Determined to pull out of its slide, the Baldwinsville boys basketball team returned to the Vince Celi Memorial Tournament at East Syracuse-Minoa, but again faced a fair amount of struggles.

In the opening round against Auburn Tuesday afternoon, the Bees got off to a strong start, but could not sustain it in a 75-63 loss to the Maroons.

Hitting every shot in the first quarter, B’ville seized a 24-14 lead. Over the next two periods, though, Auburn nearly doubled the Bees’ production, outscoring them 39-22 and moving ahead for good.

Willie Hython, who had 23 points, again led B’ville’s attack. Kevin Drain added 15 points, while Brett Charbonneau added eight points. Nick Granato, with 21 points, and Kareef Rufus, with 20 points, helped Auburn rally.

This put the Bees into Wednesday’s consolation game against Mexico, who lost to host ESM 54-45 in the other half of the opening round.

Furious about how it had played the day before, B’ville took out that fury on the Tigers, dominating from start to finish in a 73-51 romp.

It was 24-6 by the second quarter, and B’ville had a 33-12 advantage at halftime, so it spent the rest of the game nursing that comfortable margin. Hython again had a big day, finishing with 28 points, while Drain put in 18 points and Anthony DeMarco added 10 points.

With a 3-5 record, B’ville would get a rematch with Auburn Tuesday, its only game of the first week of 2012 as it hit the midway point of the regular season.