By JOHN ANDERSON, file photos by ELLA GREEN
It’s going to be a fun weekend for Canisteo-Greenwood basketball fans as the teams look to make history with Section V titles on the same weekend. On Friday night at 9 p.m., the boys take on Bishop Kearney at the Rochester War Memorial/Blue Cross Arena while the girls play Saturday at noon against Bloomfield at Finger Lakes Community College.
CLASS B1 BOYS
If you had a chance to see Canisteo-Greenwood play this season, you would be dazzled with the unselfish play as you are looking for stars like Carson Chaffee or Jack Beers to light it up.
Instead, ball movement and five players scoring the first five points happened more often than you would think. And as you start to see Kevin Sirianni, James Smith and Thomas Sirianni scoring, from out of nowhere comes a huge dunk by Chaffee.
That continued Tuesday night as No. 2 Canisteo-Greenwood (18-3) downed No. 3 C.G. Finney (18-4), 54-40.
Chaffee had 14 points and 15 rebounds while Smith had 11 points and eight boards while Beers and Kevin Sirianni drained three 3-pointers a piece and each had 11 points.
Canisteo-Greenwood coach Brandon Beers did not want another loss in the semi-finals. And he knows the history, Greenwood with the four straight titles from 1981 to 1984 and a Canistwo trip to the finals over two decades ago which resulted in a loss.
“I am beyond proud of these boys. I’ll never forget that feeling of losing at the buzzer last year in the semi-finals, Coach Beers said. “I remember walking into the locker room and seeing the boys with their heads down, crushed. As a coach, it destroyed me inside. The boys had two choices after that night. Quit, pack it in, and make excuses or pick up their lunch pails and punch back into work. Lucky for us, I have the hardest-working kids. They have shown up day in and day out for the last 12 months. They deserve this, and our community is lucky to have them. They have given us hope. It’s been 22 years since we last went to the Blue Cross Arena. It’s the first time ever since the merger. They are a special group of kids. Just so proud of them.”
On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 Bishop Kearney (19-3) mounted a late comeback to down No. 4 East Rochester (17-5) 62-59.
The comeback was fueled by a familiar name for Wellsville fans as Owen Gorham helped erase th deficit, taking over in the second half with 13 points.
Jaiden Pascoe scored 16 for BK while Kayden Capers had 15.
CLASS C1 GIRLS
Like the boys team, the Canisteo-Greenwood girls did not grab a No. 1 seed because of a strong schedule, but their passing, speed and defense has launched them to the finals.
No. 4 C-G (21-2) downed No. 1 Letchworth (21-2), 46-36.
Senior Payton Bentley, no stranger to the pressure of sectional playoffs, came through clutch in the semi-final match scoring a team-high 14 points. Eighth-grader Kara Mahany had 13 points while Mackenna Millen had 10, Gracen Mahany five, Paris May two and Harlie McCaffery two.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 Bloomfield (18-4) downed No. 3 Lyons (18-5), 49-41.
Calla McCombs scored a game-high 26 points for Bloomfield,
BOYS CLASS B2
The Cinderella season for Wellsville (10-13) ended with a tough 61-57 loss to Mynderse.
The Lions trailed by 18, 26-8 in the first half but battled back within three in the fourth quarter. In a physical game, Wellsville missed 14 free throws, going 4-for-18 from the stripe.
Braeden Cimneri led Mynderse with 23 points. Mynderse will not face No. 1 LeRoy (14-7), who beat No, 4 Waterloo (11-12), 53-45.
Rest of story after highlight video:
For Wellsville, Blake Kalkoff had 22 points while Trenton Green had 15, Nick Germain-Tardieu had eight, Derek Coleman had two three-pointers and six, Jack Davis had four and Cole Densmore had two.
“It’s great kids that make up a great program. And the seniors we are losing are a big reason why I am so proud of our culture,” said Wellsville coach Tom Muska. “You don’t replace a Trenton Green. Nick is the best shooter we’ve ever had and no one plays harder than Jack Davis. We will miss them all more than they ever realize.”
