canisius looked REALLY good 2nite. 12 different players scored. What does it mean Friday? Nothing. Note that they did destroy Walsh by almost 40 at home and Joe's beat them by like 6. I was wrong A White will NOT b 1st team. I think Hart 1st team, A Weir 2nd team, A White 3rd team, M MacDonald 4th team....not kidding. White just doesn't score enough, granted he doesn't have 2.

Taplin HAS TO TRANSFER 2 Canisius next year. He is WASTING AWAY at North. I will argue he looks WORSE this year. With AA as weak as it is if he can't get North on his OWN 2 Buff State 4 the semis at least he loses his 1st team spot. Yes basketball is a 'team' sport but unless u haven't watched an NBA game in like 30 years, 1 or 2 good players can carry a team 2 a title. So that is my opinion get them 2 the final 4 at least or he gets 2nd team at best. Only Stan has a spot on my 1st team 4 now. He is my player of the year, the next Zack Filzen and UB. White guy who can shoot the 3 and get a few rebounds and guard other white 2 guards :)

Seriously with a front line of A Weir, Mosley (who I think will get much better), and MacDonald if Canisius had A White and Taplin (he can b a 2 in HS) in the backcourt they would b like Nichols in 2010 and win the Fed A title. So Taplin's parents do what u said u were going 2 do last year and get him in Canisius!

Joe's has a shot 2 win at home Friday. Wish i could go. I think Tenney off the bench 4 Canisius will play a role. Tim Tebow may play a role as well but I haven't decided what yet. I am sure he had a role in Pat Moran's recovery.

[PJB]

MIG I think your Canisius dream team is lacking a physical prescence down low at both ends of the court. Mosley has no offensive game at all at this point and Weir and McDonald although very talanted are not post players. On the defensive end none of them are elite rebounders. Their losses this year were to teams with more well rounded offenses and better rebounding teams. Canisius is IMO the best team in WNY and exceptional at four positions (currently and if they were to add Taplin), but the Nichols team of 2010 was much better equipped to win a Fed title, the big reason being Reagan.

[MMA]

It's not that WNorth doesn't do Taplin any favors but the other way around. He is in a great position to carry a team to greatness and now he just needs to deliver. In fact, the last time I saw him play against Frannies at the South Tournament, the more he got challenged was more he faded.

He would never start over White at Canisius and doesn't fit the personality of a Crusader. All players there are commited to the team first and playing there requires a consistent work ethic with no room for individual ego.

[Former North player]

North has handed this opportunity to create his own legacy and dominate and he has not taken advantage of that chance. I agree, he fades when the times get tough... Maybe his supporting cast of last year deserved more credit than they received.

[Lucky13]

Last year's team was stronger and did get credit.

I may be wrong, but I see him as just feeling too much pressure. He's a SOPHMORE. This is unfair. Let him enjoy playing and he'll improve every year.

[chuck swierski]

I heard and now see that Sterling and I were getting beat up pretty good on the news blog and this one as well. So let's talk. To paraphrase the immortal words of Coach Gundy at Oklahoma State, "...leave the kid alone but say whatever you want about me. I can take it, I'm a man."

First of all, Sterling is a sophomore, and a young one at that. This year he's averaging 18.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg and 4.9 apg. (Those last 2 stats are significantly better than those stats last year.) He only takes on average 13 shots per game. He routinely sees the other team's best defender (sometimes two and/or some other gimmick defense to stop him.) He is unselfish to a fault, but will step up to take the big shot, even when everyone in the gym knows he's going to take it. He's a fantastic teammate and he is UNDOUBTEDLY an overall better basketball PLAYER this year than last.

45 minutes before the bus left for the above mentioned St. Francis game, Sterling was throwing up. I'd be willing to bet that if MMA was throwing up 45 minutes before going to work, he/she would have called in sick. Sterling played that game, went home threw up again and came back to score 25 against South the next night.

As far as creating his own legacy, Sterling is presently at 832 career points, and he still has at least 7 more games to play in his SOPHOMORE season. He's already in the school's top 9 career scorers, and will likely pass two more this year. He still has two more seasons to go...at North.

His teammates last year were better than they were perceived to be, and it's still to be seen if there as a future college basketball player in his supporting cast this year. However, they all play hard and are all great KIDS. Sometimes their shots fall, sometimes they don't. Regardless, any school would be lucky to have any of them and any coach would be lucky to coach them.

[Sam]

Very well said!

[Truth Be Told]

MIG-Taplin is NOT wasting away at North. Give the kid a break. The problem is the over hyping of many of these players lead you to think once they have an off game or two that they don't have it. I hope he stays at North, continues to make them better, and is true to himself and doesn't get into all the MMA hype(and recruiting. No matter where he is, the colleges will come a callin. By the way, you seriously overate the talents and abilities of S Wier on making the next step as he can't handle the ball or shoot as well as Filzen.

[TML1000]

Come on Truth...please don't talk about Filzen's ball handling abilities. How many UB games have you seen this year? I've seen every home game and a few on the road and Zach is NOT a strong ball handler. He is a streaky shooter who is fantastic when he is on and can be bad when he is off. Stan does not have the quick release nor the consistent form(or he will at least have to work much harder for his shot against D-1 competition) as Zack as of now, but has good strength for his age and has confidence. He should be able to fight through defenses well and should become at least an above-average rebounder for his position.

[TML1000]

Strong ball handlers recruited by Reggie come few and far between for the motion offense....it's unusual our PG's are above average handlers, let alone our two guards.

[S Taplin]

Sorry coach Chuck nice post but I am leaning toward Canisius to finish my career. I am not getting better playing with this team and need a coach like Kyle Husband to make me better and play as a two-guard next year.

I am taking my talents to the MMA. Looking forward to the challenge.

[Andrew Webster]

MIG, quit making up dumb comments under other fake monikers.

[McShea is God]

IF Joe's beats Canisius tonight AT HOME I will still vote Canisius #1 and no home win from a second rate team will change that. If Stan played at Joe's instead of Reggie they would win the cup.

[centercourt]

Well that makes about as much sense as Dunkirk's nonleague schedule.

Anyway, prediction time:

Canisius 65
St. Joe's 60

[Roundman]

Canisius 76. Joes. 46

[Sam]

Joe's 73-72 in double OT.

[sally]

has anyone really asked how old Stan is? Rumor has it he is a 20 year old senior in high school. no wonder he has such an edge on other players. He is very developed for his 'class' year.

[McShea is God]

Yo CC the post about voting Canisius #1 if they beat Joe's was not from me...where u responded it was Dumb. OBVIOUSLY Jamestown will b the new #1. Serioulsy please take it down (we talked at 10pm on your cell 2 verify this IS me-so were the last 2 posts)

[Wake up guys]

To say Joe's or Timon should be #1 over Jamestown is crazy. Check our record we have been killing teams this year. Killing them. Clarence we were up 27 before pulling starters so don't bring up the 12 point win.

Do you guys realize in our last 32 games we have 2 losses:

Mt Vernon
Kingston

#1 and #2 current ranked teams in the State of NY:

Mt Vernon
Kingston

Yes Paige left but look at the facts. No way Timon or Joe's should be #1 over Jamestown. They beat Canisius at home, game was basically tied after 3. I mean it's a nice win but don't get too excited they beat a team they is maybe a bit better than them at home. Jamestown clearly #1