Continuing to make up for all that lost December time, the Christian Brothers Academy boys basketball team ran its win streak to seven, moved above the .500 mark — and swept its biggest rival for the second year in a row.
In the second go-round of the “Holy War” in less than a month, the Brothers again sank Bishop Ludden, this time riding past the Gaelic Knights 55-46 on Sunday afternoon at Onondaga Community College.
Counting the three times it won over Ludden in 2005-06, it’s the fifth consecutive CBA victory in this ever-evolving rivalry, which has grown beyond the means of high school gyms to venues like LeMoyne and OCC.
Regardless of location, though, the Brothers have gained control. Their previous meeting, a 53-48 decision on Jan. 4, was J.T. Miranda’s first game back from a knee injury, giving CBA a full lineup for the first time all season.
Ever since, the Brothers, 1-7 when Miranda returned, had been perfect – a trend that, two days before the Ludden rematch, continued when CBA outlasted Liverpool 68-64 last Friday night.
However, the Gaelic Knights had improved, too, ripping Baldwinsville 59-42 just before it met the Brothers, so the large crowd assembled at OCC expected a typical nip-and-tuck affair.
What no one expected was that CBA would bolt to a 13-0 lead in the game’s first three minutes. Hot shooting, combined with head coach Buddy Wleklinski’s 1-3-1 defensive look, had the Gaelic Knights shaken.
And even though Ludden would get on the board, the Brothers maintained control and steadily built its lead until, at the start of the fourth quarter, it was up 46-26.
Only a heated sequence where Mike Paulus argued a call and drew a technical foul allowed Ludden to make a run in the fourth quarter, but the Gaelic Knights never got closer than eight points.
Before he fouled out, Paulus had 13 points. Marcus Sales led with 14 points, while Mike Goodman got most of his 10 points in the fourth quarter to fend off Ludden’s rally. Miranda had seven points and Nate Wayne added six points. Ludden’s Daquan Grobsmith led both sides with 21 points.
And all this came after a wild affair with Liverpool, where CBA mostly relied on tremendous perimeter shooting to keep its win streak alive.
Unable to miss in the first quarter, CBA grabbed a 30-15 lead, only to have the Warriors make it all up by halftime, tying it 36-36.
From there, the two sides exchanged the advantage before the Brothers came out on top, saving itself by making 11 3-pointers.
Miranda had five of those treys, on his way to a career-best total of 18 points. Mike Bulman came of the bench and hit three 3-pointers to earn 13 points, while Sales got 11 points and Paulus earned 10 points. For Liverpool, T.J. Davis gained 25 points.
Heavily favored to win Tuesday at Oswego, CBA (8-7) hoped to have an eight-game win streak when, on Friday, it ventured east to meet Utica Proctor — their first meeting since last year’s Section III Class AA final, won by the Raiders.
Proctor entered the week 14-1, its only blemish a one-point overtime loss at Fayetteville-Manlius on Jan. 20. The Raiders balance the inside strength of Deandre Preaster and Rastafari Brown with the outside play of Ronald Tarver, Wesley Jackson and Mario Whitehurst, making any game against them, especially in Utica, a supreme challenge.
