For the Liverpool boys basketball team, just getting to the Section III Class AA quarterfinals required a late push — and a career-high effort from Jesse Gates — in Tuesday’s Class AA opening-round game, a 76-61 victory over no. 13 seed Rome Free Academy.
They had met before, on Jan. 29 in Rome, with Liverpool struggling to win. So it may not have been a huge surprise that the rematch would also prove tough.
Ignoring its 3-17 record, RFA played on even terms with Liverpool throughout the first three periods, every run by the Warriors matched with another from the Black Knights.
At halftime, Liverpool, the no. 4 seed, trailed, 31-30, and little changed in the third quarter, almost forcing Gates, who was already having a big night, to take his act to another level.
Throughout the final period, Gates drove and scored. When he got fouled, Gates kept converting, 14 free throws in all, part of a night where he had 38 points, exactly half of the Warriors’ total output.
Jeff Chase, with 14 points, made sure Gates didn’t have to do everything. Cam Jones had eight points, with Rich Green and Matt Harrington earned six points apiece.
As this was going on, Fayetteville-Manlius, the no. 5 seed, was dumping 97 points on first-round opponent Oswego, showing that, on Friday night, it will want to avenge its Jan. 9 defeat to Liverpool in a game where the stakes are much higher.
