Fredonia shrugs off slow start, downs St. Mary’s
- Photo by Ron Szot Fredonia’s Dom Gullo pulls down a rebound during Wednesday’s nonleague basketball game against St. Mary’s at Fredonia Central School.
- Photo by Ron Szot Fredonia’s Mike Berg looks for his shot while being closely guarded by a St. Mary’s defender during Wednesday’s nonleague basketball game at Fredonia Central School.

Photo by Ron Szot Fredonia’s Dom Gullo pulls down a rebound during Wednesday’s nonleague basketball game against St. Mary’s at Fredonia Central School.
The Fredonia’s boys basketball team suffered another slow start in Wednesday’s nonleague matchup against St. Mary’s, but the Hillbillies (5-2) were able to get their offense going with a 22-point second quarter on the way to a 61-48 win.
Tyler Putney led the way with a 22-point night that included four 3s, while Mike Berg added 12 points and Ethan Fry 13 points with three makes from beyond the arc.
“For whatever reason we struggle to get out of the gate. We got some good quality looks, but they didn’t go down early,” said Fredonia head coach Nick Bertrando.
Aiding Fredonia when things have been slow has been the defense, and that was the case on Wednesday.
Bertrando’s team was able to manufacture chances once dribble penetration opened up outside shots.

Photo by Ron Szot Fredonia’s Mike Berg looks for his shot while being closely guarded by a St. Mary’s defender during Wednesday’s nonleague basketball game at Fredonia Central School.
“It really stems from our defense, and once we got the defense on the uptick and the energy started flowing the offense kicked into gear,” he said. “It was our dribble penetration. It was able to create opportunities with kickouts to the 3s. We did a tremendous job of sharing the ball tonight.”
Brandon Thome led St. Mary’s with 14 points.
ST. MARY’S (48)
A. Gallo 1 0 3, Hadsell 4 0 9, Schmitt 3 0 6, Brown 1 3 5, Thome 7 0 14, M. Gallo 2 0 6, Vaccaro 1 0 3, Keller 1 0 2. Totals 20 3 48.
FREDONIA (61)
D. Gullo 2 0 4, Putney 7 4 22, Berg 3 5 12, Lemiszko 2 1 5, Fry 4 3 13, Schrader 2 0 4. Totals 20 13 61.
3-point goals: A. Gallo, Hadsell, M. Gallo 2, Vaccaro, Putney 4, Berg, Fry 3.
St. Mary’s 11 9 15 13–48
Fredonia 9 22 15 15–61
Jayvees: St. Mary’s won.
EAGLES EDGE CARDS
ELLICOTTVILLE — “We didn’t change a whole lot.”
That was the comment of Ellicottville coach Dave McCann after the Eagles knocked off Randolph for the second time in a week, 50-47, in a nonleague game.
In other words, the host’s defense was stellar once again as it led, 25-14, at halftime.
Offensively, Clayton Rowland led Ellicottville (5-0) with 16 points, 11 rebounds and five assists; and Leif Jimerson chipped in 15 points.
The Cardinals (4-2) closed to within, 36-32, after three quarters and had a chance to tie, but Jaiden Huntington’s 3-pointer in the closing seconds didn’t fall, and the Eagles escaped with the win.
Huntington led Randolph with 26 points, and Ashton Bushey added 8 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
RANDOLPH (47)
Bushey 3 0 8, IHind 1 0 2, DHind 2 1 6, Conley 2 0 5, Huntington 9 3 26. Totals 17 4 47.
ELLICOTTVILLE (50)
Marsh 1 0 2, Jimerson 6 2 15, Rowland 6 3 16, Chudy 3 1 7, Grinols 3 2 10, Caldwell 0 0 0, Diethrich 0 0 0, Totals 19 8 50.
3-point goals–Bushey 2, DHind, Conley 1, Huntington 5, Jimerson, Rowland, Grinols 2.
Randolph 6 8 18 15 — 47
Ellicottville 10 15 11 14 — 50
Jayvees: Ellicottville won.
SERCU LEADS PINE VALLEY
SOUTH DAYTON — Bryce Sercu finished his night with 26 points, five assists and seven rebounds to lead Pine Valley (1-3, 1-3) to a 63-37 CCAA Division 2 East win over Forestville (1-3, 1-3).
Kordell Oakes had a big night on offense as well, pouring in 26 points to go along with six assists, while Travis West added 6 points and Cameron Hayes 10 rebounds.
Javier West was the bright spot for Forestville with 24 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
FORESTVILLE (37)
West 10 1 24, Palmer 1 1 3, Szumigala 1 0 2, Reuben 0 2 2, Hemphill 1 0 2, Robinson 2 0 4. Totals 15 4 37.
PINE VALLEY (63)
Sercu 11 1 26, Gugliemi 1 0 3, Oakes 10 3 26, West 3 0 6, Logan 1 0 2, King 0 0 0, Frontuto 0 0 0, Daniels 0 0 0, Smith 0 0 0, Butcher 0 0 0, Moya 0 0 0, Hayes 0 0 0. Totals 26 4 63.
3-pointers: West 3, Gugliemi, Sercu 3, Oakes.
Forestville 10 9 15 3–37
Pine Valley 16 11 20 16–63
GOWANDA PREVAILS
GOWANDA — Quinton Fentner scored 15 points and John Ondus added 11 to lead Gowanda to a 59-20 victory over Brocton in a nonleague game.
The Panthers (2-3) led 25-12 at halftime and outscored Brocton, 34-8 in the second half.
Ryan Laurito paced the Bulldogs with 13 points.
BROCTON (20)
Ehmke 0 0 0, Gustafson 0 0 0, Bigelow 0 0 0, Colgrove 1 2 4, Wdowiaz 0 1 1, Dispense 1 0 2, Laurito 5 2 13, St. George 0 0 0, Steward 0 0 0, Totals 7 5 20.
GOWANDA (60)
NBrowning 1 0 2, Herman 2 1 6, Ondus 4 1 11, MBrowning 1 0 2, Harbison 2 0 5, Ruff 3 0 6, Smith 1 0 2, Quinton Fentner 7 1 15, Rivera 4 0 8, Kaminski 1 0 2, Totals 26 3 59.
3-point goals–Laurito, Herman, Ondus 2, Harbison.
Brocton 6 6 4 4 — 20
Gowanda 11 14 12 22 — 59
GIRLS
BRINK LEADS PANTHERS PAST BEARS
FREWSBURG — The Frewsburg girls basketball gave visiting Panama all it could handle in its first game back from COVID-19 quarantine on Wednesday, but it was the Panthers who had the hot hand down the stretch.
Panama (4-1, 3-0) claimed a 46-42 CCAA Division 2 West victory over the Bears (0-1) thanks to a stellar performance by Mandy Brink that included 23 points, eight boards, three steals and five assists.
For Frewsburg, the challenges in waiting to play its first game have included physical conditioning and mental preparation.
“I thought the kids handled it mentally really well, especially in the fourth quarter,” Frewsburg coach Jeff Collver said. “Not being able to get in the gym was very frustrating. I think the hardest part was my team was getting to the point where they were almost in shape by the time we got into quarantine. So basically they had to condition twice. Any athlete will tell you that the hardest part is the getting-into-shape part.”
Josephine Bailey added 4 points, eight boards and three steals in the win and Hannah Schauman added 5 points and five assists.
Mikayla Jones led Frewsburg from beyond the arc with four 3s in a 14-point effort, while Elise Sposato added 11 points and three steals. Tyra Clark had nine boards, Lizzie Schrecengost 6 points and seven rebounds and Alex Hultberg 7 points and four assists in the loss.
PANAMA (46)
J. Bailey 2 0 4, Brink 6 10 23, Schauman 2 0 5, Harvey 1 3 5, I. Bailey 4 0 9, Morgan 0 0 0, Odell 0 0 0. Totals 15 13 46.
FREWSBURG (42)
Trocki 0 0 0, Clark 0 0 0, Hultberg 1 4 7, Sposato 5 1 11, L. Schrecengost 3 0 6, Jones 5 0 14, Samuelson 0 0 0, E. Schrecengost 1 2 4. Totals 15 7 42.
3-point goals: Jones 4, Hultberg, Brink, Schauman, I. Bailey.
Panama 6 14 12 14–46
Frewsburg 14 7 9 12–42
Jayvees: Frewsburg 55, Panama 16.