Here's a list of what I think are the top games to follow this week:

 

Monday, January 13th

Salamanca @ Allegany-Limestone – 7:30 pm

Clarence @ Lamcaster – 7:30 pm

Sherman @ Clymer – 7:30 pm

 

Tuesday, January 14th

Holland @ Lackawanna – 7 pm

Canisius @ Bishop Kearney – 7 pm

Iroquois @ Williamsville South – 7:30 pm

Sweet Home @ Hamburg – 7:30 pm

Williamsville East @ Frontier – 7:30 pm

 

Wednesday, January 15th

McKinley @ East – 6 pm

 

Thursday, January 16th 

Lackawanna @ Alden – 7 pm

Williamsville South @ Hamburg – 7:30 pm

 

Friday, January 17th

Nichols @ Park – 6:30 pm

Niagara Falls @ North Tonawanda – 7 pm

Iroquois @ Sweet Home – 7:30 pm

Williamsville North @ Clarence – 7:30 pm

MLK Classic at City Honors High School

Tapestry @ City Honors – 4:30 pm

IPrep vs. Maritime Charter – 6 pm

Middle College vs. Cheektowaga – 7:30 pm

 

Saturday, January 18th 

MLK Classic @ City Honors High School

St. Francis vs. Hutch-Tech – 11 am

East vs. Sweet Home – 12:30 pm

Canisius vs. McKinley - 2 pm

 

Game of the Week – McKinley @ East on Wednesday, January 15th

–  The Yale Cup is the name of Buffalo's city league, and also the name of the trophy every team competing in that league covets.  East and McKinley have combined to win five of the last seven Yale Cups, including the last three.  East won it in 2007, 2009, & 2011.  McKinley hoisted it back-to-back the last two seasons, 2012 & 2013.  The Cup was won by Grover in 2008, before McKinley knocked them out of the playoffs…only to have its season ended by East, who advanced to Glens Falls in Class A that year.  Needless to say, these two programs are the gold standard of city basketball.

Both teams will enter the game undefeated in league play.  In fact, McKinley has been unbeaten in the Yale Cup in each of the last two seasons and enters the game with a 29-game winning streak in the Yale Cup.  That would be a remarkable feat for any team in any league to win that many in a row, but especially in a talent-laden league like the Yale Cup.  The Macks winning streak is closing in on history – Riverside holds the benchmark at 34 games dating back to the Mike Williams era in 2005 & 2006.  If you include postseason & nonleague games against Yale Cup schools, McKinley has won 33 consecutively versus Buffalo Public Schools.

The Macks were ranked sixth in last week's large school poll, and will likely move up, possibly as high as #2, following a win over Williamsville North on Friday.  McKinley is also considered a top 20 team in NYS in Class A.  East will enter the game as not only the top ranked small school in WNY, but in all of NYS. 

 

-centercourt

@centercourt42