Amherst Youth Basketball Results
Braves, Heat, among eighth grade boys teams posting wins

The Braves opened its Amherst Youth Basketball eighth grade boys' season with a 54-27 victory over the Cavaliers.

Tim Hartigan's 13 points and Matt Cohen's 12 points and seven rebounds led the Braves.

Matt Radel led the Cavs with 12 points, while Andrew Nusall chipped in six and Jake Garvelli finished with five.

The Braves got off to a fast start, leading 12-5 after the first quarter and 27-15 at the half.

Aaron Adams, who finished with eight points, also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Matt Nicosia had a fine game, finishing with 11 points. Key contributions from Nick Corbett, Murad Ali and Peter Fiorella helped give the Braves its opening day victory.

Heat 41, Raptors 33

A team effort helped the Heat get by the Raptors during the first game of the new season.

Scoring was led by Shane McKay (18 points), Edwin Young (16 points) and Mike Lupp (seven points).

Team defense, led by Mike Murphy, Ivan Tso and Jeff DiLuca helped the Heat to victory.

The Raptors scoring was led by David Hill (16 points), Jamie Sperazzo (eight points), Evan Lang (five points) and Dylan Constantino (four points).

Evan DePaulo, Zachary Halter, Greg Slawson and Michael Stellrecht contributed strong defense and rebounding.

Knicks 63, Pistons 38

In a game that was much closer then the final score indicated, the Knicks used pressure defense to trigger their fast break in the second half to break open a close game against the Pistons on opening day.

The Knicks took a 12-6 lead after the first quarter behind four points from Vincent Mazranny and a big three-point bucket from Sam Guerin.

The Pistons cut into the lead early in the second quarter by turning up the defensive intensity. Behind several steals and six points from Jonathon Safir and numerous rebounds and five points by Andrew Castilone, the Pistons made it a two-point game a couple of minutes before the half ended.

Pierce Young hit a big three for the Knicks late in the half, and behind his seven second quarter points and four by Kevin Hall, the Knicks were able to build their halftime lead back to six, 25-19.

The Knicks started out the second half in a full court press, and led by the defense of Kyle Black, Billy Hyland, Christoph Kothe and Andrew Pryshiak and seven third quarter points by Andrew Milbrand, the Knicks extended their lead. Safir did everything he could to keep the Pistons close, scoring 15-second half points, but the depth and speed of the Knicks was too much for the Pistons to overcome.

The leading scorers were Hall for the Knicks with 23 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter and Safir with 21.

Nuggets 44, SuperSonics 32

Jake Tyno scored 14 points and Max Klansky added 12 as the Nuggets defeated the SuperSonics in the eighth grade opener for both teams.

Tyno and Eric Wilcynski scored four points each in the decisive third quarter when the Nuggets enlarged a one-point halftime lead to 33-26. Klansky scored eight in the fourth quarter to prevent a SuperSonics comeback.

All eight Nuggets scored in the game, with Wilcynski scoring five of his seven points in the second half.

Zach Jehle led the SuperSonics with 14 points and Brandon Maranto added nine points.

Bulls 60, Rockets 41

The Bulls opened the game with a strong defensive effort, holding the Rockets to two first quarter points. Offensively, four Bulls scored 10 points and were led by Andrew Couche's four.

The Bulls' offense exploded for 21 points in the second quarter. Farhan Hussein led the Bulls' charge with eight points. Matt Coloprisco led the Rockets' scoring with four. The Bulls led 31-11 at halftime.

The Rockets charged back in the third quarter, scoring 16 points and were led offensively by Eric Stolzenburg with 11 points. Stolzenburg's points came on an awesome combination of offensive rebound putbacks and some great drives to the basket.

The Bulls surged back in the fourth quarter, scoring 18 points while limiting the Rockets to nine points to seal the victory. Scott Zachau sparked the Bulls' offense with 12 points.

The Bulls had a balanced scoring attack with seven of nine players scoring. Three Bulls scored in double figures - Zachau (19 points), Hussein (10 points), and Kyle Wistner (10 points). Other Bulls scoring were Couche (seven), Michael Graziano (six), Ryan Wistner (four), and John Janeczko (four). Hussein, Zachau, and Nicholas Penberthy controlled the boards for the Bulls.

The Bulls received outstanding point guard play from Graziano, K. Wistner, R. Wistner, and Andrew Couche. Michael DiMichele contributed a strong defensive effort.

The Rockets were led offensively by Stolzenburg's 22 points. Other Rockets scoring were Coloprisco (six), Nicholas Radice (six), Matt Scheff (four), and John Stohmeir (two).

Stolzenburg was magnificent on the boards battling the Bulls' big three. Mackie Gage, Kevin Goldsmith, and Joseph Rigler played well defensively for the Rockets.

Fourth-fifth grade boys,

NCAA division

Pittsburgh 30, Seton Hall 30

Casey Davis led the Pitt Panthers to an opening day tie by scoring 13 of the team's 30 total points. He also pulled in a team-high in rebounds.

Mike Shanahan chipped in five points and Nic Noll and Robbie Zabel each had four for the Panthers.

Mike Losi, Andrew Spitznogle and Jack Manzella turned in solid defense.

Marquette 38, Providence 8

Marquette defeated Providence in a season-opening Big East match-up.

Marquette had balanced scoring, led by Joey Brady's 16 points. Patrick Hartigan (eight), Jeff Calderon (six), and Zachary Lee and Eric Duran (four each) also scored.

The Golden Eagles' Mandella Namaste, Elliott Schulefand, Liam Hughes and Jonathan Hall also had good games, playing great defense, tying up the ball, and setting some hard picks that freed up their teammates for easy baskets.

Schulefand was especially tenacious on defense, with his ball hawking tactics causing the Friars much heartburn.

The play of the game came in the second half when Hall, while saving a ball from going out bounds, threw a no-look pass to Hartigan right under the basket.

Brandon Hill led the Friars with four points followed by Lee Gaskin and Ryan Johnson, who netted two points each.

The Friars also got solid play from Jack Karnes, Jayson Bulmahn, Justin Collins, Alex Martin, and Connor Cooley.

Syracuse 28, DePaul 14

Syracuse defeated DePaul in a hard fought battle as both teams opened their Amherst Youth Basketball seasons.

David Maher's 10 points and Patrick Kelly, Quinn Keenan and Michael Keenehan, chipped in four each to lead the Orange offense.

Ben Sharf and Colin Greenway made numerous outstanding assists to help pace the attack.

James Doyle and Jacob Schoellkopf crashed the boards to lead the defense.

DePaul was led by the tremendous efforts of Andrew Rasimas, Max Brightenfield, Matthew Laughlin, and Ryan Konotopskyl.

Fourth-fifth grade girls

South Carolina 17, Vanderbilt 16

Down by a point, South Carolina pulled ahead to win against Vanderbilt.

Scoring points for South Carolina were Lauren DiDuro, Colleen Doyle, Alexander Spicer, and Sally Fors.

Morgan Kennedy, Nylah Robertson, Samantha Stanford, Jenna Stogsdill and Jordan Weinsten played excellent defense.

Putting points on the board for Vanderbilt were Sarah Garcia, Madison Kather, Leah Neu, and Jacqueline Oestreicher. Vanderbilt's Jordan Tiras and Hannah Feldman played excellent defense.

Sixth grade boys

Ohio State 41, Michigan 22

In the opening game for both teams, Ohio State was able to best Michigan.

Ohio State got off to a strong start, scoring the game's first six points. Michael Calandra led a strong rebounding effort along with teammates Homd Ali and Damien Powers. Calandra had 10 points.

Big man Andrew Weinberg's 10 points led Michigan. They also got a strong contribution and hot hand from Patrick Stasiak, who had eight points, six coming in the second half. However, the Buckeye's Chris Ossa was able to slow Stasiak in the game's final quarter.

Ohio State's strength was its balance. Two other players, CJ Westcott and Andrew Pierino, matched Calandra's 10 points. They also got excellent defensive efforts from Jack Looney and Nick Hillenbrand.

Zach Morrison added four points in the second half to hold off Michigan.

Indiana 50, Wisconsin 32

Indiana won a hard fought battle with Wisconsin.

The Hoosiers were led by their two playmakers, Noah Whalen (22 points) and Michael Torrillo (17 points). Alex Radice dropped in six points and Brandon De'Lac had five.

Indiana was led defensively by Ryan Marko, Joseph Palmeri, Jeff Slawson, and Zachary Fancher.

The Badgers were led by their top scorer, Todd Ilber (11 points). Dave Costanzo, Evan Poole, Matt Shank, Ezra Steinfeld, and Nick Kiener also contributed for Wisconsin.

Sixth grade girls

Colorado 32, Nebraska 16

The fans were treated to a very entertaining game on Saturday, Dec. 2 as the Colorado Buffalos jumped out to an early lead and beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Colorado jumped out to an early lead, led by Kayla Burt's 16 points and several steals, Emily Ludwig's eight points and strong rebounding, and Megan Cirbus' six points and many assists.

Nebraska rallied in the second half behind the strong defensive play of Maggie Steele, who finished with eight points, and Gabriela Tejada's four points.

The second half was a back and forth affair as the Cornhuskers' strong bench play became effective behind the likes of Chelsea Thomeer, who had two points and several key rebounds, as well as the impressive defense of Hannah Dreger, Sarah Stanford, Haley Stogsdill, Hailey Wageman and Divya Sukumaran.

In the end, Colorado was able to score a few baskets down the stretch and hold off Nebraska. Emily Malkowski (two points, four steals), Alexis Cook and Jane Truesdale (both had several blocked shots) and Shelby Donhauser (coming off ankle injury and was very impressive with her inside game) contributed.

Seventh-eighth grade girls

Arizona State 25, USC 20

A tremendous effort was exhibited by both teams in the first game of the Amherst Youth Basketball season.

Leading the offensive output of Arizona State was Kelly Cirbus, who poured in a career-high 12 points. Alison Dobos and Mina Divan each had four points, Sara Tripi had three and Tara Schlumo chipped in a bucket.

The defense was led by the outstanding rebounding from Alexis Boron, Chelsea Greenway, and Olivia Domachowski.

Blair and Nicky Adkins, poured in six and five points, respectively to lead USC.

Krissy and Kiran added four points each and played fantastic defense.