Former Nichols high school basketball standout Conner Vandegriff has decided to leave Hobart College after one season and will transfer to Niagara County Community College, according to a source close to the situation.
Vandegriff was a key player on the Viking’s New York State Federation championship winning team in 2009-10. He becomes the second player from that Nichols team to transfer schools in less than two months. Star forward and two-time Buffalo News Player of the Year Will Regan recently transferred from the University of Virginia back to Buffalo and will play at UB in 2012 after sitting out next season.
As a high school forward Vandegriff was a force, but things didn’t pan out well for him in his first year at Hobart. He appeared in 17 games but averaged just 4.1 minutes and only pulled in 0.6 rebounds and 0.9 points per game.
Former Nichols Star Leaves Hobart – continue reading…
Will Regan was one of the biggest high school basketball starts to come out of Western New York in several years, leading Nichols to a State Federation Championship and earning Buffalo News Player of the Year honors for the second straight year in 2010. Regan took his talents to the University of Virginia, but apparently wasn’t happy there and is now headed back to the Buffalo area to continue his career.
Jonah Bronstein of the Niagara Gazette reported first that Regan has announced he’s leaving Virginia, though he will stay there to complete his academic work for the next two weeks.
The University at Buffalo and Niagara University are two schools heavily in the mix for him to transfer too. His father Larry told Bronstein that he’s going to take a look at about a dozen programs.
Canisius and St. Bonaventure will not be in the mix.
Former WNY Hoops Star Leaving University Of Virginia – continue reading…
About a year ago with a roster full of super seniors led by WNY Player of the Year Will Regan, Nichols head coach Greg Plumb was commanding his troops towards a historic run that culminated with Nichols winning the New York State Federation title; the highest achievement for boy’s high basketball in New York State.
Less than 12 months later, Plumb is stepping down as the school’s basketball coach.
I spoke to Plumb, who’s been coach at Nichols for the past eight years on Friday. He’s not leaving his post to take another job with a different school. In fact, he’s going to remain as Nichols. Plumb said the reason for the decision was based on his family, more specifically his desire to start one.
Greg Plumb Stepping Down As Nichols Coach – continue reading…
About a year ago at this time, Nichols romped Canisius, 73-50 to win the Manhattan Cup; their first major step towards eventually capturing the Class-AA New York State catholic high school basketball championship. Since then, the core of Canisius’ team remained intact while Nichols was decimated by graduations and a key transfer.
The sides met again in the first round of this year’s Monsignor Martin Association playoffs and as everyone expected, the Crusaders blew out Nichols, 77-49 Tuesday evening at Canisius College.
After finishing as the top-ranked school in all of Western New York last year, Nichols lost their top eight players to graduation, including two-time Buffalo News Player of the Year Will Regan. The one non-senior to be a major contributor was sophomore Stan Wier, who transferred to school in Indiana.
Meanwhile, Canisius has remained a steady force in the league. They finished with just one league loss during the regular season and won a coin flip last weekend over St. Joe’s to earn the first seed after the schools finished tied atop the standings.
Canisius was out in front, 10-1 before the game was 2:30 old and by the time the first quarter mercifully ended for Nichols, they were on the wrong side of a 29-5 shellacking.
Canisius led at halftime, 40-22 and went on a 19-5 run over the first five minutes of the third quarter before head coach Kyle Husband called off the dogs and got his starters out for the remainder of the contest.
Manhattan Cup Playoffs: Canisius Dismantles Nichols – continue reading…
The matchups for the 2010 Monsignor Martin vs. ECIC high school basketball challenge have been made official. Once again, St. Mary’s of Lancaster high school will host the action as it will showcase members of the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association in basketball competition against members of the ECIC.
For the first time, the event is sponsored by Adpro Sports, with the enjoyment of the student-athletes as the main objective, along with a strong focus on a healthy spirit of cooperation and competition between the private Catholic institutions of the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association and the public schools of Section VI and the ECIC, per the challenge’s press release.
Among last year’s thrillers, then No. 2 Nichols defeated top-ranked at the time Niagara Falls high school.
This year’s matchups are as follows:
Matchups Announced for 2010 Msgr. Martin vs ECIC Challenge – continue reading…
Since the start of Buffalo Sports Daily last September, one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most over the first six months is covering high school basketball and Nichols in particular. As a diehard hoops fan residing in a city without a professional franchise and only borderline mid-major colleges, the high school scene gives me the hoops fix I often crave.
I got the chance to cover a lot of Nichols games this year and they’ve been a team that’s fascinated me. I’ve seen a lot of good teams over the years but there was something about this Vikings team that stood out. They seemed to be a complete team; strong play up front (Will Regan, Connor Vandegriff), good perimeter shooting (Stan Wier, Andrew MacKinnon), a true floor general running the point (Ron Canestro) and a coach (Greg Plumb) who’s basketball intelligence trickled down to his talented players. It had me wondering if the team I was impressed with all season could compete with and beat the very best in the entire state.
Nichols cap historic run with Federation championship – continue reading…
“I’ve played in, maybe four championships in my life and I’ve never lost one.”
That’s what Canisius guard Blair Helton, MVP of last year’s Manhattan Cup told reporters in the days leading up to this year’s final between his second ranked Crusaders and top ranked Nichols.
Unfortunately for the talented senior guard, he learned Sunday night there’s a first time for everything.
Helton scored a team-high 21 points but it wasn’t nearly enough for Canisius to compete with a totally balanced Nichols team. The Vikings never trailed after the first two minutes of the game and were rarely threatened en route to easily defeating Canisius 73-50 to capture this year’s Manhattan Cup.
Nichols captures Manhattan Cup with win over Canisius – continue reading…
With no disrespect intended for Section VI and their exciting playoff season now in full swing, Sunday night is as good as it gets for boys high school basketball. The Koessler Center at Canisius College is the venue 6pm Sunday as the top two ranked large schools in Western New York square off.
Number one Nichols faces second ranked Canisius in a rubber match and this time it’s for all the marbles. The winner will be crowned 2009-10 Manhattan Cup champion.
The teams have met twice this season. Canisius held serve at home in a squeaker and Nichols won the rematch in a big way at their own gym to end the regular season. The Vikings lost while Ron Canestro was nursing a broken pinky but was back for the second meeting.
Manhattan Cup Title Preview: Canisius vs Nichols – continue reading…
Congratulations to former Nichols high school star Christian Laettner, who yesterday was elected into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame.
Laettner joined Sidney Wicks, Jerry West and David Thompson, Tex Winter, Davey Whitney, Tom Jernstedt and Wayne Duke as the eight members voted into this year’s class.
The ceremony will take place November 21 in Kansas City.
Laettner won two NCAA championships while at Duke, including hitting one of the most famous shots in college history to defeat Kentucky in 1992. Duke went to the Final Four every season Laettner was there, won the MVP of the tournament as a junior and was the National Player of the Year as a senior.
Congratulations to Christian Laettner – continue reading…
After a run of Manhattan Cup playoff crowds that could be described as docile, the faithful from Timon made the voyage to the Koessler Athletic Center and were rowdier than ever. Suddenly the neutral site quickly had the feel of a South Buffalo home game. Fans battered Nichols players with insults long before the opening tip.
It didn’t matter.
Nichols stars Will Regan and Ron Canestro get most the ink and deservedly so, but on this night it was Stan Wier who would earn the headlines. Wier scored a game-high 21 points, including several big buckets while the outcome was still in doubt as the Vikings ended up rolling over Timon, 76-50.
Nichols goes on second half tear to earn title shot – continue reading…
We’re down to the final four contenders for the Catholic league’s prestigious Manhattan Cup. No. 3 St. Mary’s takes on No. 2 Canisius at 6pm, followed by No. 4 Bishop Timon against top seeded Nichols. Both games are taking place at Canisius College.
Stop right here beginning at 6pm for instant live updates, scores and statistics for both games.
Canisius College tonight is the venue for a pair of intriguing Manhattan semi final matchups in boys high school basketball. St. Mary’s of Lancaster will try to prevent Canisius from defending their title at 6pm followed by a rubber match between Bishop Timon and Nichols, the top ranked large school in Western New York.
While conventional wisdom suggests it will be the two top seeded teams advancing to Sunday night’s final, this has been a wildly unpredictable high school season where anything can—and plenty of times did happen.
Nichols, Canisius and Timon all went 1-1 against each other on the year and while St. Marys failed to beat Canisius or Nichols they did upend Timon on the final day of the regular season on the road to finish seeded higher.
Manhattan Cup Semi Final Preview – continue reading…
Cardinal O’Hara was not expected to be much of a threat in their Manhattan Cup quarterfinal match up with top ranked Nichols on Sunday. The Vikings wasted little time making sure no Cinderella story would develop.
Nichols rolled out to a 23-8 lead by the end of the first quarter and with a 34-13 cushion at halftime the only question remaining was how much they’d win by.
The starters got plenty of fourth quarter rest as they advanced with an easy 70-44 win.
Nichols has no problem dispatching O’Hara – continue reading…
Today kicks off the start of what promises to be an exciting playoff season of boys high school playoff basketball. It begins Sunday afternoon with a quarterfinal Monsignor Martin Association quadruple header. #4 Bishop Timon is taking on #5 St Joes at 1pm, followed by third seeded St. Mary’s/Lancaster vs. #6 St. Francis, #2 Canisius vs. #7 Niagara Catholic and eighth seeded O’Hara having the daunting task of trying to knock off top ranked Nichols.
Make Buffalo Sports Daily your stop for live updates, scores and statistics on all four games, because that’s how we roll. The action gets underway at 1pm so we’ll see you there.
When the top two teams in Western New York boy’s high school basketball squared off Wednesday night with a regular season title hanging in the balance, there was plenty of drama to be expected. But by a few minutes into the third quarter the only mystery remained a question of who would win a coin flip.
Will Regan scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his final regular season game and point guard Ron Canestro looked good with seven points less than halfway through the first quarter as top ranked Nichols completely rolled over second-ranked large school Canisius, 77-54 in front of an over capacity Nichols crowd.
When I say over capacity I’m not exaggerating; Fire Marshals were on hand to make sure no more people would pack into the gymnasium.
Nichols win regular season crown with destruction of Canisius – continue reading…
If you’re a fan of high school sports, it doesn’t get any better than tonight as the top two teams in Western New York face off when Canisius travels to Nichols in a boy’s high school basketball contest that will determine the regular season Monsignor Martin Association champion.
The situation is complicated. If Canisius wins they get the top seed when the Manhattan Cup postseason tournament commences on Sunday. If Nichols is victorious, there’ll be a coin flip following the game as the teams would have identical head to head, divisional and common opponent records.
BSD Briefs: February 17 – continue reading…
If you thought the 2009-10 boys’ high school basketball season has been a wild ride, you haven’t seen anything yet.
The final week of the regular season concludes over the next few days and to say there’s still plenty at stake in the Monsignor Martin Association and Yale Cup is an understatement.
Let’s start with the Catholic schools. Number-two Canisius travels to top-ranked Nichols Wednesday night in the game of the year that will decide the top seed for the Manhattan Cup playoffs. If Canisius, who defeated Nichols earlier this year is victorious they’ll earn the top seed. But if Nichols wins, then things really get interesting.
Wild Conclusions in store for Catholic, Yale Cup leagues – continue reading…
When these teams last met a few weeks ago, Bishop Timon handed then-number one Nichols a four point loss. The Vikings would have none of it in their rematch at home on Monday night.
Nichols (15-6/8-2) used a suffocating defense that harassed the normally sound Tigers into their worst shooting performance of the year. The Vikings took control early and were able to cruise to a surprisingly easy 65-47 victory.
Will Regan showed why he’s the reigning Western New York Player of the Year, having one of his trademark well rounded statistical games. The senior had game-highs of 20 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots.
H.S. Hoops: Nichols suffocates Timon, 65-47 – continue reading…
The way things have went in boy’s high school basketball this season, it was merely a formality Nichols and Canisius would come down to a final possession.
In the game’s most critical sequence, Canisius forward James Gaines grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw with 20 seconds remaining and then sunk both of his own after getting fouled, giving the Crusaders a three-point lead as they’d hold on to defeat Nichols, 51-50 in front of a rabid home crowd.
Playing for one shot to tie and down three, Nichols guard Dieter Clauss scored on layup to cut the lead to one with four seconds left. The problem was they were out of timeouts and Canisius didn’t have to inbound the ball before the clock ran out.
Wisely, they didn’t.
Canisius H.S. edges Nichols in battle of large school giants – continue reading…
Western New York high school basketball continues to be as unpredictable as ever. Just two days after a disappointing loss to St. Francis, Bishop Timon returned home and knocked off Nichols, the top ranked large school, 64-60.
Timon didn’t get lucky with a last second win; they took it to a heavily favored Nichols squad from the opening tip. The Tigers led by eight after one, 11 at the half and 14 after the third before Nichols came back to make it a close game.
Sophomore Kyle Kobis led Timon (12-3, 3-1) with 22 points, including five three pointers. Dut Dour added 16 points.
Timon Shocks Top Ranked Nichols, 64-60 – continue reading…
It wasn’t easy, and certainly a lot closer than the final score indicated, but if there were any doubt before it can be put to rest, at least for now. Nichols is the new king of boy’s high school basketball in Western New York. In a clash of WNY co-No 1’s, Nichols defeated Niagara Falls, 68-53 to take over the top spot by themselves.
The match up had the feel in a packed St. Marys of Lancaster gym of a heavyweight title fight. Both teams traded punches early, with Niagara Falls landing early jabs before Nichols connected ona few devastating punches before halftime. Niagara Falls opened up a six-point lead before the game was three minutes old, but Nichols did their damage in the second quarter, going on a14-1 run to close out the first half and take a 34-21 lead, with Niagara Falls failing to score a field goal over the last 5:40.
H.S. Game of the Year: Nichols Knocks Off Niagara Falls – continue reading…
