- The victory on Saturday afternoon for Timon on Delaware Avenue by 24 points seemed to have some historical relevance so I took a look back through time. What I found was that the Crusaders haven’t lost that badly to a league opponent on their court since February 7, 2017 when Park came in and defeated them 72-44.
- The Canisius loss also got me thinking about how rare it is to see them defeated by any team in their league by double figures. But a closer look shows that hasn’t been the case as much recently, at least not when it applies to one particular team from South Buffalo. Timon has now won 4 of the last 5 matchups against Canisius, and all of those victories for Timon came by double figures.
- After falling behind early by a score of 18-3, Nichols dug in & dug themselves out of a deficit, ultimately earning a 68-59 victory. In the win, junior guard Tre Paulfrey recorded a career-high 36 points. Paulfrey has been a standout all season, becoming the team’s new bucket-getter. He could end up with his name on the rock climbing wall.
- More dominance from Randolph in league play, the team that literally hasn’t lost to a divisional opponent in years. The latest victim was Gowanda, who arrived in 2nd place. Randolph destroyed them, 72-25. The lowest scoring output for Gowanda prior to that night was 51 points, scored against Westfield, a game they lost 88-51. Randolph is allowing the fewest points in WNY at just 35.1 per game this season & 27.4 PPG in its last 5 outings.
- Holland's Brady Wiskup dropped a career-high 38 points & grabbed 11 rebounds in the teams 67-48 victory over Global Concepts.
- After falling behind by 6 points in the first quarter on Monday, Panama out scored Falconer 52-22 the rest of the way and earned a 60-36 victory. Carter Brink scored 35 points in the victory, his 9th game of the season with 30+ points.
- Haile Doucet recorded a triple-double in MST‘s 77-60 win over Buffalo Culinary. The senior scored 13 points to go with 10 assists, 10 rebounds, & 4 steals.
- Time for the weekly version of Centercourt is an idiot, and this one has me knocking my fist against my skull. All this time I have been spelling Orchard Park's Carter Switek incorrectly. Why I thought I should be squeezing an 'a' into that last name, who knows. But that got stuck in my brain somehow and I've repeated the mistake multiple times this season. Carter was a fantastic participant in 5 questions and is a nice enough young man that he never even bothered to tell me I’ve been misspelling his name. My apologies Carter.
- I mentioned it in a tweet, and I mentioned it in the rankings post, but I would like to point out one more time how impressive Lockport's Maurice Woods was in the team's victory over Amherst. Woods used his size and skillset to change that game, particularly at the defensive end, by limiting the Tigers' success around the basket and clearing the glass.
- Sweet Home earned a victory over Niagara Wheatfield in the final game on Friday night, and Marcus Banks earned Game MVP in the win for the Panthers. This year's Sweet Home team has a lot of dudes that can play ball and Banks was the latest to grab my attention for his impact on the game throughout at both ends. Also noteworthy, Shadir Rainey played the best basketball I’ve ever seen out of him and scored a career-high in the game, while playing efficient basketball. Props to Erik O’Brien for running a great event at Niagara Wheatfield where they hosted this season's ECIC/NFL Challenge.
- The playoff bracket in Class B1 is starting to look juicy. It’s going to be fun to find out which team ultimately wins that bracket, featuring the likes of Olmsted, Akron, Fredonia, Middle College, & Medina. Class B2 might be even better. It's still January...but the home stretch to playoffs starts Friday night...
- There are 4 teams in WNY without a loss to another team from WNY:
Grand Island, Randolph, Westfield, & Salamanca
- There are 8 teams averaging over 70 points per game:
Timon, Jamestown, McKinley, Cheektowaga, Westfield, Grand Island, Eden, & Amherst
- There are 3 teams allowing fewer than 40 points per game:
Randolph, Grand Island, & Health Sciences
- Still 5 teams without a victory this season, but just 1 team left without a loss - Grand Island.
- Very excited for my week ahead: Falls at Amherst on Monday, Olean at Salamanca Tuesday evening, a battle for Main St. on Thursday at Williamsville South, and then of course the 7th Annual Centercourt Classic - a total of 7 games between Friday night & Saturday.
-🏀centercourt🏀
Comments