Louisville crowned 'C' champions

Louisville defeated West Virginia, 19-10, on Saturday to win the Amherst Youth Basketball fourth-fifth grade "C" championship.

The opening quarter was a defensive battle with Louisville coming out on top, 4-0. Louisville's Michael Garofalo scored on a nice driving layup while Pedro Pereira had a putback.

During the second quarter, each team's defense still dominated but the teams played evenly. West Virginia scored four points and Louisville scored three points. West Virginia's Ryan Woods made two points on a great drive to the basket. Ryan Czerwinski added two more on a jump shot. Pereira scored all three second quarter points for the Cardinals. Louisville led, 7-4, at halftime.

Louisville scored six points in the third quarter. Matt Rosen sank a putback, Ben Clement made a short jumper and Kevin Zachau hit a long range jump shot. West Virginia scored four points on two nice jump shots by Mitchell Koslowski and Czerwinski. Louisville extended its lead to five at the end of three quarters.

Louisville scored six fourth quarter points while holding West Virginia to two free throws to win the game and the championship.

Louisville was led offensively by Pereira's five points. Other Cardinals scoring were Rosen (four points), Zachau (four points), Garofalo (two points), Clement (two points), and Kevin Roginson (two points). Jake August, Mickey Evans, and Paul McKay played strong defensively for Louisville.

West Virginia was led offensively by Czerwinski (three points). Jacob Huber, Koslowski, and Woods added two points apiece while Steven Zaprowski scored one point. John Freda, Austen Renzi, Steve Bunce and Billy Hartford played well defensively.

Louisville 24, Seton Hall 17

This "C" division loser bracket semifinal was a rematch between two teams that had a barn burner of a first round playoff game one week ago in which Seton Hall won 35-34. This game was expected to be another hotly contested game between two evenly matched teams.

Louisville took a 6-2 first quarter lead with tough defense and balanced offense. In the second and third quarters, the teams played dead even with each team scoring nine points.

Louisville led, 15-11, after three quarters. The Cardinals' offense exploded for nine fourth quarter points while holding Seton Hall to six points to seal the victory. The Cardinals' last quarter offensive charge was led by Ben Clement (four points) and Kevin Roginson (three points).

The Cardinals offense was led by Kevin Zachau's five points. Other Cardinals scoring were Clement (four points), Michael Garafalo (four points), Mickey Evans (four points), Pedro Pereira (four points), and Roginson (three points). Jake August, Matt Rosen, and Paul McKay played well defensively for Louisville.

Seton Hall was led offensively by Jason Masiewicz and Eric Ruh, who each scored six points. Other Seton Hall players scoring were Matt Macomber (three points) and Daniel Mayers (two points). Nick Flaherty, Thomas Jackson, Taylor O'Brien, Kellen Pembleton, and JP Rehak played well defensively.

Louisville 27, Rutgers 16

Louisville took a commanding 12-2 first quarter lead with a balanced offense and swarming defense.

Five Cardinals scored in the first quarter. Pedro Pereira led the Cardinals with four points.

Both team's defenses dominated the offenses in the second quarter. Louisville led, 13-6, at halftime.

The offenses took over in the second half. Louisville scored 14 second half points. Kevin Roginson sparked Louisville with six second half points. Kevin Zachau added five points. Mickey Evans made a long range jumper that wowed the crowd.

Rutgers scored 10 second half points and was led by Blake Rickan's five points.

The Cardinals were led offensively by Pereira, Roginson and Zachau, who each scored six points. Other Cardinals scoring were Evans (four points), Michael Garofalo (three points) and Ben Clement (two points). Jake August, Matt Rosen and Paul McKay played strong games defensively.

Rutgers was led offensively by Rickan's five points. Other Rutgers players scoring were Michael Shi (four points), Lucas Perna (two points), Zachary Schneider (two points), Matt Soos (two points), and Nikalaus Castilone (one point). Benjamin Saathoff, Davontae Bailey, and Ken Sniatecki played well defensively.