Fredonia’s Nick Whitfield (22) looks to drive during last Friday’s CCAA West 1 Division boys basketball game against Southwestern at Fredonia High School. Fredonia hosts Allegany-Limestone tonight in a key CCAA West 1 Division game. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen.

Coming into the season, Fredonia coach Nick Bertrando and his team set goals for the upcoming year. After a bracket-busting upset a year ago over No. 1 Medina to send the Hillbillies to the Section VI semifinals at Buffalo State College, Fredonia has high hopes this season.

While the biggest goals this season are still more than a month away from even being possible, a goal that Bertrando and many of his returning players, like Tyler Putney and Nick Whitfield, share is hanging in the balance tonight — a league title.

The Fredonia Hillbillies host the Allegany-Limestone Gators tonight at 7:30 p.m. in a matchup that might decide the winner of the CCAA West 1 Division.

While tonight’s game represents the first matchup of the second half of the league schedule, this one matters just a little bit more. Allegany-Limestone sits alone atop the league standings after a clean sweep of the division on the first trip through the schedule. Fredonia, however, showed pretty well in its own right against the rest of the league. The Hillbillies (10-3, 4-1) only have one loss in league play, against Allegany-Limestone on the road, in the league opener for both teams.

In the first matchup on Jan. 3, Fredonia started slow and fell into an early hole. Despite the tough circumstances in a challenging environment, the Hillbillies still managed to fight back and tie the game at 36-all in the third quarter. The problem for Fredonia, though, was that the Hillbillies spent so much energy getting back into the game that there wasn’t anything left. The Gators finished off the game in front of their home fans and took control of the division with the early league win, 64-46.

“Down there, they jumped on us early. … To our credit, we fought back and tied it up, but we spent so much energy coming back that, by the end, they sort of ran away with it,” said Bertrando.

This time, the environment is in Fredonia’s favor. Coming off a blowout of the Southwestern Trojans in which Tyler Putney drilled a school record nine 3-pointers for a career-high 40 points, Fredonia’s crowd had plenty to cheer for in the last game, last Friday night. As if Fredonia’s crowd wouldn’t be hyped enough, the momentum of Putney’s incredible performance should bode well for the Hillbillies at the start of tonight’s game.

“We always talk about protecting the house and playing well at home,” said Bertrando. “We’re hoping that the crowd comes out and supports us once again.”

But it’s not like Allegany-Limestone is coming in struggling. The Gators (11-2, 5-0) are riding a seven-game winning streak, in which the last three wins have all been by more than 20 points and six of the seven wins are by double digits. Last week, Allegany-Limestone held Southwestern to just 30 points at home in Lakewood, then more than doubled Dunkirk, 72-35, last Friday. The Gators then beat Hutch-Tech the next day, 69-47. Already a game back, if the Hillbillies lose tonight, the Gators will hold a two-game lead in the division with four games left to play, and three of those four games left come against opponents Allegany-Limestone beat by double digits. Fredonia certainly has to play its best game of the season to stay in contention for the league title — and the Hillbillies know it.

“It’s Round 2. [Winning the league] is our goal,” said Putney after his career day last week. “One game at a time, for sure, but we definitely want the title … then a far run in the playoffs.”

Tip-off for tonight’s game is estimated at 7:30 p.m. after the JV game, which begins at 6 p.m. Follow along on Twitter @bradencarmen and @TheObserverNY for updates during the game. Look for a complete game story in the next day’s paper or online at observertoday.com