Between the records threatened by one side and the torrid pace set by the other side, it is fun following Bishop Grimes basketball in the early stages of the 2011-12 season.
Not only are both the boys and girls Cobras teams undefeated, they’re doing so with an entertaining style that leaves opponents either breathless or baffled – but so far, always beaten.
A big weekend for the Grimes boys team culminated on Saturday with an 86-70 victory over defending state Class D champion New York Mills in the Peppino’s Invitational at Henninger High School.
Prior to this, the Marauders had won 37 straight in the regular season and 50 in a row against Section III foes. But Mills arrived at this game short-handed, missing Jake Kehrli, a key contributor to the state title team last winter, who tore an ACL late in the summer.
Of course, even if Kehrli was around, he and the rest of his Marauder teammates may have found it too difficult to deal with Grimes’ all-out tempo, featuring full-court pressure and continual sprints to the basket on the offensive end.
Junior forward Jon Carnegie had 12 points in the first quarter to propel the Cobras in front, 21-13. Then Gai Ater had his turn, with eight points in the second period as the margin grew to 45-32 by halftime.
From there, it rarely fluctuated, Grimes getting as far ahead as 63-45 in the third quarter as Mills simply could not keep up.
Carnegie finished with 23 points, including a pair of dunks, with Ater close behind as he got 22 points. Tom Steinberg managed 14 points as freshman Connor Evans jumped off the bench to earn 13 points, more than twice the total of Casey Evans.
For Mills, Matt Welch had 20 points, while Nick Commenale (13 points), J.T. Ross and Cody Mariotti (12 points each) also hit double figures.
This followed, by less than 24 hours, Friday night’s 77-52 win over Marcellus. For three periods, the underhanded Mustangs (it had three starters out due to injury) hung close, only trailing 53-43 going into the final quarter before it wore down late.
Four Cobras hit double figures, led by Carnegie, who put up 21 points. Ater was close behind with 18 points, while Steinberg managed a career-best 15 points and Casey Evans got 10 points. Marcellus lost despite 23 points from Nick Sinay.
As this went on, back in East Syracuse the Bishop Grimes girls basketball team was moving to 2-0 with a scary shooting display in a 58-36 victory over Marcellus.
Blazing from the start, the Cobras enjoyed a 20-4 lead by the end of the first quarter, which allowed them to withstand the Mustangs’ mid-game pushes before a 15-7 blitz through the fourth quarter.
In all, Grimes made 12 3-pointers, tying a single-game school record. Of course, Amelia Heiselman led that charge, her 23 points including seven conversions from beyond the arc as she also dished out five assists.
Just in case Marcellus was worried too much about Heiselman, Erannan Shattuck offered inside help with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. All of Lauren Vaughan’s nine points came from a trio of 3-pointers, while Alex Guhin added seven points.
This prolific shooting did not let up in last Monday’s non-league game against Henninger, especially in the third quarter of Grimes’ 69-40 victory over the Black Knights.
Unlike their first two games, the Cobras did not jump out to a big lead. Instead, Henninger hung close, and only trailed 26-22 going into the break.
Then the third quarter started, and another barrage of outside shots, combined with Grimes’ full-court pressure, led to a 29-9 blitz that all but put the game away.
For the second game in a row, the Cobras tied a team mark with 12 successful 3-pointers. Heiselman poured in seven of those treys to account for all of her 21 points.
Guhin, with 14 points, and Shattuck, with six points, supplied the inside balance, while Vaughan twice connected beyond the arc on her way to nine points. Jordan Vaught, Tina Hoag and Megan Driscoll each made a 3-pointer, too.
