(Jamestown's Elijah Farmer)
- The defending Class A Champions from Williamsville South have opened their season with three straight wins. The addition of Stash Foster coming over from Williamsville North is a significant one, considering the backcourt of Carter Lampke and Nate Wilemski that he joins. Add the interior contributions from Noah Redd & Sean Munzert, and you have a team that’s really well put together. Redd inparticular, really stood out to me with his length and activity at both ends. And every team should have a Sam Tedesco coming off the bench, man is he fun to watch.
- One thing the departure of Foster from North has done for the Spartans is allow the ball to be placed squarely in the hands of Chris Fagnan, the team's freshman point guard. He has responded with a Game MVP award at the Jolly Boys. Fagnan has shown a fearlessness at the varsity level, consistently attacking defenses in the paint. A bright future is ahead for him.
- While watching the game between Orchard Park and Lackawanna last week, what really stood out to me was who the two best athletes on the floor were: Carter Swiatek from the Quakers and Lackawanna's Sunday Ikeguwonu. Both had outstanding seasons on the football field (Ikeguwonu won the Trench Trophy) and will continue with that sport after high school.
- Speaking of the Quakers, they'll have a nice frontcourt for the next two years with underclassmen, Brody Monaco and John Meka.
- Off the top of my head, Albany Academy, Nazareth from NYC, Cathedral Prep, McQuaid, Aquinas, Jamestown, Health Sciences, Will South with Greg Dolan, Cheektowaga with Dom Welch, Lew-Port with Roddy Gayle -- these are just some of the teams I can immediately recall playing in the Tom Keenan Memorial Tournament over the last decade. The fact that Canisius has won that tournament for 13 consecutive seasons, in the words of the late Roger Weiss, "warrants an investigation". Pretty impressive stuff! I heard Long Island Lutheran is looking for games next year...
- Whatever Jamestown's Elijah Farmer has been doing since last season ended, it’s working! The junior has improved tremendously, following what was already a very solid sophomore campaign.
- The defending Class B2 Champions from Falconer changed leagues this season, joining the best small school league in WNY, CCAA I West. After opening league action with a win over Southwestern, the Falcons fell in overtime at Fredonia on Friday night and then dropped another tough one last night at Dunkirk by one point. They will take that two-game skid on the road again tonight when they travel to defending Class C Champion, Randolph. One thing is for sure, this team will be battle-tested by season's end.
- Dunkirk, one of the teams just mentioned in CCAA I West, has their best team in the last several years. Led by senior Greg Orcutt, the Marauders' improvement this season will make that a truly no-nights-off division.
- Another division that can go ahead and adopt the no-nights-off slogan is ECIC II (Amherst, Will East, Will South, Starpoint, Hamburg, Sweet Home). The addition of Williamsville South and the improvement we are seeing at Sweet Home will make every game an interesting one in that league.
- Tonight’s matchup between Grand Island and Lew-Port is sure to be a talking point at the Wylke family Christmas next week, with cousins Jayce from G.I. and Michael from L-P facing off this evening.
- Carson Swanson of Westfield remains on pace to take the scoring record at the end of the season. He has now opened his varsity campaign with four straight games over 30 points. I will be heading down to watch him in person on Thursday when they take on league rival, and Class D favorite, Panama.
- Get ready to do this all over again next season with Iroquois junior Justus Kleitz, who already has 1123 points with at least 40 games left in his career.
- We have now seen 19 occasions this season where a player has scored 30 or more in a game. Swanson has four of those himself, while Allegany-Limestone's Carson Kwiatkowski and Falconer's Roger Markham have each done it twice already. Starpoint's Jackson Griesmer was one point shy of his second 30-point effort in the Spartans' 11-point win over Williamsville East. Jayce Wylke of Grand Island also has a 32-point game & a 29-point game. Two players, Justus Kleitz & Frewsburg's Blake Weaver, have dropped 37 points in the last week, which is the second highest output in WNY this season. Carson Swanson's 41 points is the current season-high.
- The following teams all currently have a point differential of +20 points or more:
Jamestown, McKinley, Orchard Park, Health Sciences, Sweet Home, Grand Island, Iroquois, Amherst, Williamsville South Lew-Port, Akron, Allegany-Limestone, Silver Creek, Westfield, Panama
- Of all the teams with a point differential of +20 points or more, only Jamestown has faced a ranked team. That will change this week for Williamsville South, McKinley, Westfield, and Panama.
- The law of averages is hard at work between the unbeaten teams and the winless teams. As of today, there are 25 teams without a loss and 26 teams without a win.
- Forestville currently has the most victories with 5. Portville and East each of the most losses with 5.
- It’s only mid December, but Franklinville, Wilson, and Alden have all nearly played 1/3 of their regular season schedule. Each of those teams has already played in six games. With all three teams playing again this week, each will have less than 1/3 of the regular season left to play with over two months remaining until the postseason begins.
- West Seneca East basketball is going to begin the new year with the record of 5-0!
-🏀centercourt🏀
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