Naples, Lyons, Pavilion, York, Oakfield, Wheatland all with a chance at the Championship – Also a mystery team
Oakfield’s Ryan Emery puts up a fall-away jumper in the lane against Wheatland-Chili in Cleveland at Quicken Loans Arena – home of the Cavaliers. The Hornets and Wildcats faced-off in a league contest at The Q earlier this season, followed by a team trip to the Cavs game against the Sacramento Kings later that night.
| BataviasBest.org
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
On the top half of the C3 bracket, #1 Naples (18-0), #8 Pavilion (8-10), #9 Bolivar Richburg (9-10), #4 York (14-5), #13 Marion (2-16), #5 RCMCS (8-6), and #12 Rochester Academy (3-15) will all fight it out for a chance at the Championship game.
On the lower half of the C3 bracket, #2 Lyons (16-3), #7 Cuba-Rushford (11-8), #10 Honey (3-14), #3 Wheatland-Chili (15-4), #6 Oakfield (11-8), and #11 Keshequa (3-16) will battle it out.
With several teams holding a chance at the Class C3 Title, I have decided to break down each individual program separately. Here is a list from best chance, to least chance of winning the Title – in my opinion:
Lyons
-Up and down team all season long. They do have quality wins over teams such as Red Creek (twice), Mynderse, and North Rose-Wolcott, but the Lions have also suffered losses to Gananda and Clyde-Savannah. In addition, they fell to NRW and Mynderse during their second meeting with each team down the stretch of the regular season
-5’10” Senior Damon Hunter and 6’7″ Junior Jordan Aumell seem to be the Lions top two threats. Hunter previously won the Sectional Tournament MVP during his Sophomore season, while Aumell transferred into the Lyons district during the mid-point of last season, and has played well ever since. The big man has pretty good feet and has also shown some ability to hit outside shots, while Hunter is the driving force for the Lions
-HC Zac Young has Sectional experience and will certainly give his team the best chance to win
Wheatland-Chili
-Suffered a loss to fellow classmate York earlier this season
-Have lost 3 of their last 5, but have won 2 of their last 3 including a League Title-clinching victory over Divisional foe Notre Dame to end the season
-Lost Senior forward Daniel Cook towards the end of the regular season, and have lost some of their depth as a result – which has changed their substitution pattern and hurt their chances against teams with extensive size
-Rodney and Tyler Roberts, along with Justin McLendon, have really emerged as three of the best players in the area. If the trio, along with the third Roberts brother – Traveon – can continue their impressive play, I am certain they will have a chance at beating Lyons if they are to reach a second game
Naples
-Went undefeated during the regular season while playing just one game which was decided by less than five points (3-point win over Early College)
-Led by 6’1″ Senior forward Isaiah Tilley, who has shown the ability to go for 20+ on several occasions this season
-No player on their roster stands over 6’3″ tall
-Very weak regular season schedule
York
-Led by impressive point guard Andrew Guesno who has shown the ability to control the action for his team offensively, while also showing the tendency to score the ball at will. He has a quick first step and is a tough guard for any team. He also gets to the free throw line at a high rate which helps his case
-Beat Wheatland earlier this season by dominating the game down the stretch. Seems this team knows how to close out tough games
-They also have decent size at several positions which will give them a chance against each team in the Class
Oakfield
-Oakfield has two players that can go for 15-20 any given night. Ryan Cummings and Ryan Emery have each shown ability to shoot it, but Emery’s size and strength separates him as his team’s best player. However, he hasn’t truly played to his capability each game this season and must bring it each and every game down the stretch if the Hornets hope to advance to the deeper rounds
-The weakness of this squad is their guard play. Without a true point guard who can make plays for their offense, the Hornets really rely on team-based offense in order to get good looks at the basket
Pavilion
-Pavilion has several capable players on both sides of the court. Led by Hayden Ewell, this team plays hard and will have an outside chance of making a run at the Title game
-However, they too lack a true point guard and sometime hit ruts on offense as a result
? RCMCS ?
-Completing the season with just 14 total games played (the minimum to participate in the Section V Tournament), RCMCS is one of those teams that no one seems to know anything about. After being rumored to have played Varsity players in several JV games this season (although this is not always illegal) many coaches around Section V have been left clueless as to what is going on with them
-Their enrollment at the beginning of the year was also in question, as many believed they should reside in a higher Class within the C’s
-They also have not submitted a roster to the Section V Website this season – the only team who has failed to do so
-In the end, if this team advances to Blue Cross to play for the C3 Championship, I know many coaches who will not be too happy with the Tournament Committee for allowing them to play with such blurred boundaries
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Stay tuned throughout the entire Sectional Tournament for increased coverage of each local team’s journey towards a Championship.
Other articles you may like:
Section V Boys Basketball Tournament – Class C1 Preview – Pembroke, Holley, and Byron-Bergen
Section V Boys Basketball Tournament – Class B2 Preview – Le Roy and Attica hoping to emerge
Section V Boys Basketball Tournament – Class A2 Sectional Preview – Batavia earns top-seed
Batavia and Notre Dame Hockey bow out in first round of Sectionals
Two local track teams walk away from Section V Championships with respective Class Titles
