Photo: Cole White pumps up Blake Kalkoff after an outstanding defensive play.
By JOHN ANDERSON, photos by ELLA GREEN
Fans of the storied Hornell and Wellsville rivalry were looking forward to a Wellsville-Hornell battle in the Section V Class B2 semifinals. After all, they’ve clashed in semi’s and finals for years and the regular season games are what legends are made of.
However, There are two other huge rivals, Wayland-Cohocton and Mynderse.
For the No. 6 seed Wellsville Lions (10-12) it meant beating No. 3 Wayland-Cohocton in Wayland first. Mission accomplished by a 73-45 score.
Meanwhile, No. 7 Mynderse (9-13) took down No. 2 Hornell (12-9), 67-58 to set up a huge Wellsville-Mynderse match up Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Bath.
HISTORY LESSON
Wellsville coach Tom Muska remembers the rivalry well. Mynderse crushed Wellsville in sectionals during the 2009-2010 season. He was a junior and the hopes of another title were dashed by a 74-28 score as Mynderse scored early and often.
During the 2010-2011, there wasn’t another team as fun to watch as Mynderse. The Blue Devils could score 100 points with ease, they ran a fast-break offense and shot seconds after crossing the half court line.
Wellsville had no chance. But Muska’s coach, Jim Insley, has a motto, “If you can’t be a team straight up, don’t play them straight up.” He also remembered the game from the year before and said, “If we didn’t learn from the loss, what was the sense of the game?”
While there is a shot clock, you wouldn’t have known that night at R.I.T. in front of a packed gym for the semi-finals.
After Brady Lewis ripped down a rebound of the first shot of the game, Wellsville crossed half court as Muska passed the ball to Matt Insley who stopped. Mynderse was in a zone. The clocked ticked away. The Lions went into a motion offense with 10 seconds on the shot clock and took a shot.
Miss. 0-0.
Mynderse raced down the court, launched a 3-pointer that missed and Kurt York grabbed the rebound.
Wellsville does the same thing and Glenn Rifenburg scored.
At the end of the first quarter, the score was 4-2 in favor of Wellsville.
This “deflate-gate” of the basketball continued. Mynderse finally scored and led, 7-4 at the half. Insley told the team in the locker room, “We prepared for this moment, we are not going to abandon the game plan.”
In the third quarter, something happened that shocked the basketball fans. Mynderse tried to take Wellsville out of their game by stalling. Except for the past 23 games, the Blue Devils were a run-and-fun team, quickly shooting. In a stall offense, they were out of their element and turned the ball over. The Lions scored, took the lead and slowly — very slowly — extended the lead.
With 2:40 left, Wellsville had a 28-22 lead and kept making free throws to win, 41-32.
The leading scorers were Matt Insley with 14 and two players from Mynderse with 10. Mynderse missed all 10 3-pointers they shot and didn’t score a single basket in transition.
“We took an embarrassing beat down in 2011 off the back of Mynderse’s run in states,” Muska remembered. “We upset them in 2012 and then they kicked us out of sectionals in 2018 and 2020, but we have had our fair share of knocking them out as well, including winning our title matchup in 2022.”
Muska added, “A lot of people probably wanted us to play Hornell, who is our one and only rival. But it feels right to write a new chapter in the history of these two teams.”
GETTING TO THE SEMI-FINALS
Wellsville had another great team effort to win their second game of sectionals, a 73-45 win over Way-Co.
Wellsville senior Nicolas Germain-Tardieu had a strong defensive game and was near-perfect when it mattered, going 9-for-11 from the line for 17 points in the win.
Blake Kalkoff had a game-high 29 points while Trenton Green had 20 and Cole Densmore had 10.
Wayland-Cohocton coach Brandon Davis guided his team to a great season, sharing a LCAA division title and picking up the No. 3 seed.
Davis was impressed with Wellsville.
“Tough way to end the season, but that doesn’t take away the love I have for all those kids. Credit to Wellsville, that is a tough six seed. They are athletic and tall, and ultimately that hurt us tonight,” Davis said.
Wellsville 11 15 25 22 — 73
Way-Co 14 9 9 13 — 45
Wellsville: Cole White 0 1-2 1; Blake Kalkoff 9 0-1 29; Nick G-T 4 9-11 17; Jack Davis 1 0-0 2; Cole Densmore 4 1-2 10; Trenton Green 9 3-4 20; Derek Coleman 1 0-2 2.
Way-Co: Cole Hanggi 4 6-11 15; Quinn Dixon 1 1-2 4; Orion Walker 1 1-2 3; Ethan Bauer 2 0-0 4; Dawson Stephens 0 1-2 4; Alex Fedurchuck 4 0-0 10; Kam Lantz 1 0-0 2; Josh Stanley 3 0-1 6. TOTALS: 14 6-18 45
3-pointers: Wellsville (2): Kalkoff, Densmore. Way-Co (4): Fedurchuck 2, Hanggi, Dixon.
Stories on Class B1, B2, C and D after you swipe to see the Ella Green slide show:
No. 7 Mynderse 67, No. 2 Hornell 58
Mynderse shot lights-out with seven 3-pointers in the first half. With the upset win over Hornell, Mynderse (9-13) will take on Wellsville at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Bath.
Nick Moansell scored 19 points for Mynderse with 19 points and five 3’s. Braeden Cimineri had 16, Elijah Doell 14) and Joe Nigro 12.
Hornell cut the lead to four at the half and kept it within 10 points during the second half.
Demayne Dixon had game-high 26 for Hornell.
No. 1 LeRoy 58, No. 9 Livonia 4
LeRoy improved to 14-7 knocking off the No. 9 seed Livonia (7-15). Grady Gilligan led top-seed LeRoy with 24 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and three blocks. Matthew Hockey had 14 points, Aidan Weaver had ight.
LeRoy will face No. 4 Waterloo in the semifinals.
No. 4 Waterloo 70, No. 5 Early College 41
Ryder Tam had 17 points, Kellen Mahoney 14 points and Carter Peterson with 14 led Waterloo (11-11). Hayden Willett had 12 for Waterloo who will take on No. 1 Le Roy in the semifinals.
CLASS B2
No. 2 Canisteo-Greenwood 62, No. 7 Addison 42
Carson Chaffee scored 18 points with 12 rebounds to lead Canisteo-Greenwood (17-3).
James Smith had 14 points, Kevin Sirianni 13 and Thomas Sirianni 11 for the Chargers, with Smith
Keaton Quick led Addison with 11 points.
No. 3 Charles G Finney (18-3) beat No. 6 Avon (11-11), 59-43 and will take on No. 2 Canisteo-Greenwood in the semis.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 Bishop Kearney (18-3) beat Red Creek (9-13), 93-51 as Jayden Capers scored a game-high 35 points for BK.
CLASS D
Andover-Whitesville 77, Hinsdale 33
Andover-Whitesville has a big game tonight at 5:30 against Mt. Morris at Wayland-Cohocton.
The A-W team beat Hinsdale, 77-33 in the quarterfinals.
“We had a great effort from start to finish against Hinsdale. I was very pleased, especially with our defense,” Andover coach Jimmy Joyce said. “Jake Mattison played a phenomenal game on both ends. Vinny dominated early and Brody dominated late. I thought some of our future players like Graham and Darius played well and showed a ton of promise. It was a complete effort and a great way to start sectionals. We will need this effort and then some vs Mount Morris.”
Scoring for A-W
Brody Vance: 35 Points and 3 steals
Vincent Joyce: 15 Points, 10 rebounds 5 steals and 4 assists
Jake Mattson: 9 points and 5 steals
Hinsdale
Robert Childs: 14 points
Class C
Peyton Joy scored 20 points as Cuba-Rushford upset Fillmore, 75-69. Fillmore (19-3) beat C-R twice during the regular season.
This will be the last season for Cuba-Rushford basketball as the sports programs are merging with Bolivar-Richburg.
Fillmore was the No. 4 seed, C-R is 19-2 and the No. 5 seed.
