At many different moments of Friday night’s Section III Class AA boys basketball playoff first-round game, Baldwinsville was poised to catch Henninger and propel itself to a possible quarterfinal trip to Rome Free Academy.
But it never quite happened.
Instead, the no. 11 seed Bees saw the no. 6 seed Black Knights come up with the baskets it needed to stay out in front and eventually prevail, 72-59, though the margin did not resemble the tense, close nature of the contest.
B’ville had split two regular-season games with Henninger, prevailing 79-66 at Baker High School on Dec. 22 by hitting on 14 3-pointers, but falling to the Black Knights 71-62 a month later without injured forward Gabe Horan in the lineup.
Horan was back for this edition, and the Bees knew that it needed a combination of his strong inside presence plus a repeat of that shooting barrage of the first meeting with Henninger to advance against a side that had won seven of its last eight games.
David Cerqua and Casey Pluff both hit on 3-pointers in the opening minutes, but B’ville’s early lead vanished when the Black Knights reeled off a 15-0 run, inlcuding back-to-back 3-pointers from Raquan Porch, a harbinger of what he would do later.
Henninger grew its lead to 26-13 in the second quarter, but the Bees used a 10-1 run to make up most of that ground, the start of a long and futile chase on B’ville’s part as the Black Knights recovered to extend its lead to 33-25 by halftime.
In a fast-paced third quarter, the Bees whittled down the deficit to a single basket. Again, Henninger had an answer, as Jadan Graves answered Cerqua’s 3-pointer with a long one of his own at the horn to stretch out the margin to six, 54-48, with one period left.
Tension grew enough in the fourth quarter that Black Knights head coach Gil Speights was hit with a technical foul, but his team’s defense would hold B’ville without a point for nearly four minutes.
Still, the Bees were within range, trailing by just five, 61-56, before Porch took over. He had already scored 10 points in the third quarter, and then, with both teams struggling to find the hoop, Porch hit a leaning jumper with 1:35 left and, seconds later, following a B’ville turnover, connected on a clinching 3-pointer.
B’ville lost despite four players scoring in double figures. Cerqua led with 16 points, while Chris Taylor grabbed 13 points. Pluff, with 11 points, and Horan, with 10 points, were close behind.
Of Porch’s 21 points, 15 of them came in the second half, while Graves has 18 points and Kaijah Rodgers got 16 points. Djuhardin Solo added 10 points.
