CENTRAL NEW YORK – Seven consecutive victories against a wide variety of opponents had propelled the Chittenango boys basketball team to no. 17 in the latest state Class B rankings.
Now, with a new year underway, the Bears trained its ambitions on staying undefeated – which it did last Tuesday on its home court by outscoring Institute of Technology Central 89-70.
The visiting Eagles never fully recovered from a first quarter where Chittenango held it to nine points, even as the tempo picked up and ITC was able to show some remarkable scoring balance.
Ultimately, five Eagles scored in double figures as Raquelle Isaac, Zay Priester and Machaiah Maddox each had 13 points apiece, with Stephon Adams getting 12 points and Tae Ferguson 11 points.
Even with all that, the Bears still maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half and would also have five in double figures by night’s end.
Alex Moesch was the difference-maker, his 28 points more than twice what any ITC player could do as he hit on four 3-pointers, with Ryan Moesch adding 18 points. Ty Kelly got 15 points as Bryce Bishop, also getting four 3-pointers, had 14 points and Jacob Dawkins had 12 points.
Homer was next on Friday night, and the Bears bashed the Trojans 72-25, steadily establishing a big margin even before a third quarter where it put up 30 points to the opposition’s eight.
Bishop connected on five 3-pointer to match Alex Moesch’s total of 17 points. Kelly put in 10 points, with Ryan Moesch getting seven points and Brendon Barnard contributing six points.
Cazenovia had its first game of 2022 at Westhill last Wednesday night, ultimately unable to overcome a severe mid-game drought in a 51-46 loss to the Warriors.
Westhill, who had not played in 19 days since it lost to Chittenango Dec. 17, was rusty on offense and Cazenovia took advantage, leading midway through the second quarter.
But then the Lakers went more than eight minutes without a field goal and the Warriors went on a prolonged run, eventually leading 45-30 deep into the fourth quarter.
Closing strong, Cazenovia outscored Westhill 16-6 the rest of the way to make it tight at the end, the comeback led by A.J. Rothfeld, who poured in 20 points as Ben Blanco got nine points and Matt Campeau seven points. To lead Westhill, Omar Robinson earned 19 points and Shawn Mayes got 14 points.
This came just after Rothfeld earned a high honor from his football season, named the Class C-1 division player of the year for his contributions on offense and defense to a Lakers season where it reached the sectional Class C semifinals.
In girls basketball, Cazenovia , who with a 5-1 start had inched into the state Class B rankings at no. 24, saw its game with Phoenix last Tuesday postponed, meaning it would not return until Friday, when it faced state Class B no. 13-ranked Skaneateles.
The Chittenango girls basketball team lost, 51-33, to Oneida last Wednesday. Only trailing by one, 22-21, at halftime, the Bears saw the Indians outscore them 18-5 in the third quarter to account for most of the margin.
Allison Soulier led Chittenango with eight points. Maryanna Garcia and Megan Kingsley got seven points apiece as Kaylin Curro (16 points) and Kennedy Curro (12 points) paced Oneida.
