Boys action begins in Budd Grebb League
CALIFORNIA — The boys division in the J. Budd Grebb Memorial Basketball League opened its ninth season Tuesday at Mechanic Street Park, and the action got off to a fast start.
Campy’s Pizza, which missed the playoffs a year ago with a young team, showed why it will be tough to beat them this year as it blew out BeeGraphix in the first game of the season, 103-62.
“I am very happy with how we played,” said Campy’s coach Naz Victoria. “We moved the ball well, got up and down the court, and did it without three players.
“It is only one game, but I am excited about the season.”
“(Campy’s) is a very good team who struggled a year ago with their youth,” said BeeGraphix coach Dan Miller. “That is where we are now as we are really young, but the guys played hard until the end.”
Shandon Miller (Brownsville) led five Campy’s players in double figures with a game-high 34 points, while Bryce Washington (Belle Vernon) added 19, Lyndon Henderson (Monessen) had 17, Chris Pecon (Ringgold) had 15, and Ethan Dunsy (Thomas Jefferson) had 10.
Washington led Campy’s with 10 rebounds and six assists, with Marshall also adding six assists.
Thomas Hepple (BV) led BeeGraphix with 24 points and had a game-high 14 rebounds, while Thomas Huffman (BV) added 10 points.
The game was close early, and Campy’s led 30-24 with 5:19 to play in the first half when Henderson finally arrived at the game after playing earlier in another league.
Campy’s (1-0) went on a 23-13 run to end the half, including a 5-0 run in the last five seconds heading into the break.
Campy’s depth provided to be too much as it pulled away from BeeGraphix (0-1) in the second half.
Farmers Insurance (1-0) downed California Dairy Queen (0-1), 62-47.
“It was a good performance for the first game,” Farmers coach Dana Zajicek said. “We have a lot of new faces playing together for the first time and we will grow as the season goes along.”
Farmers raced out to a 25-8 lead, but Cal DQ went on a 15-2 run to cut the Farmers lead to 27-23 late in the first half.
Zajicek called two timeouts during the run to regroup his team and the halftime helped halt the momentum as Farmers pulled away in the second half.
Philip Pace (Brownsville) led Farmers with 25 points and 13 rebounds, while Caleb Carson (Charleroi) had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Ben Wilson (California) led Cal DQ with 18 points and John Celaschi (Frazier) added 10.
In the finale, which was a rematch of last year’s championship game, defending champion Northwood Realty downed Union Cleaners, 59-51.
Griffin LaCarte (BV) led the Northwood with 23 points, while Elijahwa Payne (Monessen) had 10.
Joe Sabolek (BV) turned in a dominant effort for Union Cleaners with 15 points and 17 rebounds, while Jake Mayer (Ringgold) added 15 points and Christian Murphy (BV) netted 12.