ONONDAGA COUNTY – Even as victories have proven quite elusive for the Baldwinsville boys basketball team, at least there is not the pressure of wondering if it will do enough to get to the post-season.
Due to all the schedule changes caused by winter weather and COVID-19 pauses, Section III announced that winter sports playoffs would have open-tournament formats, meaning anyone who wanted to enter could do so.
With that pressure off, the Bees still was searching for some wins. On Jan. 15, B’ville, with a 3-6 record, traveled to East Syracuse Minoa and took a 66-57 loss to the Spartans.
B’ville took an early lead and was still up, 34-27, at halftime before ESM outscored them 20-11 in the third quarter to go in front, then added to that margin as Tristan Henderson got 21 points and Aiden Betts added 17 points.
Jason Bifulco again paced the Bees, earning 24 points, with help from Greg Marinelli (13 points) and Eli Taft (12 points), but the rest of the squad had just three total field goals.
Back in league play, B’ville went up agianst Corcoran Tuesday, the two sides far removed from the 2020 Section III Class AA title game won by the Cougars.
Corcoran prevailed here, too, by a score of 76-69 largely on the basis of a fast-paced first half where the Cougars established a 48-37 advantage.
A strong third quarter by the Bees closed the gap to 60-57, but the comeback fell short despite another big game from Bifulco, who poured in 32 points helped by Dean Welch, who hit six 3-pointers on his way to 20 points. Taft added nine points as Amir Reaves paced Corcoran with 24 points.
Back home on Thursday night, B’ville faced its neighbors from Liverpool, who had won seven in a row and had just handed West Genesee its first loss of the season, 84-72, two nights earlier.
The Bees may have hoped for a letdown from the Warriors – but instead fell behind 20-7 by the end of the first quarter, with a 23-6 burst in the third period all bur assuring Liverpool’s win.
Still, in the 73-50 defeat, Bifulco led all scorers with 18 points. No other Bees player had more than Welch’s six points, though, as Liverpool got Andreo Ash (14 points), Jacob Works (13 points) and Bruce Wingate (12 points) into double figures.
Without any rest, B’ville went to Fayetteville-Manlius Friday for the “Pink Out” doubleheader, which was also the girls Bees’ first action since coach Kathy Morse earned her 400th career win against Liverpool the week before.
And the girls Bees were successful in a tough 38-33 decision defined by defense right from the outset, each side scoring just five points in the first quarter.
Gradually, B’ville assumed a slim advantage, but would spend the entire game protecting it by relying on timely stops to negate its own struggles on the other end.
It was Ola Bednarczyk, with 13 points, and Kyrah Wilbur, with 10 points, carrying the attack most of the way as Jayda Pyle got six points and Sydney Huhtala was held to two points.
In the boys game that followed, B’ville trailed most of the way and fell 59-39 to F-M, who allowed Bifulco to score 18 points but kept the rest of the Bees in check as Trevor Roe, with 17 points, led four Hornets scoring in double figures.
