Genesee Sun

BOYS BASKETBALL: East Rochester Defeats Avon in Class C1 semis

ROCHESTER – The #4 Avon Braves came into the Class C1 semifinal fresh off a 55-52 win over #5 Gananda, but Avon was no match for #1 East Rochester Monday night at RIT as the Bombers rolled the Braves 63-33. Avon struggled on the offensive end all night, and three players in double figures, lead by senior Nick Nadeau’s 16 points, propelled the Bombers (17-3) to the blowout win.

Seniors Malachy Coyne and Zack Pumputis lead the Braves (11-9) with six points each, and fellow senior Brandon Fuentes added five points, five rebounds and four assists in the losing effort. Senior Michael Campbell came off the bench in the final seconds to bury a three-point bucket for the Braves as well.

Avon head coach Rob Fries said East Rochester’s defense disrupted his team all night and prevented the Braves from finding a rhythm offensively.

“(East Rochester) are really quick – they’re just tough to simulate in practice,” Fries said. “We never really got any looks inside. We got stuck out on the perimeter, and we got further and further away from the basket. We did a better job in the second half, but by then it was a little too late.”

Despite the loss, Fries said he was proud of his team’s second-half effort and their strong 2011-2012 season.

“They’re a great group of kids, they play hard, and I thought we got better as the year went along, he said. “We came out and played every game, and we did a lot of things to try to be competitive – some worked and some didn’t. Tonight just didn’t work for us.”

East Rochester will face #3 Pembroke (14-6) in the Class C1 final March 2 at 9 p.m. in Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena.

BOYS BASKETBALL: Avon Defeats LeRoy 44-37

AVON – With the sectional season getting closer, Avon (6-5) is looking to gain some momentum going into the postseason, while Leroy (1-12) focuses on gaining experience with a young team that only has 4 seniors.  The Braves bested the visiting Knights 44-37 Thursday night behind a strong defense and 17 steals.

LeRoy fought hard on the boards with Avon throughout the first half, with each team battling back and forth to a 22-17 halftime score.

Avon used a full court press the entire second half, which didn’t seem to affect LeRoy who brought it back to within 2 at the start of the fourth quarter.
In the final quarter Avon was able to put together an 8 point run along with 5 steals to thwart a LeRoy comeback.

Avon was led by their senior forward Connor Vankouwenberg as he had 10 rebounds, 10 steals and 8 points to go along with his 2 blocks.  

LeRoy Junior Eric Witkowski contributed 9 points and 5 rebounds while senior Jeremy Poles had 6 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals.

After the game Vankouwenberg commented about his Avon team, “We’re headed in the right direction and that’s good for us, we’re hitting our stride when we need to and we hope to carry it on for the rest of the season.”

LeRoy plays again January 31st at home against Greece-Odyssey, while Avon is home against Lima Christian February 1st.

Mazurowski Runner-up in State Wrestling Tournament

ALBANY— Bryce Mazurowski from Avon finished as runner-up in the New York State 195 pound wrestling tournament, falling to Zack Diekel from Whitehall 9-3 in the finals.

Mazurowski came into the championship match on a roll defeating the divisions  number 1 seed Ryan Todd.

Diekel was in control throughout the match with three single leg takedowns.

Mazurowski had an incredible run through the state tournament as a lower seed. congratulations Bryce on all your hard work.

BOYS BASKETBALL: Livonia Defeats Avon 53-29

LIVONIA — The Livonia Bulldogs used a 15-2 second quarter to down the visiting Avon Braves 53-29 in Livingston County boys basketball action Tuesday night.

After a sluggish start by both teams, Livonia exploded in the second frame to turn an 11-11 tie at the end of the first quarter into comfortable 26-13 lead at the half.

The Bulldogs carried their momentum out of the locker room, using a 9-0 run to begin the half to push the lead to 42-21 by the end of the third quarter.

Seniors Wyatt Struble and Austin Gieseke and sophomore Zack Kolodziejski made sure the Braves never clawed back into the game in the fourth. Struble poured in a game-high 19 points including two three pointers, Kolodziejski added 11 points and 7 rebounds and the 6’6 Gieseke dominated the glass, collecting 11 rebounds and scoring 8 points.

Livonia held Brandon Fuentes to just 8 points after a 27-point effort last Friday night in the Braves’ 54-46 win over Letchworth, and junior Tyler Hite’s 9-point outing was not enough for Avon.

Livonia’s defensive effort was not lost on head coach Matt Young, who said the Bulldogs battened down on the defensive end after the first quarter.

“We adjusted the defense a little bit,” Young said. “Avon is a little quick, so we went to a zone and just got out on shooters and people cutting to the basket. We pressured the ball well, and I think that’s ultimately what lead to us getting on that run 15-2.”

Young said his team needs to strive for consistency moving forward, but he was encouraged by the Bulldogs effort Tuesday night saying, “That’s our best game we’ve played all year.”

Both teams are back in action 7:00 p.m. Thursday night with Livonia heading to Hornell and Avon hosting Leroy.

BOYS BASKETBALL: Avon edges Dansville 53-48

DANSVILLE – The Avon Braves traveled to Dansville for a sectional tune up against the Mustangs and came away with a 53-48 victory.

Avon(9-8) took a 41-28 lead into the fourth quarter, but Dansville (6-11) came out hot in the final period to add some drama to the game before Avon retook control in the closing seconds.

Senior Brandon Fuentes led the way for the Braves with 13 points and five rebounds. Junior Tyler Hite scored 11 points and pulled down 7 rebounds, junior Zach Mouw finished with 10 points and five rebounds and senior Zack Pumputis added 10 points to round out Avon’s quartet of double-digit scorers.

Avon head coach Rob Fries said turnovers and foul trouble contributed to his team’s shaky fourth quarter, but he looked forward to building toward sectionals.

“I don’t think we’re the best team in Section V, but I think we can play with anybody on any night,” Fries said. “We’ve been able to play with teams for about 27 minutes a game, and we need to just cut down on some of the mistakes we made late in the game (tonight).”

For the Mustangs, seniors Mitch Lamerson and Geoff VanDunk both collected double-doubles, with Lamerson finishing with a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds and VanDunk scoring 11 points and corralling 11 boards.

Avon will host Caledonia-Mumford Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in their regular-season finale. Dansville will also play a final home game Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., as they host the Livonia Bulldogs.

Lady Braves Earn Needed Victory Against Livonia

AVON – Coming off a tough 6 game skid the Lady Braves were in much need of a victory and were able to scratch out a tough win against Livonia, 45-39.

Livonia started off strong with a quick 13-5 lead after 1 quarter backed by tough play inside the paint.

After the 1st the Braves turned up the defensive press causing turnovers which lead to a starting 8-2 run, cutting the halftime lead for Livonia to 3 points.

In the second half the Braves continued with their defensive pressure and capitalized on opportunities for easy baskets turning a 3 point halftime deficit into a 34-26 lead after 3 quarters of play.

One of the key players for Avon during a timely stretch in the 4th when Livonia was trying to mount a comeback was Brenna Donegan, who hit multiple 3 point shots to keep Livonia out of reach.

Donegan was Avon’s high scorer with 12 points followed up by Jilleen McEvoy’s 11 points, while Livonia was lead in scoring by Taylor Vanthof with 8 points.

Coach Leone was pleased with his team’s effort and knew the importance of picking up this victory.

 “I think our defensive energy and intensity was pretty good, I saw girls getting on the ground and getting after it,” said Leone.  “Our offense also got some good open looks tonight in the halfcourt setting by setting good screens and driving to the basket, which is an area we improved on in this game.”

The Lady Braves next match up will be at Letchworth on Thursday (1/19) at 7 p.m. while Livonia will be at home going against Bath on Thursday (1/19) at 7 p.m.

GIRLS BASKETBALL: LeRoy Defeats Avon 50-37

LeRoy – The Lady Braves came to town trying to improve their season record but the Lady Knights had other plans defeating Avon 50-37, backed by a strong first half.

LeRoy opened up the first quarter with 14-4 lead and essentially never let Avon get back in the game.

The Knights played excellent defense and played very hard in the middle, out rebounding Avon 54-22.

The future of LeRoy girl’s basketball looks bright as they were lead by their two sophomores Montana Vescovi who had 26 points and 14 rebounds and Alicia Conte who had 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Conte made it very difficult for Avon to get anything going in the lane by playing great defense and boxing out not allowing any second chance opportunities.

When asked about her teams overall performance Conte replied, “We played really well as a team tonight, but we need to work on our passing.”

Avon was lead by Brenna Donegan who tried leading a spirited comeback in the final minutes by scoring 11 of her 19 points in the 4th quarter, also adding 9 steals.

Avon will play next at home on Tuesday 1/31 at 7 p.m. against Perry while LeRoy plays at Perry on Monday 1/30 at 5:30 p.m.

BOYS BASKETBALL: Brave Effort Not Enough, Fall to Perry

PERRY— The Yellow Jackets(6-3) took a 16 point lead into halftime against county rival Avon(3-4) Friday night and never looked back in winning 65-51, despite the efforts of a high engine Braves squad.

After both teams endured a wild and low scoring first quarter, Perry outscored Avon 26-13 in a second quarter which included 14 of junior guard Anthony Ricotta’s game high 25 points.

Avon battled in the second half and went nearly basket for basket with Perry, however, the Braves couldn’t cut into the well maintained lead.

After being asked how his team was able to maintain their halftime lead throughout the rest of the game, Ricotta replied, “We wanted it more.  We wanted it in the locker room.”

Perry senior Max Mueller led all rebounders with 16 to go along with 15 points and 5 assists.
There were many bright spots in the game for the Braves including three double digit scorers in Brandon Fuentes (14), Zack

Pumputis (13), and Tyler Hite (12) with Fuentes and Hite hooking up in a crowd pleasing breakaway dunk.

When asked to comment on the Perry’s team effort Ricotta commented “Everybody came out strong today, we wanted to play hard, we knew it was a big game”

Avon plays Pavilion at home January 10th while Perry also plays Keshequa at home on January 10th.