CICERO – All sorts of noteworthy and worthwhile events surrounded the Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball team before it even took the court to start the 2021-22 season.
To start with, while the Northstars returned several good players from last winter’s 8-4 team, it would not have back star forward Jerrod Hills, who decided to concentrate on football.
Then football brought about a change in the schedule. C-NS was originally set to host Christian Brothers Academy last Friday night, but the CBA football team’s run to the state Class A championship forced a change.
Instead, the Northstars would face Elmira, from Section IV. The Express was another high-quality opponent who went 8-1 in the abbreviated 2020-21 season.
Proving ready for whoever was in front of them, C-NS prevailed 62-47 in large part due to the red-hot shooting from freshman Andrew Benedict.
Making his varsity debut a memorable one, Benedict would strike for 18 first-half points, half his team’s output, to help C-NS take a 36-27 lead to the break.
Ultimately, Benedict would have 24 points, most of it from converting six 3-pointers, while junior Reece Congel put in 17 points, adding 14 rebounds and nine blocks as Robbie Siechen had nine points.
As if all this wasn’t enough, C-NS’s second-year head coach, Kyle Martin, performed an act of remarkable charity when he donated 14 pair of Nike sneakers to the Utica Academy of Science varsity team when he heard that some of those players could not afford shoes of their own. All told, the shoes cost more than $1,700.
With its first game in the books, C-NS goes on the road twice this week, first to Rome Free Academy, and then to Troy to take on LaSalle Institute Saturday at 2 p.m.
Meanwhile, Liverpool, who went 9-3 a season ago, will open its season Saturday at 6 p.m. against Section V’s Rochester East at SRC Arena as part of the annual Peppino’s Invitational following scrimmages against Westhill, Bishop Ludden and Maine-Endwell.
