Jamestown clinches ECIC I title

Despite being one of WNY's most distinguished basketball programs, Jamestown hadn't won its own division in the last four seasons. That changed on Saturday night, when the Red Raiders blew the roof off "The Mac" in the second half of a win over ECIC I foe Williamsville North. With a league title secured, Jamestown can now focus on its quest to repeat as Section VI Class AA champs.

Jaysean Paige scored a game-high 22 points to lead Jamestown to a resounding 79-51 win against the Spartans. Darin Butts finished with 20 points and sophomore Tommy Campion added 15 points for the victors.

The Red Raiders trailed by a point in the last minute of the first half, but scored the last four points before intermission, including a dunk at the buzzer by Paige off a steal he had made at half court. After taking a 32-29 lead into the break, Jamestown outscored Williamsville North 47-22 the rest of the game and won going away.

A pivotal moment seemed to come midway through the third quarter, with the Red Raiders leading by four points. Butts threw an alley-oop pass to Paige, who threw down a two-handed dunk while being fouled, and converted a three-point play. A possesion later, Paige dropped a 3-pointer on North and the run was on. Jamestown led 55-41 at the end of three quarters and continued its surge the rest of the way.

Jamestown head coach Ben Drake credited an improved defensive effort, particularly on Spartan standout freshman Sterling Taplin, as being a major difference between the two games played by the teams this week. After scoring 34 points in Monday night's Spartan victory, Taplin was held to just five points in the rematch, with four of those points coming in the game's first three minutes.

The Spartans were led by 13 points from senior Jonathan Safir.

-centercourt

41 responses to “Jamestown clinches ECIC I title”

WOW…

February 13, 2011

Atleast I live in Jamestown so I didn’t have to drive much for this game… It was a very entertaining 1st half. The 2nd half was too much Jaysean Paige, who is WNY’s best player. Jamestown made great 2nd half adjustments and flat out made shots. 1st division championship in 4 years!!

Patrick Moran

February 13, 2011

Just my opinion: But I think Jamestown is the most complete team in all of WNY, and that includes Niagara Falls.
and Jaysean, if he stays on court for rest of season, HAS to be the leader for P.O.Y.
Impressive effort by Red Raiders to shut down Taplin like that.

hoopster

February 13, 2011

My hunch is that POY will come down to Chris Holland and Paige with the honoree perhaps coming from the team who advances farther.
Thanks for the report CC. As you know wanted to make the trip, but just ran out of time.

WNYHOOPS

February 13, 2011

Nice write up Centercourt, did you make it down for the game? Also its the “Mac” not the “pit”, but will forgive you for that.
Jamestown played last night how I’ve been expecting them to play all season, when they are shooting and getting Jaysean and Darin their looks they are very tough to play with.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the Falls again…

centercourt

February 13, 2011

I did make it down for the game.
I heard that gymnasium referred to as “The Pit” and thought it was a great nickname for a facility you walk downhill to get into and then look down to see the court opon entering. But it’s definitely not my place to rename, so I corrected it in the recap above.

TML1000

February 13, 2011

I don’t think you can really say Jamestown is more complete than the Falls…as seen from Monday, when Paige was out, Jamestown is a shell of the team they are when he is playing.
In contrast, I feel you take any one player on the Falls team away, and they still would have a very good shot against any team in the area.

KKBundy

February 13, 2011

With a fews weeks to go POY is still open to a select group of players which is an interesting dynamic when comparing to seasons past.
If the ranked team with this coming weeks toughest schedule goes 2 – 0, then the POY discussion will be taken to another level.
With no clear front runner to win any of the areas league championships, these next few weeks are going to be great theater. The only real question is, does the POY have to come from a team that wins their leagues championship? Enjoy

WOW…

February 13, 2011

On the other hand, I think the first half showed North can be very good. They were down 3 at half while getting very little from Taplin. I was very impressed with the passion and energy Safir displayed throughout. I think with him, Taplin, and Young, North will be a tough out come sectionals

jhsfan

February 13, 2011

TML1000 is obviously just very anti-Jamestown. I just want to revisit his smart-mouthed comment to me on last week’s live chat…
[Comment From TML1000: ]
Hahaha….North should consider it a loss…you really think Paige would have scored 30 and everyone else would have scored the same amount….it just doesn’t work that way. You take Lebron out….other players step up….when he’s back in…the others do less.
I guess I wasn’t that far off, was I? Time for someone to eat their words.

TML1000

February 13, 2011

How in the world am I anti-Jamestown? If you would have taken that comment in the context in which I referred, you would have realized that I was poking fun at another commenter(presumably you) who said that North should consider it a loss. That was the “smart-mouthed” comment…from you. Saying a team should consider a win as a loss because a player was out is a farce.
I was saying that when the star player is out, others naturally step up…which several did in the first North game, although in a losing effort. When Paige was back in, he clearly once again shoulder the scoring load. If you look at the others’ numbers, only Butts’ were comparable to Monday’s game.
So…I ask you…how is what I say anti-Jamestown? Also, I find these mini witch hunts very amusing that people direct at me every so often…if you don’t feel you can debate with me in an intelligent manner, do you really think I’m going to stoop to your level and embarrass myself? Come on, man.

WOW…

February 13, 2011

Jaysean Paige is without a doubt the best player in WNY. Whether or not that translates to POY is a different story altogether. With a good playoff performance I think he will deservedly win POY

guest

February 13, 2011

I think Wow is a North fan that pretended to be a JHS fan the first time. Just have a hard time beleiving that some Jamestown fan sits there after a couple hours and thinks…on the other hand, North getting routed by 30 shows us how good they are. yeah right. Paige doesn’t play and losses in ot then Taplin only scores 5 and that shows us how tough they can be in the playoffs? Come on man!!! Just say I’m a North fan called Wow, with a fake ID!!!

South-Timon??

February 13, 2011

Will there be a post about South-Timon?

Patrick Moran

February 13, 2011

I think Paige is the frontrunner and deserves it, but I also think Butts should at least be in the converstation.. This kid is consistently getting 20+ points and 5 rebounds/assists regardless of who they play and who’s in the lineup.
I also think Connor Rehbaum deserves to be deeply in the convo, especially if St. Joe’s goes on to win the Manhattan Cup. He’s at around 19 points per game but more importantly, everytime I see Joe’s he’s guarding the opposition’s best player, whether it’s their point guard or power forward.
As far as Holland, he has amazing talent but there’s just something that seems to be lacking from his game from time to time. I think he’s a candidate and a first-team WNY’er, but I don’t think he wins P.O.Y.
Maybe someone else joins the party in the next month, but for now, to me it’s a two-horse race.
TML, I did see the Paige-less game last Monday, but I did say they’re the most complete team WITH Paige in the lineup. Shooting, defense, ball movement, athleticism, rebounding. I think they’re as complete as anyone. Would be a great battle between them two schools, which clearly is the likely finishing scenario at Buff State.
Can’t wait to do St. Joes and Niagara Falls on Friday, even if the game “means nothing” in the scheme of things, it has that excitement like NF vs Nichols did last year.

TML1000

February 13, 2011

Pat…what you may be referring to in terms of Holland results from the fact that in more than half of their games, all I-Prep has to do is walk on the floor and they basically win. It’s tough for a player at any level to keep their concentration when the competition, much of the time, is sub-par. That is not the case for players like Paige and Rehbaum, who are forced to bring their best much of the time.
I will say this…IF I was starting a team, my first pick out of any player in WNY would be Holland. He has an unmatched combination of offensive talent and defensive toughness, and as I said before, can play and guard any position at this level. I firmly believe if he played on a good large school team, he would be a pretty clear choice for POY. Paige and Rehbaum are great, but to me they do not play with the same defensive mindset as Holland.
Holland has proven multiple times that he steps up his intensity in big games…not that the others in question do not as well. Just saying, to me Holland is right there with the others two.
Butts is a player who has first team numbers and first team talent but will probably get second team because of Paige. I can’t remember a team having two first teamers other than the exceedingly dominant Falls teams. There is certainly room for him on first team, especially if Jamestown wins the section.

Earl Schunk

February 13, 2011

Having coached Chris for 3 years and now seeing him from a distance, I can echo TML’s sentiment about Holland as POY. People often mistake Chris’s unemotional demeanor for lack of passion. NOTHING could be further from the truth. Chris is the only player in WNY who routinely plays all 5 positions, and makes all his teammates better. Even now as he closes in on 1000 career points, he has been unselfish to a fault against opponents he could easily score more on. In many cases the player of the year selection is a great player on a team that goes very far in the postseason. That is fine, but if we are talking about the best all around player in WNY, it is Chris, hands down.

StateChamps2003

February 13, 2011

TML1000 – This might seem like a long time ago but the last time there were two players from the same team on the 1st team All WNY squad (other than NFHS players) was in the 2000-20001 season which had only had TWO teams represented on the 1st All-WNY list. Comerford and Herring from Timon and Traditional actually had 3 representatives in Jacobs, French and George.
Turner Carroll did it in back to back years. Stokes and Paige in ’98-’99 and Paige and Barnes in ’99-’00. Ahh the good ol’ days.

centercourt

February 13, 2011

There will not be a post on South/Timon

TML1000

February 13, 2011

Well, that will do it…I was a freshman in high school that year. Although I do remember the great Timon/Turner battles…that game at Buff St. where Turner won on a very late three by Paige is one of my fondest memories in WNY basketball…the 2000 MMA championship, I believe. Right up there with Bennett beating the Falls a few years later.

guest

February 13, 2011

I think after seeing South play numerous times recently, that Stasiak is not in contention to be 1st team all wny.

guest’s 8:22 p.m. comment is lame

February 14, 2011

here’s an idea. talk about who should make the team, not singling out a player that shouldn’t. idiocy.

StateChamps2003

February 14, 2011

My thoughts exactly TML

JohnFrederickPSU

February 14, 2011

Guest needs a footinmouthecthomy. What were you thinking?

Rare Air

February 14, 2011

Great to have all this talk about a big Jamestown game and not have to hear about how the referees are the story. Was a well called and fairly called game in which Jamestown shot 8 free throws Taplin was never in foul trouble and the Red Raiders played dominant defense. Congrats Raiders

Soutier

February 14, 2011

Heres a random smattering…and I hope I dont take one away from CC, how does a Dunkirk starter score +40 in a game they win by 60 plus points???

StateChamps2003

February 14, 2011

Does anyone remember a few years back when the French, George, Jacobs, and Marshall team of Traditional (maybe ’00-’01 season) beat Performing Arts by over a 100 points? I don’t know if McShea was around yet, maybe he can help me out but I do believe there was even a front page Sports section commentary about it.
Coach Starling Bryant I think almost lost his job over that because he had the starters in when being up by so many. He might’ve even had to write a formal letter of apology. But he was just making a point that PA shouldn’t have even filled a squad for that game. Yes I know this is scholastic sports and everyone is entitled to play and these are all just kids playing. Are they really though? Look at the media these days. High school basketball games are televised nationally on a weekly basis, ESPN.com has all day coverage on signing day for football. These just aren’t kids anymore, their a product.
I guess my point is that if a team loses by 60 with the starters in for most of the game, then here I am playing the world’s smallest violin for them. I’ve been on the losing side of blow out loses and no one feels sorry for you. You just gotta learn from it and get back to being better.

Butters

February 14, 2011

The player from Dunkirk was still in the game until 1:39 left in the 4th quarter. (103 to 39) final score?

hoopster

February 14, 2011

Generally speaking bad form to keep starters in while a blow out is in progress. There are legitimate reasons to keep some of your better players in at times like these. If I knew more would be better able to make a judgment on this situation.

JohnFrederickPSU

February 14, 2011

Dominant teams keeping starters in blowout games to the near conclusion is nothing new. History will show you that it is not unusual for these teams to use that recipe throughout the regular season and into the playoffs. It is only when they win a local championship and move onto the states that that option is off the table.
Is that decision by a coach to keep starters in the game good or bad? That’s a personal decision.

jackherlan

February 14, 2011

Can’t wait to hear this – What possible reason could there be to keep a starter in the game when your team is up 40!!!!!!!!! Unless there are injury or disciplinary reasons that leaves you with not enough players I can’t see any.

The Phoenix

February 14, 2011

Few reasons – some good, some not so good:
1. to get to triple digits, something not done very often in HS bball in western NY.
2. to make a statement to the team/coach being played, or another team they play in the future
3. to get a team to have a killer instinct
4. for no good reason other than the coach has no class…
I have no idea what reason it is, but those are the options that I see….

jackherlan

February 14, 2011

I guess I should have said -What possible GOOD reason…… Don’t see any there.

guest

February 14, 2011

My apologies about the south comment, I didn’t mean to single anyone out, rather I wanted to hear TML’s opinion on that. I should have done so in a different manner, I apologize.

JohnFrederickPSU

February 14, 2011

Exactly coach, there is no good reason. Again, it is the personal decision of the offending coach snd only he or his THERAPIST can attempt to give a reasonable answer. CLASSES under any circumstance.
If you want to break the century mark, take and make more shots and free throws. You can do that without leaving starters in.

centercourt

February 14, 2011

I did some research regarding the recent discussion on a Dunkirk starter playing late in the fourth quarter of a lopsided game. I wanted to offer whatever facts I could, being that I suspect no one discussing this game knows anything other than the final score and what’s been commented on.
It was senior night and only three of the regular starters were in the starting lineup.
Dunkirk only pressed in the first quarter and then played a 2-3 zone after that.
The player who scored 42 points (a senior) tied the school scoring record and was kept in longer for that opportunity.
The player who scored 42 points, also recorded 15 assists.
The Marauders rotated the entire team into the game throughout.

Dunkirk basketball

February 14, 2011

Thanks for getting the facts Centercourt. Shows the silliness of some of the comments by people who didn’t even see the game.

jackherlan

February 14, 2011

My comments were very general and not to the specifics of that game at all. That being said, in my opinion, that is still not a good reason for that to take place.

JohnFrederickPSU

February 14, 2011

Well done CC for getting the reasoning for the coaching decision out in the open.
That coaches decision is his and his only and that is the point. If he thinks its the right decision, so be it, but those decisions leave one vulnerable to criticism. Agreement one way or the other on this issue will not happen.
There will ALWAYS be coaches who will run up the score for what they think are noble reasons, and there will ALWAYS be coaches who will run up the score just because they can. And there will always be people who criticize that decision no matter the reason.
That is what makes this discussion interesting.