Though it had only played twice at home, the West Genesee boys basketball team still reached the halfway point of the regular season with a 5-5 mark.
The Wildcats climbed back to .500 last Tuesday night in one of those rare home games, against Cicero-North Syracuse, where airtight defense went a long way toward beating the Northstars 53-37.
Trailing 12-11 after one period, WG started to find an offensive rhythm just as it shut off most of CNS’s lanes, crashing its way to a 30-17 margin over the course of the next two quarters to take control.
Conor Regin’s recent hot string continued, as he finished with 18 points, while Greg Wadach and Colin Monroe each produced 11 points and Jack Conboy added six points. The Wildcats held John Howell, CNS’s top scorer, without a point, as Gary Shavalier (14 points) was the lone Northstar player to score in double figures.
To start the second half of the regular season, WG traveled east for Utica-Notre Dame’s annual Juggler Classic, played at the SUNY-Utica Tech Gymnasium.
Meanwhile, West Genesee’s girls, at 10-2, went through a rough couple of days.
During Monday’s practice, top reserve Katie Kolinski took a bad cut and fell to the court. She turned out to have a torn ACL, and is out for the season.
Barely 24 hours later, the Wildcats would test itself at CNS — and come up way short, falling by a shocking 75-23 margin.
Much of that came from the fact that WG caught the Northstars at a bad time. CNS was just coming off its first loss of the season, to Corcoran on Jan. 9, and was dead-set on getting back into gear. The Wildcats just happened to be in the way.
After Alyssa Sutherland got the game’s initial basket, CNS scored the game’s next 22 points, keeping WG off the board until the early part of the second quarter and deciding matters early.
And the margin kept growing all night, despite Sutherland’s 16 points. CNS nearly had six players score in double figures, with Kelsey Mattice and Marybeth Egan leading the way with 12 points apiece. Brittany Denslow (11 points), Breanna Stewart (10 points), Shannon Hickin and Lindsay Cole (nine points each) were close behind.