To put it lightly, the Jamesville-DeWitt boys basketball team is going to spend much of the early portion of its season in a glaring spotlight.
From Friday’s showdown with state Class B champion Westhill in the Peppino’s Invitational at Henninger, to a clash with Bishop Ludden Dec. 12 and its appearance in CBA’s Bottar-Leone Holiday Classic at the end of the month, the Red Rams will see plenty of big challenges.
And it will do so with some new faces with very familiar names at the helm, this after Jafar Kinsey departed for Robert Morris and other senior starters like James Jones and David Antosh graduated from a 2013-14 side that returned to the Section III Class A final, only to fall to Ludden.
The Rams’ introduction would come in last Saturday’s Thanksgiving Tip-Off Challenge at SRC Arena, where five OHSL Freedom division teams would face five Tri-Valley League opponents.
J-D played the nightcap, against Utica-Notre Dame, who is back in Class A this winter after narrowly losing to Westhill in last March’s sectional Class B final. Boosted by hot shooting from reserve forward James Boeheim, the Rams defeated the Jugglers 74-59.
Not blessed with a tall roster, J-D head coach Bob McKenney is depending on hot outside shooting, and he got it in the early stages as the Rams converted on seven 3-pointers during a first-quarter surge that produced a 23-16 lead.
UND hung in there, only trailing 39-32 at halftime, but went cold in the third quarter, held to just seven points, which allowed the Rams to get away.
Boeheim, a junior who didn’t see much court time as a sophomore but grew from 6-foot-2 to 6-foot-5 in the off-season, came off the bench to produce 21 points, including four successful 3-pointers.
That complemented the work of veterans Dom DeRegis and Isaiah Williams, who gained 17 points apiece, and Adrian Autry, who had all nine of his points from three 3-pointers, the same total as DeRegis. Brian Cieplicki added six points.
Fresh off leading UND to the sectional Class C football title (the Jugglers’ season ended Nov. 15 with a loss to eventual state champion Chenango Forks), Kevin Warmack led his side with 18 points. Jerome Brabham (16 points) and Joe Sullivan (14 points) were close behind.
Right before J-D took the court, East Syracuse-Minoa opened its season against Rome Free Academy, unable to find similar success as it took a 65-58 defeat to the Black Knights.
The second quarter proved pivotal. ESM led, 16-13, but surrendered that advantage when RFA outscored them 19-8 in that frame. By the time they reached the fourth quarter, the deficit was 46-31, and though the Spartans finished strong, it could not catch up.
Jah-Meer McDuffie led ESM with 20 points, with Gyasi Brisson adding 16 points and Ty Barkins getting most of his 11 points from three 3-pointers. RFA spread out its attack a bit more, with Tyrone Cowell (21 points) and Lindell Reed (14 points) leading the way.
Also struggling in its opening-weekend efforts, Bishop Grimes went 0-2 in the NBT Bank Tournament at Oneida, dropping its opening-round game to Cortland 62-51 and falling in the consolation game to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 69-61.
Against the Purple Tigers, the Cobras paid the price for a slow start, falling behind 28-16 by halftime and spending the rest of the game in catch-up mode.
Only Luciano Vigliotti, with 17 points, hit double figures for Grimes. Mark Shattuck had nine points, with Johnny Wike (eight points), Steve King (seven points) and Shawn Gashi (six points) close behind. For Cortland, Nick Craig managed 25 points and five assists, while Sage Brown gained 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Meeting VVS a day later, the Cobras had a much better first half, only trailing 31-30 at the break. Here, though, the third quarter proved costly, the Red Devils outscoring Grimes 24-15 in those eight minutes as Davey Moffett, with 19 points, led the VVS push.
Grimes lost despite four players reaching double figures. Wike improved to 17 points, with Luciano Vigliotti adding 15 points. Gianni Vigliotti joined Shattuck as they each gained 10 points, Steve King contributing seven points.
