In wildly varying ways, the Baldwinsville boys basketball team kept finding disappointment, both at home and on the road.
When the Bees hosted 2-6 Rome Free Academy on Thursday night, it expected a good result — only to get surprised as the Black Knights took over in the late going, leading to a 70-53 defeat.
Neither side could get away in a fast-paced first half, and the Bees had plenty of production, even though it trailed 32-31 at the break.
Little changed in the third period, either — but RFA gained confidence and kept B’ville from making any kind of serious run. Thanks to solid free-throw shooting down the stretch, the Black Knights outscored the Bees 24-11 in the final period.
Kevin Roy led B’ville with 20 points, with Chris Whelan contributing 18 points, but no other player had more than five points. RFA’s Jerry Howard hit on four 3-pointers and 10 free throws on his way to a game-high 26 points as Lloyd Parkmond added 14 points.
B’ville was actually glad to see RFA after getting overwhelmed in Tuesday’s game at Corcoran, where the Cougars hit triple digits and beat the Bees 109-79.
For its part, the Bees were terrific on offense, somehow keeping pace with Corcoran through much of a torrid first half and only trailing 54-46 at the break.
But the Cougars kept on running, kept on pressing and eventually wore the Bees down. Much of the big margin came from the fact that Corcoran outscored B’ville 31-12 in the fourth quarter, incessant on reaching that large point mark.
Whelan still had 24 points, while Roy connected on 21 points. Casey Murphy had 10 points as Chris Thayer got eight points and Nick Alenciewicz seven points. But Corcoran put six players in double figures, with Marsean Brown gaining 28 points and Riley Stroman adding 24 points.
B’ville is home again Wednesday night to face Liverpool before a Friday trip to Henninger as it looks to improve upon a 3-8 mark.
