In all, seven Syracuse city high school basketball teams qualified for the Section III playoffs — five on the boys end, two on the girls end.
Corcoran and Henninger both are part of the Class AA boys tournament. The Cougars appeared to be heading for a top-three seed before last Friday’s 80-72 loss to Fayetteville-Manlius — a game it played without starting guard Martino Barletta.
As such, Corcoran (15-3) is the no. 4 seed and must face defending champion Christian Brothers Academy (13-5) Friday night at 6:45, with the winner moving into the semifinals against Cicero-North Syracuse or Auburn. The Cougars have not lost at home all season.
Henninger, who went 10-8 this winter, drew the no. 6 seed in Class AA and will get its own chance to go into F-M’s “Hornets’ Nest” in Friday night’s quarterfinal at 7:45. The winner gets Utica Proctor or Liverpool in the semifinals.
Over in Class A, Nottingham (11-7), fortified by the AA teams it faced in the CNY Counties League, had the no. 6 seed and hosted no. 11 seed Indian River in the opening round, with the winner to visit no. 3 seed Whitesboro in the semifinals.
Fowler also made it to the playoffs despite a 6-11 regular-season mark, taking its no. 13 seed to meet Colgate-bound Pat Moore and no. 4 seed Utica-Notre Dame on Tuesday, hoping to advance to a quarterfinal against Watertown or Carthage.
But the best story in the city might belong to the Syracuse Academy of Science. In just its third season at the varsity level, the Atoms went 16-2, winning the OHSL Patriot National division regular-season title.
SAS was placed in Class D as the no. 3 seed and hosted no. 14 seed Madison in the first round, the Atoms hoping to reach a quarterfinal against Otselic Valley or Poland later this week.
Meanwhile, the Corcoran girls basketball team went 17-1 in the regular season, yet only could get the no. 3 seed in Class AA behind Cicero-North Syracuse and CBA.
The Cougars will host no. 6 seed Liverpool in the AA quarterfinals Friday at 5 p.m., just before the boys game against CBA. A semifinal against CBA or Utica Proctor would be next.
Nottingham, which just saw Nikki Works surpass 1,000 career points, could be a dangerous team in Class A, but it must start as the no. 10 seed, visiting Indian River in Tuesday’s opening round. The survivor visits no. 2 seed Cortland in the quarterfinals later this week.
