Feb 9, 20193 min read

Centercourt Classic Day 1 Recap

Health Sciences, West Seneca West capture big wins at 2nd Annual Centercourt Classic

Two teams on the losing end of last year’s Centercourt Classic earned victories on Friday night at the 2nd Annual two-day event being held at Villa Maria College.

Chad Andrews, creator of theviewfromcentercourt.com, a high school basketball sports blog, kicked off the inaugural event last season at Williamsville South. “The concept of the Centercourt Classic was just trying to get all the best teams together,” Andrews said. “I wanted to create playoff type matches that you’re not going to see in the playoffs as like a bracket buster, heading in.”

Andrews has by far the largest following of any high school basketball fan in WNY. His relationship with Gabe Michael, who was the head coach of Will South last year, helped make that first event a reality. After seeing how popular it was, Andrews looked for a bigger venue and Villa Maria quickly stepped in to host this year. Michael returns to the Classic with his new team, St. Joe’s, on Saturday where they will play Lew-Port at 1:30pm, the first game of the day.

Health Sciences 65, Randolph 47

Senior guard Tysheen Lott knocked down five treys for Health Sciences to take down Randolph (14-4) in the opening game of the Centercourt Classic. He hit his first shot from beyond the arc in the first quarter and led all scorers with 19 points. Lott earned game MVP honors for Health Sciences.

“Our game plan was to not let Tyler (Hind) get going,” head coach Tyree Parker said. “He’s a very good athlete, good shooter, so we knew if we didn’t let him get going, we knew we’d be in a good situation.”

Hind finished with 18 in the loss and was named MVP for Randolph. The Cardinals had a tough time slowing down Health Sciences’ offense. Not only was Lott hitting from long range, Kam Briggs and Jabari Spencer were also dangerous from three-point land.

Both teams are back in action Monday night as Randolph will play at Allegany-Limestone (14-2) and Health Sciences (11-7) will take on Buffalo East (12-4).

West Seneca West 58, Bishop-Timon 57

Game 2 Friday was better than advertised. The Indian and Tigers exchanged late 4th quarter leads but West Seneca West held on to win 58-57. Adrian Baugh’s clutch free throw shooting turned out to be the difference as the senior was 9-for-10 from the charity stripe. The game’s MVP scored 23 points, leading all scorers. Baugh also eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau early in the 1st quarter.

“I’ve been waiting for it for a long time so once it came it was a relief,” Baugh said after reaching the milestone. Along with teammate Maurice Robertson, the duo were unstoppable in the first half under the rim. Robertson poured in 20, with 12 of those points coming in the first half.

Timon (7-12) has had an up-and-down week on the hard wood heading into this non-league match-up. It began with a loss to Nichols, a win over Canisius and then another loss the following night vs Park.

Still, head coach Jason Rowe sees his team improving. “I was very proud of my kids. They were down 8 points with just minutes to go,” Rowe said adding “we just fought, we fought our way back into it and had a chance at the end.”

Rowe thought one of the keys to the game was to limit the looks Baugh or Robertson had at the hoop and, although they struggled with that part in the first half, he saw dramatic improvements after the break. “We had a good chat in the locker room before the second half and made some substitutions that gave us some life. Tonight, we continued to fight and I’m starting to see us peak.”

West Seneca West (9-9) will have a big test Monday when they travel to Orchard Park for a rematch from earlier in the season that saw the Indians take down the Quakers 68-50. They’ll close out the regular season Wednesday at Jamestown.

Tahran Goudelock scored 14 points to lead Timon in scoring, he was named their game MVP.

Saturday Schedule

1:30 St. Joe’s Marauders vs Lew-Port Lancers

3:30 St. Francis Red Raiders vs Olean Huskies

5:30 The Park School Pioneers vs Irondequoit Eagles (V)

7:30 Canisius Crusaders vs Niagara Falls Wolverines

Admission $5