Back in another year – and in another decade – the Skaneateles boys basketball team won its own holiday tournament and improved to 7-1, culminating an exciting December run.
Then it waited, through 10 days and one boiler-room fire in the high school that forced the second postponement of a game with Cazenovia last Monday night – a game that was originally supposed to be played Dec. 23.
So by the time the Lakers finally returned for Friday’s home game against Jordan-Elbridge, it had played just two contests in 21 days, and that inactivity had the potential to rob any good team of its momentum.
But Skaneateles did not suffer. Instead, it unleashed one of its best offensive efforts of the season in a 78-50 romp over the Eagles.
J-E, currently playing as an independent, was once a rival of Skaneateles in the OHSL Liberty division and brought in a 5-4 mark.
But the Lakers set a relentless pace in the first half, working over J-E’s defense as it built a 43-31 lead. Then, for good measure, it held the Eagles to four points in the third quarter.
Pat Roberts led Skaneateles with 18 points, with Paul O’Donnell right behind as he got 17 points. Kevin Rice had 13 points, with Brandon Barron gaining seven points. Justin Sisson and Ryan Coye earned six points apiece. J-E saw Tom Graf and Bob Gallagher score 16 points apiece.
On the girls side, Skaneateles lost to J-E 55-24 as Ashley Sheldon earned six points, with Jackie Leslie and Emily Call getting five points apiece. Kali Davis led the Eagles with 12 points.
Both Skaneateles teams will take on Hannibal and Phoenix this week.
