Culminating a week of full recovery, the Westhill boys basketball team went to Jordan-Elbridge Friday night and nearly doubled the Eagles’ total in an easy 72-39 win.
Working at will against J-E’s overmatched defense, the Warriors got 27 points in the first quarter alone to take a big lead, then further reinforced the point by going on a 30-16 binge through the second half.
Nathan Nigolian led with 20 points as Kevin McAvoy, with 16 points, finished close behind. Mark McAnaney had 10 point as Ryan Conroy (eight points) and Jacob Redman (seven points) contributed off the bench. On J-E’s side, Tom Poppe and Brennen Barrigar both finished with 10 points and Scott Sullivan added eight points.
J-E did beat Tyburn Academy 59-32 for its second win of the season as Sullivan poured in 19 points to lead the charge. Barrigar finished with 13 points as Leland Holmes added nine points.
Many events preceded the Friday game, as Westhill rebounded from back-to-back defeats to Skaneateles and Solvay on Feb. 3-4 with some much-needed wins in advance of final-week showdowns with both Bishop Grimes and Bishop Ludden.
The Warriors first took out Cazenovia 64-45 last Monday night in a game twice rescheduled by weather postponements. Strong first-half defense helped Westhill bolt out to a 33-15 lead, and it nursed that margin the rest of the night.
Justin Biles, with 15 points, led a well-balanced attack as Nathan Nigolian added 14 points and Kevin McAvoy put up 13 points. Geno Sgroi finished with seven points. No Cazenovia player reached double figures as Travis Mimms, with seven points, got closest to that mark.
Two nights later, the Warriors went to Marcellus and, completing a regular-season sweep, earned a 62-53 victory over the Mustangs.
Yet it really wasn’t as close as how it ended. Westhill, already ahead 18-12, shut down Marcellus in an 18-5 second quarter to build the margin to 36-17. Eventually, the lead grew to 52-28 before the Warriors eased up late.
Westhill had close to perfect offensive balance. McAvoy led with nine points as Nigolian, Biles, Joe Meluni and Mark McAnaney each got nine points and all 11 players that saw action earned at least one point. For the Mustangs, Geoff Crysler and Steve Raven led the way, both earning 15 points, while Kyle Hastings, Mike Tross and Carey Mielnicki picked up six points apiece.
As the Warriors were dismantling J-E on Friday, Marcellus was doing the same to Hannibal, 90-38, to move back to the 500 mark at 8-8.
Crysler had a memorable night, hitting on six 3-pointers and setting a new career mark with 30 points. Raven contributed 18 points as Hastings got 10 points. Mielnicki (nine points), Nick Sinay (seven points) and Garrett Thompson (six points) all got close to double figures.
