Dealing with the aftershocks of a season-ending injury to a key contributor, the Christian Brothers Academy played back-to-back weekend games, but could only manage a split.
Back on Jan. 18, when the Brothers lost to Fowler, senior guard Tim Hornstein suffered a lacerated kidney, forcing him to the sidelines for the rest of the season.
Prior to that, Hornstein had been a valuable part to the Brothers building a 13-game win streak, hitting key shots (especially in the team’s Dec. 21 win over Jamesville-DeWitt) when opposing defenses paid too much attention to Marcus Sales or Mike Goodman.
CBA played its first game without Hornstein at Fulton last Friday night and had to sweat through the early stages before earning a 72-50 victory over the Red Raiders.
Fulton actually led, 18-13, through one period, and the Brothers had to push hard just to go up 28-27 at halftime. During that period, Sales surpassed 1,000 career points, and the game was stopped to honor his accomplishment.
Following some strong words from head coach Buddy Wleklinski at halftime, CBA took charge in the third quarter, outscoring the Red Raiders 25-11 and breezing the rest of the way.
Sales finished with 23 points, as Goodman earned 16 points and 10 rebounds. Stefan Thompson, assuming a larger offensive role in Hornstein’s absence, had 12 points as Sean Wayne, Mike Hannan and Ricki Damico each had seven points. Fulton’s Gary Kemp led his side with 20 points.
A night later, CBA went to Rochester to face Rush-Henrietta and had a chance at the end before the Royal Comets rose up to edge the Brothers 64-63.
They went through wild swings in the first half, as Rush-Henrietta went up 21-10, only to see the Brothers get hot in the second period and streak to a 35-31 halftime lead.
The margin grew to 53-47 by the fourth quarter, but the Royal Comets rallied, pulled within one, and went ahead for good when Dane Miller (who finished with 19 points) hit a jump shot with 12 seconds left.
Try as it could, the Brothers did not answer. Goodman, in defeat, put up 24 points and 13 rebounds, as Sales added 16 points and 10 rebounds and Thompson earned nine points.
After hosting Mexico Tuesday night, CBA will go to Onondaga Community College Friday night to face Bishop Ludden in this season’s second edition of the “Holy War”. The Brothers rallied to beat the Gaelic Knights 62-49 Jan. 11 at LeMoyne College and have won the last six contests in this storied rivalry.
