As they moved away from their various weekend battles with Bishop Ludden, Christian Brothers Academy and Bishop Grimes both knew they would encounter the Gaelic Knights again in February.
In the meantime, there was plenty of work to do, and in Grimes’ case that meant breaking out of a four-game skid as it hosted Jordan-Elbridge last Friday night and took down the Eagles 68-42.
Having lost four in a row, Grimes let out long stretch of frustration on J-E in the course of building a 38-21 lead by halftime, and then adding to that margin later.
Joe Wike, with 13 points, led a well-balanced attack, Jack Gutchess adding 12 points and Ian Denton getting 11 points. Sylvester Seton (nine points) and Deng Mawien (seven points) had solid showings, too.
All of this followed an 89-65 defeat to Mekeel Christian (Section II) last Wednesday, Grimes unable to get as close as it did when it lost 84-81 to that same side back in December.
Mekeel outscored Grimes 47-30 in the second half to get away. Wike still had 22 points, mostly from hitting six 3-pointers, as Gutchess got 15 points and A.J. Burnett had nine points .
CBA continued its long-term renaissance with an impressive effort last Friday against 10-4 Marcellus, prevailing 53-34 as it limited the Mustangs to just 20 points in the first three quarters.
Amid all this, Manlius-Pebble Hill was piecing together a late-season surge of its own to lock up a berth in the Section III Class D playoffs.
The Trojans’ third consecutive victory came when it topped Fabius-Pompey 70-60 last Monday night, MPH steadily working its way to a 40-28 halftime lead and then answering every Falcons charge late.
James Kelly continued to put up big numbers as he got 34 points, and didn’t have to work alone. Qon Ewing had a career-best 11 points, while Isiah Clarry got 10 points and Shontez Anderson earned nine points.
If MPH won over Pulaski on Wednesday, it would reach the .500 mark – which it did by battling to the final seconds and working past the Blue Devils 49-48.
Held to seven points in the first quarter, the Trojans rallied to tie it, 24-24, by halftime and played a strong third quarter too, to move out in front 42-35.
It took some key defensive stops to hang on as Kelly earned most of his 18 points in those middle stages, Anderson adding 14 points and Alex Abrams getting 11 points.
Now a rematch with Fabius-Pompey on Friday had the Trojans on the brink of clinching a post-season berth – which it did, again leaning on its defense as it beat the Falcons 57-40.
Up 32-15 by halftime, MPH never got caught as Kelly again led with 16 points, but it was Qon Ewing that set a new career mark with 15 points as Anderson had 13 points and Abrams added eight points.
