Minor Division
In a close battle throughout, Carvel of Whitestone defeated Pizza Chef, 37-33. Carvel was led by Max Meltzer with 18 points and Mike Wiederhold throwing in 12. Pizza Chef was led by Mike Kern, 10 points; John Montoya, 6; Joe Schade, 6; and Joe Depperman, 5 points. Also scoring for Carvel was Joe Lumley, 3 points, and Tommy Schreiber and Jonathan Lopez contributed 2 points. The defense was led by Jonathan Soto, Anthony Romano and John Pluchino.
Carvel of Whitestone defeated E&S, 37-31. Carvel jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Wiederhold was on fire as he pumped in nine of his team-high 14. E&S came back and took a 21-18 lead, but Lumley’s 11 points and Meltzer’s 10 points helped Carvel regain the lead and win by six. Carvel played superb defense, led by Pluchino, Schreiber, Romano and Soto. Jason Brandes had a game-high 19 points for E&S.
Nicky Katakiledes, Dave Marsala and Anthony Sciffo all scored in double digits as VFW Post 4787 defeated Duffner & Voight, 47-33. VFW got started early with a momentum-building jump shot by Brendan Corrigan, and the victory was sealed with a clutch layup by Joe Ahmadza on an assist by Ari Santis. Glenn Barker played an incredible game for Duffner & Voight.
Verdi’s Restaurant defeated Carvel of Whitestone. Brian Campbell had 25 points, while Derek Lamacchia chipped in with 12. Weiderhold scored 10 points for Carvel.
Bantam Division
In a battle for first place in the division, Jam Service Company defeated Bashnagel Bros. Roofing, 28-17. Patrick Berndt was a presence on both ends of the floor, scoring a game-high 13 points on a variety of short jumpers and drives to the basket while making several key steals on the defensive end.
Kenny Lehr directed the offense from the point, contributing 6 points and two pretty assists to big man Jose Hasing, whose 4 points kept Bashnagel from closing the gap.
Mike Gallagher had a big basket, and along with Sal Di Maria, Francisco Kyriacov, David Hazim and Jeremy Mejia, played the hustling defense that was key to the win for Jam. For Bashnagel, Frank Obidienzo had 6 points and Nick Loccisano had 4, while Dennis Brennan played a nice all-around game.
In a Bantam Division game, Stitches beat Blue Ribbon Travel by 3 points in overtime. Tony and George Zorilla were having their way with the Stitches’ defense until David Legaz, George Tsiklidis and Logan Frankel stepped up their man-to-man defense.
As regulation time was about to expire, Frankel passed under the basket to Tsiklidis, who put up the tying score. In the overtime period, Paul Tsenesisis and Vinay Chodha helped seal the win for Stitches with an extremely tight defensive game.
The other game Stitches was involved with this week was a loss to the Jam Service Company team. Despite a strong effort by Frankel, Legaz, Tsiklidis, and Tsenesisis, the explosive offense led by Jam’s Berndt and Lehr was too much to handle for the Stitches team.
Major Division
In a Major Division game, Marble Mode easily defeated Big Apple Barbecue. It was a real team effort by Marble Mode. Anthony Kapovic and “3 point” Nick Vigorito controlled the boards from the outset. Jonathan Lee and Dave Martin featured excellent guard play while Zach Frankel and Ralph Glavan also contributed to this win.
“Smokin Joe” Montgomery clogged the middle and was a scoring power in the victory. The usually stolid-faced Coach Jay Vigorito even managed a smile from the bench during this game. Marble Mode is now 3-1 for the season.
It was déjà vu all over again for Varsi Deli, as, for the second time in a week, they used a 3-point buzzer beater to win, this time over Cherry Valley Deli, 37-36.
Cherry Valley dominated the first half behind the smooth ballhandling and shooting of Ed Johnston and the fine play of Danny Munoz and Joe Monte. Michael Berndt, however, had his “A” game in high gear as he led Varsi back from a 9-point deficit, his intensity and offense giving Varsi a huge pick up in the second half.
It all came down to the last seconds as Cherry Valley, up by 1, converted the front end of a one-and-one. Jose Barcena grabbed the rebound with 5.1 seconds on the clock, pushed the ball past half court, did a 360 spin past two defenders and launched the game-winning shot.
Varsi, Berndt and Barcena each had 13 points, while Keith Caparelli was in double figures. Andrew Lehr and Amit Chada contributed with key rebounds in the second half. Cherry Valley played an excellent game and deserved to win but fell just short in the end.
Girls’ A Division
Whitehouse Restaurant beat Dr. Donald Musaffi, 21-16. Jessica Piccolino got Whitehouse started with her first basket of the season. Theresa Schwenk had a basket, Rei Lem scored 5, and Corinne Lippert scored 12. Musaffi came on strong in the fourth quarter when Inum Kahn scored 10 points, 12 all together. Also scoring for Musaffi was Samantha MacNamara with a basket and Melissa Clavin with one basket.
Novice Division
In another close game, Team 4 beat Team 1, 16-14. Team 4 poured it on in the second half, after a 10-4 first-half lead by Team 1. For Team 4, Travis Lippert had 12 points, and Nickolai Gallegos had 4. Great playing by Joseph Almodovar, Brian McGann, Stephen Mirtsopoulos, John Doyle, Constantine Dakis and Gregory Pitarresi, helped secure the win. Scoring for Team 1 was Anthony Scarallo, Kevin Reynoso, Ismael Nehhas and Simon S.
Pee Wee Folks Pre-School won its third straight game being led by the great all-around play of Tom Foley and the shooting of Jenna Schiffman and Mike McCutchen. Other players who also played well were Christina Ferrara, Joe Piazza and Andy Garcia.
