Kenmore West’s Martin Bailey comes up with a steal on Kenmore East’s Jakai Daniels as the Blue Devils hosted their crosstown rivals last Tuesday. Bailey had 25 points to lead Kenmore West to an 84-65 victory. Photo by Patrick McPartlandPurchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com Kenmore West had some business to take care of last week before preparing for perhaps their biggest game of the season later this week.

The Blue Devils had home matchups against rivals Kenmore East and Lockport last week before having a week off to prepare for their road trip to Niagara Falls on Friday. Kenmore West did what it needed to do in knocking off Kenmore East, 84-65, and getting a big divisional win with a 56-50 victory over Lockport. The victories improved Kenmore West to 9-2 overall and 7-1 in Niagara Frontier League play.

The Lockport win on Friday night was especially important because it moved Kenmore West three games ahead of the Lions in the NFL standings and kept them in second place, one loss behind first-place Niagara Falls. It wasn’t easy, though, as the Blue Devils played a huge stretch of the first half without star forward Quinton Campbell, who had three fouls. The second half also saw Lockport go on a run to cut a 36-22 deficit to 43-37 late in the third quarter.

In the end, Martin Bailey led the Blue Devils to victory with a game-high 27 points, including 10 points to seal the deal in the fourth quarter.

“We have Martin Bailey and when the ball goes in his hands, he usually does pretty good things and that’s what he did down the stretch,” Kenmore West head coach Mike Meetze said.

It was the second straight big performance from Bailey as he went for 25 points in Kenmore West win over Kenmore East last Tuesday. P.J. Blanch led both teams with 32 points in a losing effort for the Bulldogs.

The Blue Devils got their transition game going against the Bulldogs, especially in the second quarter where Bailey had 13 points to help spark a 19-5 run.

With athletes like Bailey and fellow senior Marcus Lobdell, Kenmore West’s transition game has been the key to success for much of the season. Meetze said his team likes to play a fast-tempo game, but said the key is to play defense first and also that his team does need to work on its half-court game.

“I joke that we’re kind of like my favorite basketball team – North Carolina,” Meetze said. “They look great when they’re running, they look awful when they’re not running. That’s what we are, two different teams. In halfcourt, it’s not a fun game to watch. In full court, it’s ‘hey, let’s go; let’s push.’ I love it when they’re making extra passes and that’s a fun game to play as a high school kid. How can you not want to play that?”

Bailey, who has benefited quite a bit from Kenmore West’s transition offense, said that Lobdell is really the catalyst for the whole offense.

“With our transition game, it really starts with Marcus,” Bailey said of Lobdell, Bailey’s partner in the backcourt. “When Marcus gets up the sideline, someone has to key on him. When someone jumps on Marcus, I just go. Marcus I think is the best transition guy in Western New York, hands down. It’s hard for defenses to stop Marcus going up in transition.”

Against Lockport, Lobdell brought the home crowd to its feet when he threw down a slam dunk on a fast break in the second quarter. The dunk punctuated a 10-0 Blue Devils’ run that increased their lead to 30-18.

“That got the crowd up and was a big part of our momentum swing in the first half,” Meetze said of Lobdell’s dunk. “He hasn’t done that in a while, but he can. We have a couple of guys who can do that.”

The run came after Campbell had to sit with his third foul. Bailey said he knew he would have to carry the load with his big man on the bench.

“In practice we know we can depend on ‘Q’ because there’s no other big guy really on our team,” Bailey said. “We know that when ‘Q’s out, I have to step up my game.”

The Blue Devils will now have a little time to perfect things before their matchup with Niagara Falls on Friday. The Wolverines are undefeated this season in NFL play. They visited Kenmore West on Dec. 20 and came away with an 82-57 victory. Now the Blue Devils are hoping to match the Wolverines by going into their building and leaving with a win.

Last season Kenmore West went right down to the wire with the Wolverines at Niagara Falls, but a last-second shot did not drop and Niagara Falls escaped with a 54-52 victory.

“Last year, we lost by one or two; We remember that game,” Bailey said. “We’re coming in with a chip on our shoulder from losing. We just have to come out and win.”

Meetze and his team can finish what they came so close to doing last season when they visit Niagara Falls on Friday with a tie for first place in the league on the line.

“This is a big game for our kids,” he said. “Hopefully we’re going to go up there and give it all we have and hopefully 32 minutes later we’ll be on the right side of one for once.”

Meanwhile, Kenmore East now has a 4-8 record. They host North Tonawanda at 7 p.m. Thursday.

email: mmigliore@beenews.com