St. John's wins fourth-fifth grade silver division

St. John's defeated Notre Dame, 21-12, to win the silver division of Amherst Youth Basketball's fourth-fifth grade division. Members of the team, pictured from left, are - front row - Max Brightenfield, Connor Smith, Ryan Konotopskyl, Matthew Laughlin, Andrew Rasimas; second row - Stephen Gervase, Timmy Kreuz, Alex Wehrlin, Cort Williams; third row - coaches Bob Laughlin and Dwayne Smith.

St. John's defeated Notre Dame, 21-12, to win the silver division of Amherst Youth Basketball's fourth-fifth grade division.

This was the team's second meeting in the playoffs and like the first game, it turned into a hard fought defensive battle. St. John's jumped out to a 7-3 lead over Notre Dame after the first quarter and never looked back. They expanded their lead into the third quarter to 13-4 but knew there was no letting up as Notre Dame is capable of an explosive offense that had previously outscored St John's, 14-6, in the fourth quarter.

This fourth quarter was no different. Notre Dame came out with their double and triple team defense and scored eight points. The difference this game was that St. John's was prepared. Through the expert ball handling of Ryan Konotopskyl, they were able to find the open man to hold Notre Dame at bay and also score eight points.

Konotopskyl, who has been superb throughout the season and playoffs, seemed to reach a new level. Despite being double teamed, he calmly and confidently ran the St. John's offense, not phased by the intensity of the defense thrown his way. He found Cort Williams and Alex Wehrlin in the fourth quarter for six of the team's eight points. Wehrlin was able to close down Notre Dame's offense underneath with a number of blocked shots.

Key to the St. John's win was the high level of defense that each player kept up throughout. Matthew Laughlin and Konotopskyl were again given the difficult task of guarding the highly capable Notre Dame guards, and were able to hold them scoreless. This defensive strength of Laughlin was discovered halfway through the season and has been used successfully ever since.

Guarding Notre Dame's forwards was no easy task, but St. John's again called on Timmy Kreuz, Williams and Stephen Gervase for the hard play down low. Their tough defense was key to the low scoring effort by Notre Dame. Kreuz added three points while Williams added two. Gervase again played strong defensively while aggressively rebounding on both offense and defense and holding second shots by the opponent to a minimum while allowing St. John's additional offensive attempts. Andrew Rasimas, who has consistently improved throughout the season, played some of his best teamwork of the year while aggressively going after loose balls and a defensive performance that held his man scoreless.

Alex Grano and Mitch Fors ran the Notre Dame offense and played outstanding defense against the very capable St. John's guards. Their efforts were a key reason for the low scoring game. Nick Aja, Joel Sanford and Sean McClean came on strong in the fourth quarter to score a combined eight points which reminded St. John's what this team is capable of.

St. John's Connor Smith and Max Brightenfield, who were out with injuries for the season showed their team spirit and cheered their team on from the bench.

St. John's 24, Notre Dame 23

Games don't get more exciting than St. John's 24-23 win over Notre Dame in a semifinal game held on March 6 at Erie Community College.

Down 19-9 going into the final quarter, Notre Dame managed to fight back to lose by only one. Notre Dame, who struggled offensively early, came out red hot in the fourth quarter, scoring 14 points. Nick Aja and Joel Stanford each had four points in the quarter while Alex Grano, Mitch Fors and Sean McClean each added two. Overall, Mitch Fors led the offense with seven points followed by Joel Sanford with six points.

St. John's scoring was led by Cort Williams, who had 10 points on some excellent moves to the basket, while Alex Wehrlin added eight points for the Red Storm. Williams and Wehrlin were just as valuable under the boards with their impressive rebounding.

Equally as strong under the boards was Timmy Kreuz, who pulled down a number of rebounds and added four points to the team's tally. St. John's team offense was run by point guards Connor Smith and Ryan Konotopskyl, who had little trouble controlling the ball and feeding it into the open man against an excellent Notre Dame defense. Without the ball handling ability of both, Notre Dame's aggressive defense would have been difficult to overcome.

Matt Laughlin was given the difficult task of guarding the potentially explosive Alex Grano and was able to hold him to only two points. Laughlin's defensive ability continues to be key in St. John's march to the finals. Andrew Rasimas and Stephen Gervase continued to play their consistent game on both defense and offense with their continued fight for loose balls, excellent defense and in on almost all rebounds. Gervase was able to pull down a number of rebounds while Rasimas was able to fight for a number of loose balls. Rasimas added two points.