Amherst Youth Basketball Results
Marquette wins close game over Notre Dame

In a defensive battle that didn’t see either team get into double digits until after halftime, the Marquette Golden Eagles held off a big fourth quarter surge by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to win their Tuesday night Amherst Youth Basketball fourth-fifth grade boys match-up, 20-17.

True to their moniker, Notre Dame was a physical and intense team that tried to do anything and everything to win the game. The Golden Eagles didn’t lose their cool as they were able to stay focused on their game plan and take a 9-7 halftime lead on baskets by Patrick Hartigan, Zachary Lee, and Joe Brady.

Notre Dame had first half buckets by Mitch Fors, Sean McLean, Greg Cook, and Joe Sanford. Some baskets were a result of nice picks set by Joe Adcock, Cal Jackson, and Eric Verhage.

Early in the second half, Marquette was able to extend its lead to nine with baskets by Hartigan, Brady, and Jonathan Hall and swarming defense by teammates Mandela Namaste, Liam Hughes, and Elliott Schulefand.

Notre Dame played its best ball in the fourth quarter, led by Sanford, along with Nick Aja, Greg Cook, and Alexander Grano, but the Golden Eagles were able to keep their composure and the lead until the final horn sounded.

They were led by Hartigan, who had a game-high nine points, followed by Brady (five points), Hall (four points), and Lee (two points).

Marquette 35, Georgetown 23

Marquette defeated Georgetown in an excellent game played on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 15. It was the first time these rival schools met this season.

Despite intense defensive pressure from the Hoyas’ Armond June and Charlie McCormick, the Golden Eagles flew out to an early lead on baskets by Joe Brady, Patrick Hartigan and Zachary Lee.

The Hoyas got on the board with baskets by Sean Hill, Dylan Lambert, Joe Nobile and Austin Oetinger to close the half down, 14-8.

Marquette played good team ball in the second half, with seven players scoring, including baskets by Liam Hughes, Eric Duran, Jonathan Hall and Jeff Calderon. Some of the Golden Eagle scores were a direct result of turnovers caused by the great defensive efforts of Elliott Schulefand and Mandela Namaste.

In the second half, the Hoyas were led offensively by Lambert and Hill, along with Jack Grossman, and Vikram Saini.

Marquette was led by Joe Brady with a game-high 13 points, followed by Hartigan (seven points), Lee (six points), Calderon (three points), and Hall, Duran, and Hughes (two points each).

Notre Dame 22, Rutgers 6

Notre Dame chalked up its third victory with a win over Rutgers on Saturday, Dec. 15.

A defensive battle in the first half, Notre Dame led 5-2.

The Fighting Irish pulled away in the second half, scoring 17 points by opening up their offense with several fast breaks.

Notre Dame had a balanced scoring attack with six of nine players tallying. Cal Jackson led Notre Dame offensively with six points followed by Mitch Fors (five), Sean McLean (four), Joe Adcock and Joe Sanford with three points each and Nick Aja adding one point.

Alex Grano and Eric Verhage each chipped in an assist and Greg Cook was strong on the defensive glass.

Blake Rickan led Rutgers with six points. Zak Schneider, Kenny Sniatecki and Lucas Perna played strong defensively for Rutgers.

St. John’s 31, DePaul 10

Strong defensive play held DePaul to 10 points, allowing St. John’s to win.

Strong rebounding from center Alex Wehrlin, forward Max Brightenfield as well as guards Ryan Konotopskyl, Connor Smith and Andrew Rasimas, led the defensive efforts.

Effective steals, especially from Matthew Laughlin and Timmy Kreuz, were converted to points as they lost no time in moving the ball up court for the fast break.

Wehrlin, who benefited from the team’s ability to find and pass to the open man, especially from Smith and Kreuz, led the offensive force with precision outside shooting for 14 points, a personal best so far this season.

Konotopskyl wove through traffic and took advantage of fast breaks for eight points. Rasimas and Smith added four points each. DePaul’s offensive rebounding was strong but many of the follow up shots missed their mark. Jared Kish led the offense with four points while Ryan Majewski had three points.

St. John’s record is now 3-3 as the league goes into the holiday break.

Seton Hall 21, Green Bay 19

After falling behind in the first half, Seton Hall roared back in the second half and held on for a narrow victory.

Eric Ruh led all scorers with seven points. Matt Macomber had six points. Jason Masiewicz and Nick Flaherty had key baskets to preserve the victory.

Sixth grade boys

Ohio State 41, Purdue 19

Strong team defense and timely offense by C.J. Wescott (12 points) and Damian Powers (10 points) helped lead Ohio State to victory over a tough Purdue team.

Andrew Pierino also chipped in eight points. Zack Morrison and Nick Hillenbrand provided great hustle and solid defense that led to several key steals to help slow down the Purdue offense.

Connor Radel (six points) and Alex Bibernando (five points) led Purdue.

Sixth grade girls

Texas 28, Kansas 13

The Texas Longhorns won a tough game over the Kansas Jayhawks before a packed house at Sweet Home High School.

The Longhorns jumped out to a quick lead, holding a four-point lead at the end of the first stanza. Kelly Farrell and Dana Macchia each scored and did a good job fighting off the Jayhawks on the boards. Haley Adams tossed in two points for Kansas.

The game was close until the fourth quarter when Kansas lost its shooting touch and Texas found theirs.

Farrell led the team in scoring with 10 points, Dana Macchia tossed in four points, and Dana Larkin added two points along with five steals. Bridget Tichenor played a strong game at the point guard position and super sub Melissa Magiera grabbed several key rebounds and played a strong defensive game.

The Jayhawks got balanced scoring as Alison Safir had four points, and Sarah Moran, Brooke Aatkins, Kristen Markarian each had two points and Tori Andrews tossed in a foul shot. Adams was the game’s leading rebounder with 11 and Marley Weinstein was all over the court on defense, disrupting the Kansas offense.

Eighth grade boys

Heat 58, Supersonics 50

A close game throughout, the Heat were able to prevail over a tough defense in the last quarter.

The Heat scoring was led by Mike Lupp (21 points), Edwin Young (20 points), and Shane McKay (eight points) along with Jeff DiLuca (four points), Ivan Tso (three points) and Mike Murphy (two points).

The Supersonics scoring was led by Zachary Jehle (18 points), Nathan Joseph (14 points), Brandon Moranto (12 points) and Christian Boswell (six points).

Heat 56, Knicks 44

The Heat continued to play a passing offense with all players contributing.

The scoring was led by Mike Lupp (21 points), Edwin Young (16 points), Shane McKay (11 points), Jeff DiLuca (six points) and Mike Murphy (two points). Ivan Tso played strong defense and set numerous picks on offense.

The Knicks were led by Kevin Hall (24 points), Mansour Mazraany (12 points), Billy Hyland (four points), Kyle Black (two points), Andrew Milbrand (two points), Andrew Pryshlak (two points), Christoph Kothe (one point).

Braves 57, Rockets 51

The Braves ran their record to 6-0 with a hard-fought victory over the Rockets.

Eric Stolzenburg, Matt Coloprisco and Steven Teplitsky helped the Rockets race out to a 16-12 first quarter lead.

Stolzenburg finished with a team-high 18 points while Coloprisco had 13 points. Matt Scheff played a fine overall game as well with nine points.

The Braves rallied in the second quarter as Nick Corbett and Aaron Adams keyed a 20-point quarter to give them a 32-25 lead at the break.

Corbett finished with 18 points and seven rebounds while Adams chipped in with 14 points and six rebounds.

In the third quarter, the Braves increased their lead to 46-34 as great team defense led by Karn Mishra, Peter Fiorella and Murad Ali led the way.

Great team balance led the Braves again as seven players scored. Tim Hartigan played a great floor game and finished with nine points while Matt Nicosia had six points. Adam Kalnitz finished with four points and five rebounds as he played his best game of the season.