No matter what the records might say, any athletic contest involving Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool is intense — which could lead to some surprises.
Heavily favored in boys basketball on its home court last Tuesday night, the Warriors had to endure a first-quarter shutout, make a ferocious fourth-quarter comeback, then survive two tense overtimes before finally edging past the Northstars 52-51.
Nothing about this game proved to be simple. Even at 11-5, Liverpool suffered an early ambush when nothing fell in the first quarter and 4-11 CNS made a fair share of outside shots, all adding up to a 17-0 deficit for the hosts.
Shaking off this shock, the Warriors got on the board in the second quarter, but even that didn’t seem to cure its ails as it went to halftime nursing a 30-10 deficit.
Whatever Liverpool head coach Jerry Wilcox said the locker room seemed to work — at least on the offensive side. The Warriors scored at will in the third quarter and trimmed the margin to nine, 44-35, with one period to play.
Then the Liverpool defense made a sensational stand in the fourth quarter, holding CNS to a scant two points. That gave the Warriors enough time to make up the entire deficit and force a 46-46 tie.
Through the first overtime, and a handful of field goals, nothing got settled, leaving it at 50-50. That meant four more minutes of OT, where both sides proved tired and neither side converted from the field.
Only when Cam Jones sank a free throw with 9.9 seconds did Liverpool go in front, and one more defensive stand secured victory.
For CNS, Deyon Smith Jr. had 13 points and Eric Munoz added 11 points. Anthony Salomone and Jesse Gates led Liverpool’s rally, as Salomone got 14 points and Gates added 13 points. Matt Harrington and Rich Green each had seven points, with Jones adding six points.
