CENTRAL NEW YORK – All of these wins the West Genesee boys basketball team is stacking up not only has made it the front-runner for Section III Class AA honors, it’s led to some outside notice.
The Wildcats were no. 11 in last week’s state Class AA rankings, its best spot so far, and celebrated with more victories by varying margins.
Back on Jan. 19, WG stomped Central Square 79-27, a chance to have everyone on the roster not just have playing time, but also make contributions as 13 of the 14 players got on the scoresheet and the one who didn’t, Teshale Kelly, still had a pair of rebounds.
Leading the way, Jalen Zachery had a season-best 21 points and Jordan Cain got 18 points, the guard pair combining on seven 3-pointers. Gary McLane earned 13 rebounds as he and Joe Cavallo had seven points apiece. Jake McMahon grabbed eight rebounds.
As a follow-up, the Wildcats returned home and, facing Auburn last Monday night, had a far tougher time of it, but still earned a comfortable 71-59 win over the Maroons.
Auburn was 4-10 going into the game, but jumped out 18-11 in the first quarter before WG chipped away at that margin and, by halftime, found itself in front, 34-32.
Even more important was the 25-11 third-quarter blitz, Auburn having no answer for McLane, who set a new season mark of his own earning 27 points. Sincere Smith had 10 points, with Aidan Phelan getting nine points, all from three 3-pointers.
For all the good work WG had done this season, one thing it hadn’t accomplished was reaching the century mark on the scoreboard – until last Wednesday night, when it routed Oswego 101-60 even without Cain in the lineup.
Able to get to the 100-point barrier in the closing stages added some drama and incentive to a game where the Wildcats were close to perfect in the first quarter, hitting on nearly every shot and establishing a 36-4 advantage on the Buccaneers.
Smith and McLane led the way, each getting 20 points, but 12 different players had at least one field goal as Cavallo earned 12 points and Jalen Zachery added 10 points. Kolton Castrello had eight points, and Chanlin Ginty added six points.
Then, in Saturday’s non-league game against Section II’s Niskayuna (who was 11-3 going into the week), the Wildcats were tested again – and passed it again, defeating the Silver Warirors 72-62.
A tight first half ended 32-29 in WG’s favor. Then it gradually got away in the last two periods led by Cain, who earned 12 of his 26 points at the free-throw line.
Well balanced around Cain, the Wildcats got 12 points from both McLane and Smith, plus 11 points from Cavallo and nine points from Zachery.
Westhill was no. 21 in the state Class A rankings when it flattened Mexico 95-33 last Wednesday night, getting 23 points from Kam Langdon and 17 points from Charlie DeMore as Eli Prince (12 points) and Jackson Goodness (11 points) closely fllowed.
Even bigger, though, was Thursday’s 63-57 win over Institute of Technology Central as, in front of the home fans, Langdon reached 1,000 career points.
Going into the game, Langdon was at 980 points, but the bigger concern was that ITC took a 28-26 lead to halftime before the Warirors held the Eagles to eight points in the third quarter and moved in front for good.
Langdon, mostly buoyed by 11 free throws, worked until a spin move and layup in the fourth quarter got him to 1,000. He would go on to finish with 28 points as Prince poured in 20 points and DeMore added 13 points, Westhill improving to 13-2 overall.
Bishop Ludden got an impressive victory of its own last Friday, at Bishop Grimes, where freshman Liam Sheard led the Gaelic Knights to a lopsided 71-49 win over the Cobras.
Steadily, Ludden built a 63-35 lead through three quarters, much of it predicated on Sheard having his way in the paint and finishing with 28 points to go with 11 rebounds.
Helping out, Jahzar Greene had 16 points and six assists, with Tim Dunham getting nine points and 10 rebounds as Joe Dunham had eight points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals. Ludden’s defense was tremendous, too, holding Grimes’ top scorer, Nate Abernethy, to a season-low nine points.
