North Tonawanda Lumberjacks Basketball: Welcome

By Brandon Koch

Throughout the regular season, the North Tonawanda boys basketball team seemingly hasn’t been able to catch a break.

But despite a 2-16 record, the No. 13 Lumberjacks have remained positive and are poised to play a full four quarters at 8 p.m. tonight at No. 12 Orchard Park (6-12) in first-round action of the Section VI Class AA tournament.

“We’ve had a lot of success as far as putting ourselves in a position to win, we just haven’t gotten the job done,” NT coach Ryan Mountain said.

The Jacks were upended on a Joe Lowery lay-up with two seconds left on Friday night in a 49-48 loss to Niagara Catholic.

However, a year-long trip through close calls and disappointing finishes hasn’t deterred NT.

“That really hasn’t been a challenge,” Mountain said of the team remaining positive. “We come to practice hard everyday. We’re still the team that nobody wants to play, and for the most part, we haven’t been outworked all season long.”

Mountain said he feels the Jacks haven’t played an easy game all season long.

“Only having two wins is obviously a disappointment from the standpoint that we don’t get the feeling of elation after a win, but the effort is something we’re really proud of.” he said.

One player in particular Mountain said has had an outstanding attitude throughout the season is Nathan Craig.

“(He) made the team as our 16th player, who wasn’t guaranteed a jersey,” Mountain said of Craig. “He hasn’t missed a day and he works as hard as anyone in practice. He’s an inspiration to us all.”

The Jacks have five losses with a margin of five points or less this season.

Their last win came on Feb. 8, a 55-39 decision at Grand Island.

The Jacks are battle-tested, though, boasting plenty of upperclassmen that were a part of last season’s semifinal run that ended with a loss to Jamestown at Buffalo State College.

The game plan tonight is simple.

“We plan on playing four games tomorrow night,” he said. “We’re going to take every quarter as an individual game — take one quarter at a time.”

By John D'Onofrio

LOCKPORT — Larry Carson did everything but plow out the Lockport High School parking lot on Tuesday night.

Carson scored inside and out, rebounds, tip-ins and even from Three-Point Land, scoring a game-high 29 points from everywhere on the floor, sparking the Lions past the visiting North Tonawanda Lumberjacks, 70-48, topping Niagara Frontier League boys basketball action.

Playing in his first game of the season without injury, Carson twisted and turned for layups in the paint and rarely missed from the outside, canning14 points in the first quarter and eight more in the third quarter as head coach Dave Gilson’s Lions improved to 5-5 in the NFL with just four regular-season games left on the schedule.

“Both my ankles have been bothering me all season. It was great being able to play when I’m not hurt,” said Carson, who added five rebounds, three steals and three assists to his impressive resume in the Lions’ Den.

“We wanted to be aggressive on defense and crash the boards tonight and I think we did that. We’re still still a little behind where we want to be for the playoffs, but we’re coming along and hopefully we can peak at playoff time.”

Carson’s big first quarter, along with four assists from junior point guard Shaun “Smiley” Allen (9 points, 6 stealsa, 6 assists) helped the Lions build a 20-11 lead after one. The Lions hit 75 percent of their freethrows in the first half and extended their lead at intermission to 37-24.

Head coach Ryan Mountain’s Jacks (1-9 NFL) got a strong effort out of Joe Montesanti (7 points, 4 steals, 3 rebounds), especially in the third quarter, as they opened with five straight points to start the second half. Montesanti and Corey Mis (3 rebounds, 2 assists) led the Jacks with a team-high seven points.

But Carson wasn’t through with his monologue yet, canning four field goals as Lockport responded with a 22-5 run to extend their lead even further after three quarters, 59-34. Two more Carson buckets and a tre from Vinny Pratz carried the Lions through a sluggish fourth quarter.

Deantre Cullens (five steals) added 13 points for the Lions, while junior skyscraper Nick DiMartile ripped down 10 rebounds.

“I liked the way we settled down on offense tonight — more relaxed — because we’ve been pushing the ball up too much,” coach Gilson said. “If we can continue to do that, we’ll be okay, but we’ve got a long way to go and we’ve got just three weeks left to catch our stride.”

The Jacks got  just 13 points total from its starting five, but spread the ball around well throughout, as 10 different players eventually found the scorer’s sheet.

“All the credit has to go to Lockport,” said coach Ryan Mountain of the Jacks, whose only league win came against the Lions earlier in the season.

“If there were 30 loose balls out there tonight, they came up with 25 of them. They had more energy. They made us play a bit quicker than we wanted to, but we missed too many open players and countless other opportunities.”

By Brandon Koch

The North Tonawanda Basketball Hall of Fame will induct two more Lumberjack greats into its cherished hall during halftime of Friday night’s 7 p.m. home tilt between North Tonawanda and Kenmore East.

The 2011 class includes forward Dave Wendt of the Class of 1985 and coach Norman “Doc” Roggow, who roamed the NT sidelines from 1942-1956. Roggow will be inducted posthumously into the hall’s “Legends” category.

This year’s class will also mark the inaugural year for the Varick Cutler Cornerstone Award, which will be given to former player Henry Wojtaszek for his contributions to the NT basketball program on and off the court.

A reception will be held after the game at Klimek’s Tavern, 685 Oliver St. Admission for the general public is $15, which includes food and drinks, and yearly dues for the NTHS Basketball Hall of Fame.

Here’s a look at this year’s inductees.



Dave Wendt, 1983-1985

The 6-5 all-everything big man appeared in 35 games for the Jacks, registering 567 career points, which at the time ranked sixth all-time.

But perhaps Wendt’s most notable achievement is his career average double-double (16.2 points per game, 10.6 rebounds per game) — one of six NT basketball players to record that feat.

NT Hall of Famer Al Ridge coached Wendt as a sophomore on the JV team and said he impressed him from Day 1.

“He was a very smart player that could jump out of the gym,” Ridge said. “He could pretty much do it all.”

Wendt scored 361 points during his senior year, 17th best all time, and also grabbed 211 rebounds, which still ranks top-10 all team in NT history.

“I thought David was one of the best players that came along in quite awhile,” Ridge said, noting that only a handful of NT greats finished with a career double-double. “That’s pretty darn good if you asked me. A lot of players could score 25 a game, but they didn’t have the rest of it.”

Wendt’s record eight blocked shots on Jan. 15, 1985 against Niagara-Wheatfield still stands today.

Although he currently resides in Colorado, Wendt is expected to be on hand Friday.



Norman “Doc” Roggow, 1942-1956

Roggow, known as “Doc” because he treated injured players, retired in 1956 as the school’s most winningest coach after 14 seasons at the helm.

He is the sixth member of the hall’s “Legends” category.

“He was really well liked by everybody,” said Roggow’s grand nephew Peter Trinkwalder, North Tonawanda city historian. “I kind of remembered him getting excited during the games. He was kind of animated.”

Roggow’s 86 wins still ranks fourth in NT history. In 1943 he guided the Jacks to a Niagara Frontier League Championship, but the year that followed is what perhaps highlighted his career.

In 1944, Roggow’s Jacks finished 12-2 and defeated Jamestown for the Western New York Championship.

Roggow, who died in 1993 at the age of 87, graduated from NT in 1924. He retired as director of physical education in 1970.



Henry Wojtaszek, 1978-1980

This year the North Tonawanda Basketball Hall of Fame is set to start a new tradition with the creation of the Varick Cutler Cornerstone Award.

The prestigious award bears the name of the late North Tonawanda great, Varick Cutler, arguably the best ever to don a Jacks uniform.

Wojtaszek, the award’s inaugural recipient, was instrumental in the formation of the NT Basketball Hall of Fame.

With freshmen sports cut out of the school district’s budget for the second time in three years, Wojtaszek stepped to the plate and donated $4,500 to cover the cost of the freshman boys basketball team’s 2004-05 season.

As a result, the North Tonawanda Basketball Hall of Fame was formed to fulfill Wojtaszek’s request for an organization which recognized NT’s basketball greats.