BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — With the senior leadership group for Williamsville South playing its 12th boys basketball playoff game in four years at Buffalo State Sports Arena, the Bills leveraged their postseason experience to repeat as Section VI Class A champions.
“We’re definitely comfortable playing here in these big games,” senior guard Carter Lampke said following Williamsville South’s 60-48 win against Lackawanna on Tuesday night in the A crossover matchup. “Buff State feels like a second home. Especially when we’re wearing our home whites.”
Nate Wilemski scored 20 points, Lampke had 18 and Sam Tedesco added 10 as the Billies overcame an early deficit to pull ahead in the second quarter and never looked back.
“Having leaders with the experience we have that can take guys under their wing when we get in situations where we have those slow starts is huge,” said Wilemski, a junior who played a key role in last year’s playoff run. “We know in the backs of our minds that we’ve been here before. We knew what to do.”
Lackawanna (10-12) won its first sectional title in 14 years as the No. 10 seed in the A2 bracket.
Williamsville South (19-5), ranked ninth among Western New York large schools and No. 11 in the state in Class A, beat ranked opponents Amherst and Grand Island to win the A1 title as the third seed.
The Billies also steeled themselves for playoff basketball in the competitive ECIC II division that was well-represented at Buff State, and with a challenging non-league slate.
“It prepared us really well playing teams like Nichols, Timon, Canisius, Niagara Falls, really great teams that helped us learn how to handle pressure and big crowds,” Lampke said. “Our coach having trust in us to schedule those games for a purpose is really helping us out.”
The opposition only gets tougher now, as South travels to Rush Henrietta High School on Saturday to meet the team it lost against in last year’s Far West Regional, state No. 7 Wayne (22-2) led by 6-foot-6 junior guard Cameron Blankenberg averaging 31 points.
“I think we have a good chance,” Lampke said. “Wayne is a great team. But I trust our coaches. We just have to stay bought in and not be satisfied with a crossover win.”
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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
