July 18 area sports: Niagara Tigers basketball: Pelham basketball open house; Beechwood golf
The Niagara Tigers travel basketball program took another step in its evolution with the Grades 5 through 8 teams participating in the Canadian National Invitational Tournament in Burlington, featuring the strongest programs in the country.
“The majority of these teams do not even participate in the OBA (Basketball Ontario) as they feel the level of competition is not strong enough even at the Division 1 level,” Niagara Tigers’ Pat Sullivan said.
Because of the newness of the Tigers program, all its teams were ranked at the bottom of their respective divisions at the CNIT tournament and had to play the strongest teams.
“Despite a handful of lopsided losses, the program performed admirably with our Grade 6 and 7 teams each winning one game and our Grade 8 team winning two,” Sullivan said. “Our Grade 5 boys did not win a game, but all of their games were within range of winning.”
It was a great experience for all the Tigers players.
“The boys were exposed to a style of play and a level of aggressiveness which will make them better players and inspire them to work harder toward their goals,” he said.
While the Tigers’ younger teams were in Burlington, the Grade 9 and 10 teams traveled to Indianapolis to participate in the Adidas Invitational Tournament. Outside of the Shoe company sponsored tournaments for the top 100 players or so in the U.S. and Canada this level of tournament is considered an extremely high profile event.
“Our Grade 9 boys showed steady growth throughout the tournament and won two of the five games they played and lost the final of the silver bracket at the buzzer,” Sullivan said.
The Grade 10 team also enjoyed a highly successful weekend, taking on some very big, and talented teams.
“Facing competition from established programs from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Texas, the team was victorious in three of their six contests,” he said. “The teams recognized the passion for the game in the States and pushed themselves to raise their level of concentration and aggressiveness in order to compete at that level.
“All of the players will certainly improve as a result of this exposure heading into their high school seasons.
The Tigers Grade 9 through 11 teams are now waiting on the CNIT schedule which will be their final event of the season.
PELHAM HOOPS OPEN HOUSE
The Pelham Panthers Basketball Association will host an open house at the new Pelham Community Centre this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
There will be a free two-hour No Limit Performance skills session from 10 a.m. until noon and Mihai Raducanu and his skills development team will be on hand to assist players of all levels. Interested players should bring a basketball, water bottle and indoor shoes.
Members of PPBA executive will be available to answers questions about its fall and winter programming for both house league and travel basketball. The executive will be available until 4 p.m. and several of Pelham’s club teams will be on the courts throughout the day.
BEECHWOOD GOLF
Following are results from Beechwood:
Nine and Dine League
Winners:: John and Judith Bennoch; Reg and Gert Kennedy; Duncan and Marg Allan.
Least putts: Dave and Kim Kanwisher 16.
Closest to the pin on No. 2: Marg Allan, ladies; Reg Kennedy, men.
Closest to the pin on No. 9: Pat Marzetti, ladies; Roy Marzetti, men.
Eagle: the Kennedys, No 3.
Tuesday Ladies
League winners: Chris Maleta, Carolyn Gear, Carol Purcer, Sue Buchan, Sandy Mokrzynski.
Best poker hand (any five holes in a row): Alana McGregor, Carol Purcer, Dini Kollen.
Points leaders: Purcer (35), Mary Costanzo (34), Jen Norquay (34), Janice Sargeant (34), Denise Roach (32), Darlene Smith (32), Ardeth Staz (32).
Wednesday Ladies
League winners: Rachel Delaney, Kathy Benner, Michele Tiffney, Liz Seeley, Ardeth Staz.
Best poker hand (any five holes in a row): Tiffney, Joanne Lanigan.
Points leaders: Janice Kroetsch (35), Debbie Douglas (32), Ardith Staz (31), Libby Botell (30), Janie Griffith (29), Shirley Bartolini (29), Colleen Evans (28), Bonnie Comer (28), Judith Bennoch (27).
Thursday Stag Night
League winners: Darryl McNamara, A.J. Heafey, Trevor Arsenault.
Closest to the pin: Dave Kanwisher, No. 2; Dwayne Smith, No. 9; John McCracken, No. 11; Jamie LeMyre, No. 13; Chris Armstrong, No. 17.
Points leaders: Don Miller (39), Mario Armenti (35), Rick Wezden (35), Ryan Thomas (34), Terry Cooke (33), Kanwisher (33), Bill McGarrigle (32), McCracken (31), Jonathan Astley (31), Mark Miller (30), McNamara (30).
Friday Ben’s Bright Spot Boys
Single quota points: Andy Leshkewich (+7), Brooksy (+6), Jim Panetta (+6) , Don Read (+5)
Team game blind draw: Panetta (+6), Andy Leshkewich (+7), John Kenny (+2), John Sciamonte (+2) at +17.
Closest to the pin: Larry Brooks, No. 9; Jim McCann, No. 17.
Closest to the pin in two shots: Panetta, No. 10;
Longest putt: Tony Crocco, No. 5.
Sunday Ben’s Group
Low net team: Pat Loney, Rick Linwood, Gerry Maney and Rick Dupuis -24; Tony Crocco, John Kenny and Wayne Meginnis -22; John McIntosh, Ron Reece and Ralph Carmichael -22; Ange Persia, Sam Linwood, Karl Palmquist and Ed Stangret -21.
Closest to the pin: Sam Lucenti, No. 2; Bob Fuller, No. 13.
Hidden hole winner: Butch Ciancio, No. 1.
Low net: Carmichael 87-23=64
Ladies Invitational 18
Flight A: Amy MacLean and Lorraine MacLean (69); Lillian Haskin and Cherie Race (74).
Flight B: Carol Dupuis and Ina Bynkoski (82); Kathy Vanderkant and Helen Wylde (83).
Flight C: Kim Kanwisher and Stacey Krumis (88); Carolyn Bruegman and Irene Kozina (90).
Flight D: Judith Bennoch and Karen Kirk (93); Karen Dancy and Madeline Potone (99).
