CHATEAUGAY – What began as an early-season showdown for the top spot in the Northern Athletic Conference East Division quickly turned into the Brandon Leonard show, as the Chateaugay senior tickled the twines for a career high 34 points to help the Bulldogs maintain possession of the division’s top spot in a 63-48 win against the visiting St. Lawrence Central Larries on Wednesday.
The victory leaves the Chateaugay boys varsity basketball team as the lone unbeaten squad in the division, as both the Bulldogs and Larries entered the contest with unbeaten divisional records. The Bulldogs stand alone at the top of the standings with a 4-0 record. The loss drops the Larries to 2-1 in the division, 3-2 overall.
After tasting defeat in its season-opening nonleague game, Chateaugay has won four straight to increase its overall record to 4-1.
The two East Division teams opened up the game on fire, with St. Lawrence jumping out to a 14-7 lead midway through the first quarter. Chateaugay found its touch and went on a 10-0 run to grab a 17-14 lead and capped the opening quarter by outscoring the Larries 9-5 over the final two minutes for a 26-19 advantage.
The Bulldogs never trailed the rest of the way.
Leonard and sophomore Jacob Johnston paced the Bulldogs during the opening eight minutes with nine points apiece, while Owen Rockhill came off the bench and tossed in a pair of 3-pointers, including the final three points of the stanza going through the net as the buzzer sounded.
Chateaugay, which has had trouble scoring in the second quarter in every outing thus far, did just enough to maintain its lead, as Leonard capped off the first half by scoring the final five points to increase the CCS lead to double figures, at 34-22.
Leonard picked up where he left off at the end of the first half and scored Chateaugay’s first six points of the third. The string of points forced St. Lawrence coach Joey Reome to call for a time out. The mini break helped the SLC cause, as the Larries outscored the Bulldogs 10-9 over the final three minutes, but its was too little, too late, as Chateaugay built a 49-33 advantage entering the final eight minutes of play. Leonard scored 13 of the team’s 15 points in the third to help the Bulldogs gain their double-digit lead.
Leonard would cap off his career-high scoring effort with seven more points during the fourth quarter, then left the court midway through the stanza to a standing ovation from the pro-Chateaugay crowd in attendance.
“What can I say, Brando went off tonight,” said Chateaugay coach Mike Martin. “He had one heck of a game.”
Indeed, coach, as the CCS senior finished off the win with five of both rebounds and assists, adding two steals and a blocked shot to the team’s victory.
It wasn’t just a one-man show for Chateaugay though, as Johnston (5 assists, 4 steals) also struck for double digits and finished with 16, while Walker Martin handed out a game-high 11 assists to go along with seven points and five rebounds. Ryan Dustin came off the bench and also grabbed five caroms, while Peter Reynolds did a lot of the dirty work on the floor with solid picks to free up the outside shooters as the Bulldogs connected for seven 3-pointers. Leonard led the team in that category as well, tossing in four shots from beyond the arc, while Rockhill (6 points) hit for two treys and Johnston one.
“Walker (Martin) had a nice game distributing the ball for us with his 11 assists. It’s been a while since we had a player get to double figures in assists. And Jake (Johnston) helped carry us early in the first quarter,” recalled the coach, who noted that the team still has four players sidelined for various reasons, two of which are starters.
“Our bench really stepped up and gave us some really strong minutes tonight (Wednesday),” Martin said.
Despite dropping its first divisional contest of the season, the Larries still managed to get three players into double figures.
Sophomore Ayden Beach led the way with 16 points, as senior Xavier Shattuck and sophomore Damien Ashley finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Ashley, Beach and Joe Perry accounted for all six of the Larries triples, tossing in two each.
St. Lawrence is back in action at noon on Saturday (weather permitting), traveling to Lake Placid for a nonleague game. Both SLC and Chateaugay have East Division games scheduled for Monday. Chateaugay plays at Brushton-Moira, while St. Lawrence hosts Madrid-Waddington, and both are scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m.
Elsewhere
In the only other boys East Division game on Wednesday, Tupper Lake toppled host St. Regis Falls 84-34. The win improves the Lumberjacks East Division record to 3-1 and ups their overall mark to 5-1. Tupper Lake’s lone loss this season came at the hands of East Division-leading Chateaugay.
In the lone Central Division boys basketball contest on Wednesday, Potsdam defeated Salmon River 60-38, while in West Division play, Harrisville topped Norwood-Norfolk 54-18.
Potsdam 60, Salmon River 38: In Fort Covington, the Potsdam Central varsity boys basketball team turned a three-point halftime lead into a convincing Central Division win.
Junior Dylan LaMora tossed through a career-high 21 points, including five 3-pointers, as the Sandstoners broke open the game with a 20-8 run in the third quarter. Ian VanWagner added 16 points toward the winning effort, followed by Theo Hughes with nine, Adam Cook with six, Steven Yoakum with five and Tanner O’Brien with three.
Sebastien Laughling led the Shamrocks with 14 points as Edward Jacobs followed with 12. Brody Lebehn contributed six points to the SRC effort, while Taharihwakohe Lazore scored four and Riley Thomas netted two.
The Sandstoners are scheduled to compete at the annual Jim Darcy Memorial Tournament at Lisbon Central, starting at 6 p.m. tonight against Morristown. Salmon River is slated to host an interdivisional game at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday against Harrisville.
Other results
Girls Basketball
In the lone girls basketball game on Wednesday, Canton needed overtime to knock off Heuvelton 58-56 in a nonleague contest.
The St. Lawrence at Parishville-Hopkinton East Division game was postponed, as was the Harrisville at Thousand Islands nonleague game. The Harrisville-Thousand Islands game has been rescheduled to Jan. 11, 2023.
Boys Hockey
At the Tri-Town Arena in Brasher Falls, Potsdam picked up its first NAC win of the season with a 6-1 victory over the St. Lawrence Central Larries, while in Tupper Lake, the Massena Red Raiders shut out the host Lumberjacks 10-0.
Girls Hockey
In a battle of Section 10 teams at the Massena Arena, the Potsdam Sandstoners blanked the host Raiders 8-0, while Oswego edged Canton 3-2 in a nonleague matchup.
Wrestling
The Massena at Gouverneur match was postponed on Wednesday. No makeup date was announced.
Boys Basketball
East Division
Chateaugay 63, St. Lawrence 48
St. Lawrence 19 3 11 15 – 48
Chateaugay 26 8 15 14 – 63
St. Lawrence: Ashley 4-0-10; Perry 2-0-6; Mason 0-1-1; Beach 7-0-16; Shattuck 4-3-11; Labrake 1-0-2; Lemay 1-0-2. Totals: 19-4-48.
Chateaugay: Martin 3-1-7; Leonard 14-2-34; Johnston 7-1-16; Rockhill 2-0-6. Totals: 26-4-63.
3-Pointers: St. Lawrence - 6 (Ashley 2, Perry 2, Beach 2), Chateaugay - 7 (Leonard 4, Johnston, Rockhill 2).
Records: St. Lawrence (3-2, 2-1 East), Chateaugay (4-1, 4-0).
Tupper Lake 84, St. Regis Falls 34
Records: Tupper Lake (5-1, 3-1 East), St. Regis Falls (0-6, 0-5).
Central Division
Potsdam 60, Salmon River 38
Potsdam 10 11 20 19 – 60
Salmon River 6 13 8 11 – 38
Potsdam: VanWagner 6-3-16; Hughes 4-1-9; Cook 2-0-6; LaMora 8-0-21; Delaney 1-1-3; Yoakum 2-0-5. Totals: 23-5-60.
Salmon River: Lazore 1-2-4; Laughing 4-4-14; Thomas 0-2-2; Jacobs 5-0-12; Lebehn 2-2-6. Totals: 12-10-38.
3-Pointers: Potsdam - 9 (VanWagner, Cook 2, LaMora 5, Yoakum), Salmon River - 4 (Laughing 2, Jacobs 2).
Records: Potsdam (2-4, 1-2 Central), Salmon River (2-4, 0-4).
