Now armed with the confidence it gained with its recent strong play highlighted by home wins over Westhill and Chittenango, the Cazenovia boys basketball team charged into the decisive month of February.
The Lakers, who had won five straight following a 4-4 start, had another strong performance in last Monday’s game at Institute of Technology Central, where all sides of the game flourished in a 68-47 victory over the Eagles.
Again, the defense set the tone, Cazenovia holding ITC to seven points in the first quarter. Eventually, the margin grew to 37-24 by halftime, with the Lakers never letting the Eagles get much closer.
In particular, Drew Johnson had a big night, far surpassing his career mark as he poured in 27 points, flourishing because Thomas Bragg was hot from the outside, earning all 18 of his points from six 3-pointers. Kevin Stalder had 12 points as Dan Kent contributed eight points.
Back home at Buckley Gym Wednesday night, the Lakers made it seven wins in a row against Phoenix, though it was far from easy as it took a big second half to push past the Firebirds 58-49.
Phoenix, at 9-7, was far from a pushover, as it proved by bolting out to a 31-23 halftime lead, led by Jack Allen, who solved the riddle of the Lakers’ defense enough to produce a game-high 21 points.
But Cazenovia had more options and, once it clamped down on Allen, it took over, outscoring the Firebirds 18-9 in the third quarter to catch up and then adding to that margin throughout the closing minutes.
Johnson remained in top form, finishing with 19 points, while Bragg put up 15 points. Most of Kent’s 11 points came from a trio of 3-pointers as Stalder finished with eight points.
This was to set up a Friday clash with Homer, a team Chittenango beat one week earlier, but snow and bad weather forced two postponements – first this one, then another on Monday that pushed the game back to Feb. 12.
Chittenango, of course, had its own high-profile home game last Tuesday night when it took on Christian Brothers Academy. And the Bears discovered, as other teams have this season, that the Brothers are far from its usual form, Chittenango prevailing by a 68-48 margin.
An early CBA lead vanished when the Bears outscored them 23-6 in the second quarter. Now up 32-19, Chittenango nursed that margin and built on it with ample help for Zach Falkenburg, who had 21 points.
Dylan Voutsinas hit four 3-pointers to account for most of his 14 points. Matt Lanphear and Sam Hill had nine points apiece, with Lucas Spiridilozzi (six points) and Paul Wood (five points) helping, too. For the Brothers, Nick Valenti had 14 points and Avion Othman added 11 points.
The Bears won again on Thursday, handling Hannibal 77-27 as it managed to build a 27-5 advantage by the end of the first quarter and just kept adding to the margin.
All 10 Chittenango players that saw action got at least one field goal, with Lanphear matching Falkenburg’s team-high total of 16 points and Voutsinas again hitting four 3-pointers, the same as Falkenburg, to finish with 12 points. Getting extended action off the bench, Jackson Lawrence earned seven points and Vincente Cameron managed six points.
The Bears are home this week for games against Altmar-Parish-Williamstown and Skaneateles, with Cazenovia taking on Hannibal and Marcellus.
