At least one more big home event was guaranteed for the Skaneateles boys basketball team in the 2017-18 season.
When the Laker duel between Skaneateles and Cazenovia took place Monday night, the 2017 state Class C football championship team would get honored with a special banner that will hang in the Skaneateles gymnasium hereafter.
This busy homestretch for Skaneateles would include last Monday’s game with Solvay, where a Bearcats team desperate to keep its post-season hopes alive rallied late to knock off the Lakers 57-53.
Solvay was 5-11 going into the game, having split two previous meetings with the Lakers on Dec. 28 and Jan. 2. The third encounter saw Skaneateles lead 16-9 through one quarter and maintain that edge through the game’s middle stages.
However, in the fourth quarter, the Lakers got outscored 23-14, with the Bearcats hitting on eight 3-pointers overall, three of them by Robby Clark, who had 16 points as Jaimen Bliss struck twice beyond the arc on his way to 19 points.
For Skaneateles, Tommy Reed led all scorers with 21 points, with Justin McClanahan adding 13 points. Jack Canty had seven points and Jeremy Castle got six points as the Lakers were held to four 3-pointers, half Solvay’s total.
This still left the Lakers one win short of the eight it needed to advance to the sectional tournament, so it would attempt to clinch again Tuesday against visiting Institute of Technology Central – and fall short again in a73-61 loss to the Eagles.
Things started well, Skaneateles in front 18-16 after one period, but the quick pace favored ITC as it moved in front 36-31 by halftime and protected that lead against a string of Lakers charges.
Castle, with 15 points, paced Skaneateles as Kenny Peterson earned 13 points. Reed got 12 points, just ahead of Canty, who had nine points, and McClanahan, who earned eight points.
Despite all this, the Eagles pulled away in the final minutes, Angel Gomez getting five 3-pointers as he led ITC with 19 points. Jahzel Johnson (13 points), Doug Campbell (11 points) and Edwin Seton (10 points) were close behind.
Another big challenge awaited the Lakers Thursday night when Chittenango paid a visit, and through a lopsided first half, the Lakers got overwhelmed, unable to recover as it lost to the Bears 69-38.
All through the first two periods, Skaneateles suffered from cold shooting and the hard work done by Chittenango’s defense, unable to contain much until it trailed 46-18 at intermission.
The Bears made the Lakers pay for the attention given to Chittenango star Zach Falkenburg, who was held to 12 points, but saw teammate Dylan Voutsinas get 15 points from five 3-pointers and Matt Lanphear add 14 points.
Meanwhile, Skaneateles had no one get past the seven points put up by Canty, Peterson and Jack Whirtley as Castle contributed six points.
All of this meant that the Lakers had to either beat Jordan-Elbridge Saturday or Cazenovia Monday night to get into the sectional tournament.
J-E came first, having topped the Lakers 69-56 on Jan. 22. Though Skaneateles had every reason to think it would play better the second time around against the Eagles, that just didn’t happen as it took a 58-35 defeat.
It proved quite rough at the outset, with the Lakers behind 16-4 by the end of the first quarter. Even when the offense did get on track, J-E matched it and used a 19-10 push through the third quarter to all but settle matters.
No single Lakers player could catch fire on this day as McClanahan led with just 10 points. Castle had nine points, with Canty adding seven points and Reed getting six points.
Skaneateles did a reasonable job containing J-E star Jeremiah Sparks, holding him to 12 points, but the Eagles’ duo of Dakota Holbrook (20 points) and Aidan Carpenter (17 points) matched the Lakers by themselves.
