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for January 2012
 The sense all season long in boy’s high school basketball was it being merely a matter of time before St. Mary’s broke through with a influential, signature victory. The second-ranked small school in Western New York certainly has come close; taking powerhouse programs like Canisius, St. Joe’s and Olean to their limits before falling just short.
Tuesday evening, St. Mary’s finally broke down the underdog door. The Lancers initially were nearly run out of the gym in the first quarter, falling behind 11-2 to Bishop-Timon St. Jude less than three minutes in before regrouping, eventually seizing control and frantically holding on to upset the fourth-ranked large school Tigers, 73-71 in front of a stunned South Buffalo home crowd.
For St. Mary’s, it was all resiliency early that enabled them to withstand an opening Timon onslaught.
Continue reading ‘St. Mary’s Stuns Timon, 73-71′
 Don’t worry Buffalo Sabres fans– it only seems like the first victory this year.
The final games before the NHL All-Star break took place Tuesday evening and the Sabres can finally feel good about themselves for a few days after defeating the New Jersey Devils in a shootout, 2-1 to snap a 12-game road losing streak as defensemen Robyn Regehr and Christian Ehrhoff returned to the lineup.
Jordan Leopold scored Buffalo’s lone regulation goal in the first period, which stood up in large part because Ryan Miller was excellent in net with 27 saves. Jason Pominville and Nathan Gerbe went on to score in the shootout as the Sabres got two points on the road for the first time since defeating the Nashville Predators, 3-2 on December 3.
Continue reading ‘Sabres Finally End Road Losing Skid In New Jersey’
 Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and Niagara legend Calvin Murphy will be in town to watch the Purple Eagles host Loyola and Manhattan this weekend.
Murphy will be in attendance to watch the men’s basketball team host Loyola on Friday at 7 p.m. On Sunday, Murphy will have his No. 23 banner retired during Niagara’s ESPN3 matchup against Manhattan starting at 4 p.m.
The first 300 fans in attendance for Sunday’s game will receive a commemorative item and there will be an autograph session with Murphy postgame.
Continue reading ‘Calvin Murphy Returns To Town This Weekend’
 The Buffalo Sabres are dead last in the entire Eastern Conference this morning after waking up to a Carolina victory over Winnipeg Monday evening, leaving the Sabres with a conference low 43 points. Buffalo will try to add a point or two to their unimpressive total tonight when they face off with the Devils in New Jersey.
Of course, a single point would be better than anything they’ve gotten over their last 12 road contests. The team has also lost their last five overall and is just 2-7-1 in their last 10 as a once promising season has almost completely went down the tubes. As of this morning the Sabres were a full 10 points behind Washington for the final playoff spot in the East.
Perhaps more disturbing than the losing is the consistent lackluster manner in which it’s happening. The Sabres offense has been abysmal, scoring just seven times over their last five games.
Continue reading ‘Ehrhoff, Regehr Could Return For Sabres Tonight’
 We’ve started a series at Buffalo Sports Daily, highlighting the five biggest bright spots… and dark clouds on the 2011 Buffalo Bills season. We kicked off the dark cloud portions recently with number five on our countdown— the Bills reality check in the Whiteout game. Today we trudge on by profiling the fourth-darkest cloud on the season; Buddy Nix banking too heavily on Shawne Merriman.
There’s always something admirable about taking a chance, particularly in the ultra conservative world of Buffalo Bills football. Whether Shawne Merriman ever becomes the feared Pro Bowl linebacker he used to be or never plays another down for the franchise again, I’ll never condemn general manager Buddy Nix for rolling the dice and calling his shot.
Regrettably when it comes to Merriman’s prospects, it far looks like the latter will be the scenario played out.
Continue reading ‘2011 Bills Darkest Clouds- No. 4: Too Much On Merriman’
 Following a week in which she broke the Atlantic 10 Conference record for career 3-pointers made, St. Bonaventure senior Jessica Jenkins has been named the A-10 Player of the Week for Monday, Jan. 23.
Jenkins knocked down six 3-pointers in a winning effort at Charlotte Saturday night, the fifth one surpassing the record mark of 291. The Ohio native now has 293 career 3’s, besting previous record holders Suzie Dailer (St. Bona ‘95) and George Washington’s Cathy Jones. Among active players, she owns the second-most 3-pointers in the entire nation.
The guard averaged 20.5 points, including 10 3-pointers, over SBU’s two games last week. She finished with a game-high 23 points against the 49ers, helping the Bonnies erase a 13-point second-half deficit to move into sole possession of first place in the league. She started the week with a team-best 18 points, including four 3’s, in Bonaventure’s 75-59 win against Richmond. Also against the Spiders, she pulled down four rebounds – one shy of tying her career high in that category.
Continue reading ‘Jenkins Honored Following Record Breaking Performance’
 Even when it’s designed to be a good thing, anything related to the Buffalo Sabres seems to have lost its appeal around the league. The NHL will hold its official Player Fantasy Draft to select its two All-Star teams Thursday evening in Ottawa. Those squads will be selected alternately and are captained by Ottawa center Daniel Alfredsson with the other by Boston defensemen Zdeno Chara.
In the meantime, the league’s official website ran a “mock draft” on Monday with NHL.com columnist Dan Rosen representing Alfredsson’s squad and writer Dave Lozo selecting on behalf of Chara.
The Sabres have just one All-Star on the roster in forward Jason Pominville. Predictably, Buffalo’s leading scorer was the very last pick of the mock draft, selected by Lozo in the 19th round— dead last out of 38 eligible participants.
It is worth noting that the very last pick of the actual draft on Thursday receives a car for his public degradation.
Cue the Rodney Dangerfield impressions.
 Peter King published his regular Monday Morning Quarterback column on Sports Illustrated (.com) and as you’d suspect, the meat and potatoes dealt with the respective AFC and NFC championship games on Sunday. However, always hungry for a tidbit of information that could affect the Buffalo Bills, I came across something of note while examining King’s “Fine Fifteen” rankings.
In it King makes a pretty compelling case that pending Houston Texans free agent Mario Williams may actually indeed, become a true free agent.
“Now the question for this franchise is whether they fight to keep free agent outside linebacker/defensive end Mario Williams away from the market. The way this team played defensively at Baltimore, and as many talented young defensive players as the Texans have, and as many guys as they have to think about paying with a flat cap in the next two offseason, I bet they’re seriously considering letting Williams walk.” King penned.
Continue reading ‘Could Mario Willams Actually Hit The Open Market?’
 St. Francis high school stud running back Akeel Lynch has been verbally committed to attending Boston College since the mid July of last year. However, verbal commitments mean nothing until the player signs his National Letter of Intent. It appears as of Sunday night Lynch has changed his mind and in a shocker, is deciding to take his considerable football talents to Penn State University.
Lynch made the announcement late Sunday via his Twitter page and Keith McShea of the Buffalo News was the first to report on Monday.
A dominating force on the football field this season, Lynch led the Red Raiders over St. Joe’s to capture the Monsignor Martin Association championship at Ralph Wilson Stadium this past November. Lynch finished the season with a league-record 2,131 yards and for his efforts earned First-Team All-WNY honors as well as First-Team All-State and the Gatorade New York State Player of the Year.
While the verbal to Boston College was always in place, the 6-foot, 205-pound Lynch continued to carefully to weigh his options. Iowa and Oklahoma had spent time with Lynch recently and Penn State, despite the horrible allegations of late have always remained in the picture.
Lynch can officially with Penn state on February 1.
(Photo Credit: Ron Larsen/Metro)
 Niagara men’s basketball guard Antoine Mason was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Rookie of the Week for the second consecutive week.
Mason averaged 20.5 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game, 2.5 assists per game and 2.5 steals per game as Niagara went 1-1 in MAAC action last weekend. Mason has led the Purple Eagles in scoring in the last three games which includes scoring a game-high 22 points in Thursday’s win over archrival Canisius. Mason went 7-for-16 from the field, made a game-high seven free throws (7-for-8), and had six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Mason had a 19-point effort on Sunday at Manhattan where he added four rebounds and tied a game-high three steals.
Niagara (9-12, 4-5 MAAC) returns to the Gallagher Center for two games this weekend. The Purple Eagles will host Loyola (14-5, 7-2 MAAC) on Friday at 7 p.m. and welcome Manhattan (14-7, 7-2 MAAC) on Sunday for the National MAAC Game of the Week airing on ESPN3 at 4 p.m
 Sophomore forward Javon McCrea was named the Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week on Monday for the second time this season after leading the University at Buffalo men’s basketball team to two crucial conference wins last week. The Newark, NY native averaged 15.5 points and 10 rebounds in the two games.
McCrea scored 15 points and added seven rebounds in Buffalo’s 82-70 win over the previously unbeaten Akron Zips. He also had two assists, two steals and a block. He followed it up with his fourth double double of the season after pulling down a career-high 13 rebounds to go along with 16 points, three steals and three blocks.
For the season, McCrea is averaging 16.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He is second in the MAC in points per game, fourth in rebounds and second in field-goal percentage (.577) and ranks third in scoring and fifth in rebounding.
McCrea also won the award on January 9.
The Bulls (10-6, 3-2 MAC) will open play against the MAC West on Tuesday with a home game against West Division co-leader Eastern Michigan (9-10, 4-1 MAC) before heading out west to face Northern Illinois on Saturday. Tipoff at Alumni Arena Tuesday will be 7 pm.
 If you haven’t noticed lately and certainly I hope you have, there hasn’t been any new content all week long at Buffalo Sports Daily. The reason is simple and yet at least for me, highly unfortunate. I’ve spent the better part of the past week hospitalized and overall physically derailed after being diagnosed with a lung/breathing condition called “C.O.P.D.”
As a middle-aged adult, the news came as a shock, though in retrospect I should’ve known someone along these lines was coming. I woke up early one morning not long ago nearly unable to take a deep breath. Sensibility finally won out over stubbornness thanks largely to my wife and I went to the doctor, expecting to be told I had the cold or flu, perhaps bronchitis worst-case and be sent on my way home armed with antibiotics.
Around 72 hours later, I remained in a hospital bed armed with IVs in the arm, oxygen monitors on my fingers, constant breathing treatments, an unsatisfied appetite and a bedside television system lacking ESPN.
Continue reading ‘BSD Illness Hiatus OVER’
 If you read my illness post, you know I’ve been gone and out of sight in regards to Buffalo sports for the past week. When it comes to the Buffalo Sabres, I actually feel blessed about that.
At a loss of words on what to think of this organization right now, I came across a tweet from Jeremy White of WGR 550 he posted earlier this week; an incredibly accurate statement that in my opinion captures the general sentiment of fans everywhere.
“The Sabres have gone from being injured underachievers to lifeless unengaged deadbeats in the eyes of the league. Truth hurts.” White wrote.
I can’t really insert a lot of opinion right now. As stated, I’ve been out ill and haven’t watched much, if any of the team lately. From everything I’m hearing… that’s a good thing.
I’ll be back on the Sabres beat Monday. I’m sure it won’t be pretty. In the meantime, solid tweet, Jeremy.
 Saturday was unquestionably statement day for two of the top teams in the Monsignor Martin Association in high school hoops. Canisius and St. Joe’s let Bishop Timon, St. Mary’s and the rest of the league know they’re ready for the meat and potatoes of the season to commence after both posted ultra-impressive victories on their respective home floors Saturday afternoon.
St. Joe’s (13-2) stunned Rochester powerhouse Aquinas in Kenmore, 67-58 behind 16 points each from senior center Reggie Agbeko and guard Kyle Briggs. Aquinas (9-2) entered the game ranked ninth among Class-AA schools in the entire state. After a heavy loss to graduation following last year’s Manhattan Cup final team, many wrote the Marauders off for 2011-12. The win over Aquinas served strong notice that doing so was entirely premature.
Meanwhile, WNY top-ranked Canisius used a strong fourth quarter to beat Cathederal Prep (PA) on Delaware Avenue, 72-59. Matt MacDonald scored a career-high 23 points while Matt Hart added the same. Adam Weir scored 20 points and Aaron White chipped in with 16.
 The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team earned a hard-fought road win at Bowling Green, 68-66, at the Stroh Center on Saturday afternoon. The Bulls were a sizzling 8-of-10 from beyond the arc in the second half to earn their first Mid-American Conference road victory of the year. With their second straight win, the Bulls improved to 10-6 overall and 3-2 in MAC play.
Bowling Green (8-10, 2-3 MAC) built its one-point halftime lead to its largest of the game, seven, with 14:54 left. But the Bulls battled back and Dave Barnett drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 46 with 9:31 remaining. It started a parade of threes for the Bulls. Five of UB’s final six field goals of the game were of the three-point variety.
Jarod Oldham connected on a three-pointer for the third straight game and Tony Watson followed with a trey of his own to put the Bulls ahead, 54-51. Barnett followed with another three-pointer to put the Bulls ahead, 58-51. Mitchell Watt got into the act on the Bulls’ next possession as he nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key to give UB its largest lead of the game, 61-53, with 5:29 left.
Continue reading ‘Big Shots Help UB Clip Falcons, 68-66′
 Before the start of the season, John Tavares said that he’ll keep playing professional lacrosse as long as he doesn’t start embarrassing himself. He may have been half-joking at the time, but if the NLL’s all-time leading scorer — in his 21st season — keeps having games like the one he had against Rochester, he might be playing for a long time to come.
Tavares led the way for Buffalo with four goals and four assists in the Bandits’ 12-9 victory over the Knighthawks on Satuday at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester. Buffalo (2-0) scored four consecutive fourth-quarter goals in a span of 3:14 to pull away from Rochester (1-1). Tavares tied the game at six at the 10:18 mark of the third quarter and went on to add two goals and two assists on four of the Bandits’ five goals in the final frame.
The Bandits entered the fourth quarter with a 7-6 lead following forward Chad Culp’s go-ahead goal at the end of the third quarter. Tavares earned his hat trick as he opened the scoring 44 seconds into the fourth on the power play to extend the lead. But Rochester’s Stephen Keogh scored his second goal of the night on the next possession to put the Knighthawks within one. It’s as close as Rochester would get for the rest of the game.
Continue reading ‘Strong Fourth Lifts Bandits To 2-0 Start’
 We’ve started a series at Buffalo Sports Daily, highlighting the five biggest bright spots… and dark clouds on the 2011 Buffalo Bills season. Our fifth-biggest bright spot was the emergence of Scott Chandler at tight end. Today we continue with the focus on a pleasantly surprising offensive line.
Opinions often varied when projecting how the Buffalo Bills would do in 2011. Some thought the franchise would struggle to improve on their four-win total from a year ago while most predicted a six to eight win campaign was more reasonable. Of course, a few hopeless optimists outlined this as the year the Bills finally broke their over-extended playoff drought.
While forecasts for the team’s fortunes were to a certain extent divided, it was pretty much universal that the offensive line would be a calamity. The unit was often wretched in 2010 and did nothing in the offseason other than draft a rookie tackle in the fourth round to boost the talent. To make matters worse, the last year’s reserves performed so badly in the preseason they were all sent packing when final cuts came down; a group that included Geoff Hangartner, Mansfield Wrotto and Cordaro Howard.
Continue reading ‘Bills Biggest Bright Spots- No. 4: Non-Offensive Line’
 Buffalo Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier announced today that defenseman TJ Brennan has been recalled from the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League.
Brennan joins the Sabres for his fourth recall of the season. The first-year defenseman has recorded one point (1+0) and four penalty minutes in five NHL games this season, averaging 14:55 of ice time per game.
In his third AHL season, Brennan has 17 points (7+10) and 13 penalty minutes in 29 games with the Americans, leading all Amerks defensemen in goals and points. In 2010-11, he ranked second among Portland Pirates (AHL) defensemen with 39 points (15+24) in 72 games.
Continue reading ‘Sabres Recall TJ Brennan’
 Hopefully Buffalo Bills general manager Buddy Nix spent Saturday being a clever student.
Teams looking on the outside of the NFL playoffs, particularly those that don’t possess dominating tight ends got a first-hand look Saturday that the Golden Era of the position has arrived in the NFL. San Francisco’s Vernon Davis, New Orleans’ Jimmy Graham and New England’s Rob Gronkowski put on performances yesterday that fans, and people around the league will be talking about for a long time.
How prevalent is the tight end in today’s NFL? Yesterday the three tight ends combined for numbers that can only be described as mind-blowing—– 22 combined catches for 428 yards and seven touchdowns. That’s just absurd.
The Bills have a pretty good tight end in Scott Chandler and Nix should re-sign him. Chandler had 38 receptions for 389 yards and six touchdowns last year—— pretty good numbers, especially for a Bills tight end. Chandler can remain an effective red zone option for Ryan Fitzpatrick, but Nix should pay extra attention to athletic tight ends entering this year’s NFL draft.
Yesterday showed how game-changing possessing a great tight end can be.
 The Buffalo Bandits used their off-season to improve the offense and their moves proved to pay dividends in the team’s season opener Saturday night.
Luke Wiles, acquired in a trade with Washington, scored a second half hat trick to lead the Bandits (1-0) to a 14-10 win over their divisional rival, the Toronto Rock (0-2) at First Niagara Center. Wiles wasn’t the only new Bandit to get on the score sheet. Mat Giles and Kevin Buchanan each added a pair of goals in their Bandits’ debuts.
The Bandits also received a stellar game from their starting goaltender, Mike Thompson. With 46 saves, head coach Darris Kilgour called a stick save on Dan Carey in the third quarter the turning point of the game.
Continue reading ‘Bandits Get Season Off To Winning Start’
 Two teams both ranked among the top ten large schools in Western New York capped off an exciting day of basketball at the Martin Luther King Classic at City Honors high school. Senior guard Matt Hart scored a career-high 30 points as second-ranked Canisius held off sixth-ranked McKinley in the fifth and final game of the day, 76-65.
The Macks played tough throughout, going on several runs to stay in the game and even led briefly in the third quarter, before Aaron White’s three-pointer took back the Canisius lead for good. White finished with 14 points while Matt MacDonald scored 13. Marcus Morris led McKinley with 25 points.
In other games, Stan Weir scored 28 points and pulled down 20 rebounds as East Aurora clipped OTM Middle College in overtime, 68-61.
Continue reading ‘Big Day For Hart Leads Canisius Over McKinley’
 In a game that featured 14 lead changes and 11 ties, the Buffalo Bulls (8-6, 1-2 MAC) found themselves behind when the clock hit 0:00 Saturday evening at Millett Hall, falling 52-51 to the Miami (OH) Redhawks (5-10, 1-2 MAC). Mitchell Watt had another double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Javon McCrea and Titus Robinson also scored in double figures for Buffalo.
After a sluggish performance at Ohio on Wednesday, the Bulls looked to exorcise those demons and did so early in the game, earning easy baskets through crisp offensive possessions. Javon McCrea led the way with six points in before the 16 minute mark of the first half. He finished the half with 10 points and had a team-high 16 for the game, adding in four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Neither team led by more than two points until a jumper by Watt with 34 seconds remaining in the half gave Buffalo a 26-23 lead going into the locker rooms.
Continue reading ‘Miami Clips UB Late, 52-51′
 The Buffalo Sabres have won two games in a row before. Right now, it only seems like that’s never happened in franchise history. November 11 remains the last time the Sabres pulled off consecutive victories after the team dropped a 4-2 affair Saturday night in Long Island to the New York Islanders.
Patrick Kaleta and Derek Roy scored for Buffalo as they twice erased deficits, but Michael Graber scored the game-winner for New York with just 3:03 remaining. Thomas Vanek had a chance to tie the game for Buffalo on a penalty shot but rang one off the goal post after beating Evgeni Nabokov in the final moments. Graber then scored again into an empty net to secure the victory.
Jhonas Enroth got the start in net for Buffalo and played extremely well, particularly early to keep his team in the game as the Islanders dominated early. Enroth finished with 36 saves.
Continue reading ‘Sabres Drop Another On Road To Isles’
 Buffalo Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier today announced that defenseman Joe Finley has been recalled from the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League.
Finley (6’8”, 260 lbs., 6/29/87) joins the Sabres for his third recall this season after making his NHL debut in early December. In his two previous recalls, he appeared in three games for the Sabres.
In his third professional season, Finley has three points (1+2) in 30 AHL games with the Americans and leads the team with 78 penalty minutes.
Continue reading ‘Sabres Recall Finley From Rochester’
University at Buffalo wide receiver Alex Neutz and defensive end Colby Way were named to the Academic All-Mid-American Conference Team on Friday, as voted on by faculty athletic representatives at MAC institutions.
 Neutz is a management major with a 3.49 grade point average. This season, the sophomore receiver played in nine games. He led the Bulls in receiving yards (641) and receiving touchdowns (4). He ranked second on the team in receptions with 43. He had three 100-yard receiving games on the season.
Way is a computer engineering major with a 3.73 GPA. In 2011, the sophomore defensive end played in 12 games and started five. He had 49 tackles and ranked second on the team in sacks (3) and tackles for loss (7.5). He was also named to the 2011 CoSIDA Academic All-District Team back in November.
The Academic All-MAC honor is for a student-athlete who has excelled in athletics and academics. To qualify, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of the contests for that particular sport. First-year students and junior college transfers in their first year of residence are not eligible for the award.
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