Jamestown takes down old foe Niagara Falls for AAA title in boys basketball

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- Jaydian Johnson says there hasn’t been a single day in the last two years that he didn’t think about Jamestown’s last-second loss to Niagara Falls in the 2023 Section VI Class AA boys basketball championship game.

Although Jamestown rebounded to win the title last season, revenge against Niagara Falls had to wait until Saturday.

With the perennial WNY powers back in the same classification this season, Johnson seized his opportunity, scoring 25 points to lead Jamestown to a convincing 63-49 win against Niagara Falls in the Class AAA title game at Buffalo State.

“We lost my sophomore year and it felt good to get back,” said Johnson, adding he’s had the loss on his mind “every day since two years ago, since we lost.”

“We knew what they wanted,” the senior added. “We knew their shooters and took them out. And we took the middle away and stopped the penetration. They couldn’t really do much with that.”

Elijah Farmer scored 16 points for Jamestown and added several blocks while Dominic Gonzalez scored 12. Niagara Falls junior John Strong led all players with 26 points, though the Wolverines had trouble breaking through Jamestown’s 2-3 zone.

The win gave Jamestown its eighth sectional title since 2010. In fact, either Niagara Falls or Jamestown has been crowned champion of WNY’s largest classification of boys basketball in 23 of the last 25 years. 

“It’s kind of a long-standing rivalry, we always seem to meet up here,” Jamestown coach Bill Miley said. “We’ve had some really really good games in the past and this is certainly another one to add to that.”

The only exceptions to their dominance came when Lancaster won in 2020, after top seeds Niagara Falls and Jamestown were both upset in the semifinals, and in 2007, when Sweet Home stunned a Niagara Falls team that had gone to the state final three straight years. Last year, in the inaugural season of New York’s AAA classification, Niagara Falls won AAA and Jamestown won AA.

“I have a good feeling, the next couple years if we’re still up here (in Class AAA), we’ll probably see each other again a few times,” Miley said.

The only thing missing from this duopoly’s dominance has been state titles. The last Section VI team to win a boys basketball state championship in Class AA or AAA was Niagara Falls in 2005.

The Red and Green need three more wins for their first state championship (though they advanced to the state final in 2014 and 2011). They will face the Section V champion next Friday in Far West Regionals, with tipoff set for 7:45 p.m. at Gates-Chili High School. The winner of that game advances to the state semifinals.