Steeled and made better by the experience it gained during its Disney trip, the Liverpool boys basketball team came back home and earned a pair of back-to-back wins that pushed its overall record to 9-2.
First, the Warriors visited Corcoran last Friday and left little question about the outcome, using ferocious defense to smother the Cougars in a 63-40 decision.
With hot shooting at the start, Liverpool went up 20-12 before the first quarter was done, and it spent the rest of the game protecting — and building- on that margin.
Mainly, it did so with defense, always a hallmark of Jerry Wilcox-coached teams. Liverpool’s intense man-to-man pressure stifled Corcoran and kept them from getting into any kind of transition game.
By halftime, it was already 33-18 in Liverpool’s favor, and growing because of the defense and the fact that Corcoran didn’t know which player it needed to contain.
T.J. Davis and Mike Suatoni led the way, with 15 points apiece. Zach Crotty got all nine of his points from a trio of 3-pointers, with Mike Marsella and Adam Bottorff each matching Crotty with nine points of their own.
Less than 24 hours later, Liverpool found itself in Rochester, facing Aquinas. Again, the Warriors’ defense came through, helping it pull out a 40-38 victory over the Irish.
Trailing 20-17 at halftime, Liverpool went in front by limiting Aquinas to a single free throw in the third quarter, and still it could not get away as both teams finally picked up the tempo down the stretch.
Up by one, 36-35, with a minute left, Liverpool got a crucial basket when Crotty drained a 3-pointer, and from there the Warriors hung on.
Davis again finished with 15 points, with Suatoni adding nine points and Crotty gaining six points. For Aquinas, Tyler Patterson had 15 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter, to match Davis.
Liverpool hosted one of Wilcox’s former teams, West Genesee, on Tuesday night before a Friday visit to Fayetteville-Manlius, whose “Hornets’ Nest” is one of the toughest home courts in the area.
