CENTRAL NEW YORK – Over a four-day stretch from Dec. 27 to 30, three area high school boys basketball teams hosted holiday tournaments, all of them determined to bring some momentum into 2024.
East Syracuse Minoa went first and had a chance to win its own tournament if it defeated Baldwinsville in the Dec. 28 final, but fell victim to a ferocious Bees defense in a 44-32 defeat.
Never leading once, the Spartans did not get on the board until the game was more than four minutes old and found every attempt to catch back up thwarted in the face of the Bees’ consistent pressure.
And even when ESM’s defense was able to quiet B’ville for long stretches, it didn’t get closer than 31-25 in the fourth quarter, and the Bees thwarted any comeback attempt with timely 3-pointers by Greg Marinelli and Nick Hollingshead.
Tyler Quarry got 11 points to pace the Spartans. A.J. Graham added seven points before fouling out. Most of M.J. Young’s 16 points to lead B’ville came in the first half as Tyler Nilsen earned most of his 17 points in the late going.
This followed an opening round where, after B’ville held off Watertown 52-49, ESM had an impressive showing against Whitesboro, prevailing by a score of 77-51.
Steadily, the Spartans built its advantage, peaking with a 25-12 push through the third quarter as Anthony Bryant, with 23 points, led four players in double figures. Quarry got 15 points, with Graham getting 12 points and Austin Betts earning 10 points.
Christian Brothers Academy would nearly upend unbeaten, state no. 1-ranked Marcellus in the opening round of its annual Manny Leone Holiday Classic before taking a 50-47 defeat to the Mustangs.
A good start had CBA in front 17-12 through one period, but Marcellus, without forward Will Kershaw in the lineup, still rallied to get a 27-25 edge by halftime.
It stayed that tight all the way to the end, Tavin Penix getting 23 points to lead all scorers, but not quite able to carry the Brothers to victory as the Mustangs got 18 points from Will Burnett and 13 points from Tucker Burnett.
While Marcellu did fall to West Genesee in the championship round, CBA topped LaSalle Academy 61-50 in the consolation game as Harris, scoring 19 of his 23 points in the second half, helped the Brothers pull away, Penix adding 17 points.
Fayetteville-Manlius started its own holiday tournament to raise mental-health awareness, and had quite an opening-round game against Chittenango and its standout guard Ryan Moesch, who in his last game had scored 55 points in a double-overtime defeat to Jamesville-DeWitt.
The Hornets would not let Moesch get anywhere near that number and, with an 18-9 push through the third quarter, took a late lead, only to have the Bears outscore them 15-6 the rest of the way and pull out a 58-52 decision.
Chris Cleary, in defeat, got 13 points, just ahead of Ryder Baldwin, who had all of his 12 points from four 3-pointers as James Kuss added 11 points. Despite some rare struggles, Moesch still had 29 points and got help from Jack Lamphere, who had 12 points.
Now in the consolation game against Auburn (who lost to Johnson City 81-53), F-M leaned even more on its defense and delivered a 48-38 victory over the Maroons.
All through the first three quarters, F-M stifled Auburn while it built a 42-21 advantage. And though the attack was modest, Cleary still had 17 points as Connor Sugar and Charlie Schroeder got eight points apiece.
J-D, for its part, lost a 70-58 decision to Section II’s Saratoga Springs in a non-league game Dec. 29, seeing a 31-20 halftime lead disappear when Saratoga outscored the Red Rams 29-11 in a hot-shooting third quarter.
Alan Zanders, in defeat, led J-D with 17 points, Jackson Saroney and Trent Hughes getting 11 points apiece. Jack Hazelton (nine points) and Bryce Wheeler (eight points) were close behind.
