Amherst Youth Basketball
Knicks edge Nuggets, 51-50

The Knicks staged a 16-point comeback in the fourth quarter to overcome a talented Nuggets team, 51-50, in a eighth grade Amherst Youth Basketball game played on Dec. 19.

The Nuggets started out hot from the opening tip. Led by Eric Wilczynski’s eight points, the Nuggets took a 13-9 point lead into the second quarter.

Great teamwork by the Nuggets in the second quarter helped them increase their lead to 27-19 at the end of the first half. Balanced scoring was the key to their success as Max Pergament chipped in five points, Max Klansky added four points and James Dryden and Alex Kosmowski had three points each. The Knicks kept the difference in single digits behind seven first half points each from Vincent Mazraany and Pierce Young.

The Nuggets continued their hot shooting and swarming defense in the third quarter. Wilczynski added nine points in the quarter and with the help of Pergament, controlled the boards. The Knicks did all they could to keep the game within reach as five different players scored in the quarter, led by four points from Kevin Hall, three from Young and two each from Christoph Kothe, Mazraany and Andrew Pryshlak. As the third quarter buzzer sounded the score was Nuggets 42, Knicks 32.

The Nuggets increased their lead by five points in the first half of the fourth quarter and had a 50-35 lead with four minutes left. That’s when the Knicks finally woke up and started to play their tough full court press. With Andrew Milbrand leading the defensive charge, the Knicks cut the lead to seven with a minute and a half left and really started believing

they could climb all the way back. As the seconds ticked away, the Knicks inched closer, finally cutting the lead to one point with 12 seconds left.

The Nuggets got the ball in play but missed a foul shot with eight seconds left. Hall rebounded for the Knicks and immediately called timeout. During the timeout, the Knicks devised an inbounds play to get the ball down court quickly. Young passed the ball to Hall then took off down court. Hall hit Young in stride with the ball and Young hit Mazraany with a pass to the right of the basket. Mazraany hit the shot and was fouled with just a couple seconds left. Even though he didn’t hit the foul shot, the Knicks held on for the win.

Wilczynski led the Nuggets with 19 points and Pergament added 10. Young was the leading scorer for the Knicks with 20 points. Mazraany had a season-high 15 points.

Seventh-eighth grade girls

Stanford 25, UCLA 17

Stanford pulled away with 10 points in a big fourth quarter and rode a balanced scoring attack to its first win of the season over a scrappy UCLA squad.

Krista Rasey led all scorers with eight points and made key baskets down the stretch despite playing with an injured finger that x-rays later showed to be broken.

Julia Collins, Megan Ducey, Catherine O’Brien and Morgan O’Leary scored big points for Stanford and Laura Zaprowski, Alyssa Bellus, and Kaitlyn McKnight all did great jobs at the guard position.

UCLA’s Allison Leonard was a force on both ends of the court with her ball-handling and defense.