All the Marcellus boys basketball team can do now is sit for what could be close to two weeks, waiting for the Section III Class B playoffs to get underway — and knowing that it will be short-handed once it gets there.
In the moment senior Will Fiacchi fell to the court with a broken bone in his foot late in last Wednesday night’s 79-66 victory over Cazenovia, the Mustangs’ late-season momentum crashed to a halt.
The injury will sideline Fiacchi and his 21.5 points per game for the rest of the season, and without him, Marcellus (12-6, 10-4 league) could not contain OHSL Liberty division leader Bishop Grimes Friday night in an 85-72 defeat.
When the Mustangs hosted Cazenovia, it was supposed to serve as a tune-up for Grimes. But Cazenovia, one win away from a playoff berth of its own, played with desperate urgency, sprinting out to a 10-point first-quarter lead.
Though it bounced back and got the fast pace it wanted, Marcellus could not shake Cazenovia and only led 37-33 going into the break. To get away, the Mustangs had to rely on a multi-pronged attack, something that hadn’t taken place at times this season –but had to happen after Fiacchi went down.
Fiacchi (who got hurt, ironically, on the day he signed his football letter of intent to attend the University of Albany) had 19 points, before the injury, while Will Nolan put up 13 points. Steve Raven had 12 points as James Kinney took a much larger role, earning 10 points. Mike Tross (nine points) got close to double figures, too.
All this negated a fine Cazenovia effort as Zack Golden earned 21 points, leading both sides, and Tanner Whiteman had 15 points that included a trio of 3-pointers.
Now came the trip to meet Grimes, a team Marcellus lost to at home Dec. 23 when Will Nolan, among others, was still out of the lineup.
Nolan, and the rest of the remaining Mustangs, would spend much of the first half on its heels against the aggressive, attacking Cobras, who bolted out to a 38-22 halftime lead as its star player, Mike Stone, sank a 3-pointer to reach 1,000 points for his career.
Raven, with 23 points (including four 3-pointers), and Nolan, with 21 points, tried to engineer a comeback, but Grimes kept answering as Stone had 26 points, Mike Sugamosto 18 points, and Kucjok Ater and Tavon Moore 14 points apiece.
While all this went on, Westhill stayed right behind Grimes in the league standings Friday with an 80-44 romp over those other Warriors from Hannibal.
From the time it opened on a a 17-7 run, Westhill controlled the proceedings, and it doubled Hannibal’s output 46-23 over the course of the middle two periods.
Dan Ross, with 13 points, and Mike McMullen, with 12 points, led a balanced attack as Dan Karleski and Gino Sgroi each had 10 points. Justin Biles had eight points, with J.T. Alcaro, Jalen Robinson and Ryan Boyle getting six points apiece.
Westhill still needs to beat Skaneateles and Cazenovia this week in order to get a shot at the league title against Grimes in front of the home crowd Friday night.
