Jul 12, 2017 By Bill Hughes for The 3 min read

CALIFORNIA — The boys division of the J. Budd Grebb Memorial Basketball League reached the midway point Tuesday night, and there is a logjam in the middle of the pack.

Campy’s Pizza (4-0) remains undefeated and in first place with a 101-79 win over Northwood Realty (2-3), and Campy’s Pizza assistant coach John Bristol shared his thoughts after the game.

“We still haven’t had everyone for any of our games, so the guys are still learning each other,” said Bristol, who filled in for head coach Naz Victoria. “We are improving each game though.”

Northwood Realty coach Paul Stanley discussed how things went.

“That is a very talented team,” he said of Campy’s Pizza. “But our guys are giving the effort and we have to keep working hard.”

Lyndon Henderson (Monessen) led five players in double figures with 29 points while Chris Pecon (Ringgold) and Shandon Marshall (Brownsville) each added 17. Will Greijack (Elizabeth Forward) had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Ethan Dunsy (Thomas Jefferson) 10 ten.

Elijahwa Payne (Monessen) led Northwood Realty with 23 points and 14 rebounds, Griffin LaCarte (Belle Vernon) had 18 points, and Dishon Howell (Monessen) had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The fact that Campy’s is still improving isn’t a good thing for the league, and Campy’s now has a two-game lead over Union Cleaners (3-2) and Farmers Insurance (3-2) after Union Cleaners defeated Farmers Insurance, 75-62.

“I keep telling the guys to play to their strengths and that is what we did tonight,” he said. “We hit outside shots, moved in transition, and Joe (Sabolek) dominated inside again.”

Sabolek (Belle Vernon) finished with 20 points and 18 rebounds while Reginald Grooms (Uniontown) had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Steve Harner (Bentworth) had 14 points including hitting four three pointers, and Christian Murphy (Belle Vernon) had nine points and five steals.

“The guys hit some three’s early and it opened things up inside,” said Sabolek, who is averaging 21 points and 18 rebounds per game. “They tried to front me at first but then things started to open up.”

Union Cleaners hit eight three-pointers in the game, and Farmers Insurance coach Dana Zajicek spoke about it.

“They hit a lot of shots early and we could never get into a groove,” he said. “We just have to get back to it Thursday.”

Ronnie Paith (Washington) led Farmers Insurance with 23 points and Dru Miller (California) added 10 points.

In the finale, BeeGraphix (1-4) downed California Dairy Queen (1-3), 80-74.

“The guys are playing hard,” said BeeGraphix coach Dan Miller. “We do better when we play as a team and guys don’t try to do individual ball.”

Mike Koroly (Trinity) paced BeeGraphix with 22 points while Joe Green (Beth-Center) had 20, Thomas Hepple (Belle Vernon) had 16 points and 15 rebounds and Joe Caruso (Charleroi) chipped in with 11.

Ben Wilson (California) paced California DQ with 35 points and Cochise Ryan added 18 points and 10 rebounds.