Published: November 22, 2009 12:01 am      

COLLEGE ROUNDUP (Nov. 21): Dolson's return bolsters Blazers

Making his season debut after a three-game suspension, Niagara County Community College men’s basketball player Dyrell Dolson had 17 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday’s 76-68 home win over Corning.

Dolson’s former Niagara Catholic teammate A.J. Roberts led the Trailblazers (3-1) with 24 points and 13 rebounds, while Robby Seyler (Lewiston-Porter) had 19 points and three assists.

NCCC coach Bill Beilein said the return of Dolson, a 6-foot-6 forward who was suspended by the college for three weeks after getting into a fight in the locker room with teammate Franklin Jones, had “a huge impact” on Saturday’s game.

“Since I’ve been here Dyrell has been my most dedicated player,” the first-year coach said. “He had that one lapse for five minutes that set him back, but watching him lose 10 pounds in three weeks doing individual conditioning showed was encouraging. He’s a huge asset to have in the point.”

The Trailblazers are now off until Dec. 3

“We’ve got a lot of time to tighten up our schemes,” Beilein said. “We’re scoring on our patterns which is really nice. Now we’ve got to work on being better in our transition offense.”

Women’s Basketball

NCCC 55, Corning 42

After a tumultuous week, the Trailblazers turned in one of the finest defensive performances in school history to get even their record at 2-2.

Coach Kirk Zinermon said he couldn’t find another game in the program’s incomplete records where an opponent scored less than 50 points, nor could he find evidence of a Trailblazers team being at .500 after four games.

Eleven different players scored, led by Emily Bird (Niagara Catholic) who had 20 points. Bird entered the game ranked third in the region in scoring.

Melissa Pawlowski (Kenmore West) had five assists, just below her region-leading average of 6.6. Brittney Harvey had seven points in her first start.

On Wednesday, the team learned that Amanda Zanghi would be lost for the season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The next day, co-captain Margo Pagano got into a car accident that will keep her out until early next week, Zinermon said. And then on Friday, two players were robbed at knifepoint in the parking lot of a Lockport restaurant, Zinermon said.

“For us to get a win today after all of that adversity says a lot about our girls,” Zinermon said.

Swimming & Diving

Clingersmith sets record

Ashley Clingersmith (Niagara Falls) anchored a record-setting performance for Niagara’s 400 medley relay team in a 143-112 home win over Waterloo. Clingersmith teamed with Julia Bulmahn, Stephanie Gartley and Lindsey Jackson to finish in 4:05.45, breaking the six-year-old record by two seconds.

Jon Matchette (Kenmore West) won the 100 and 200 backstroke events to help the men’s team win 144-118.