As it reached the midway point of its regular season, the Chittenango boys basketball team still finds itself prone to prolonged slumps.
This proved the case in last Tuesday’s game against Fowler, a close contest that turned in the second half into a 65-31 loss to the Falcons.
At least for a while, the Bears had a share of chances and did not let Fowler get away. But a solid first-half performance still left Chittenango behind, 33-25, going to the break. Andy Moth would get 10 points, while Cavanaugh Chaires and Brendan Galek earned six points apiece.
Somewhere in that halftime, though, the Bears turned cold. Fowler exploited this, holding Chittenango to a mere six points the rest of the way, including a lone free throw in the fourth quarter. Chris Gilkes, with 18 points, and Malcolm Jones, with 16 points, led the Falcons’ runaway.
On Thursday night, Chittenango was set to visit East Syracuse-Minoa, a team finally in the win column after beating Cortland 47-46 to break a frustrating nine-game skid.
But after a 24-hour snow-induced postponement, the Bears went to ESM Friday and doubled its production — yet still took a 75-64 loss to the Spartans.
As the game went on, Chittenango’s offense steadily improved. The only problem was that ESM did the same, steadily putting the Bears in a 35-25 halftime deficit and keeping the margin at double digits the rest of the way.
Moth, in defeat, finished with 18 points, one of four Chittenango players to reach double figures. Mike Major joined in with 16 points, while Brendan Galek finished with 14 points and Chaires earned 11 points.
ESM had a bit more depth behind its four players in double figures, which included Quadear Mike (18 points), Andy Raymond (16 points), Greg Raab (13 points) and Ken Cannon (11 points).
Chittenango, having fallen to 3-8 on the season, returns home this week for games against Bishop Ludden and Mexico.
