With the holiday break over with, each of Solvay’s basketball teams were eager to try and find some momentum in the new year, but never got to it. The Bearcats saw both possible games with Hannibal on Wednesday night halted by winter weather, keeping the teams idle until the weekend. When the Solvay boys got moving, it had a terrific opportunity to knock 10-0 Marcellus from the unbeaten ranks at home Friday night, only to fall to the Mustangs 70-56. Marcellus had just found out that its leading scorer, Will Fiacchi, would miss the rest of the regular season with a stress fracture in his foot. Sensing an opportunity, Solvay played an inspired first half, staying right with the Mustangs and, with a burst before halftime, even taking a 31-30 lead. As quickly as the chance arrived, though, Marcellus took its away, swarming the Bearcats in a decisive 23-7 outburst that covered most of the third quarter. Despite Andrew Lucio’s 20 points and Dan Aiello’s 16 points, Solvay could not recover. Mike Rowlands added seven points. Dan Heil, Scott Cotter (15 points each) and Will Nolan (13 points) all made up for Fiacchi’s lost offense. While this was going on, the Solvay girls team was at Marcellus, nearly making a miraculous comeback but falling to the Mustangs 41-36. All through the first half, Solvay proved rusty on the offensive side, managing just a handful of field goals and falling behind 23-9. But with Tessa Pucello earning 15 points and Liz Martinez adding nine points, Solvay made up much of that deficit in a 14-5 third period, but could not quite finish the rally. Melissa Lee, with 13 points, was the Mustangs’ top scorer. Now the Bearcat teams face Westhill and Cazenovia, with the girls going Tuesday and Thursday, and the boys competing Wednesday and Friday.