A small bit of reality has hit the Fayetteville-Manlius boys basketball team following its 8-0 start.
The Hornets’ first defeat of the season, to Henninger on Jan. 6, hurt a bit, but Thursday night’s 62-49 loss at Oswego stung more, for varying reasons.
True, the Buccaneers were a formidable opponent, having started 5-2 this season, and Oswego was eager to play again after a narrow defeat to Nottingham two nights earlier.
Still, F-M could not have imagined how rough the start would be. Making just one field goal in the first quarter, the Hornets got run over as the Bucs bolted out to a 21-2 lead.
Despite this, and despite 34 fouls (an average of more than one foul per minute), F-M fought back, especially in the second half as a 20-point deficit got whittled to single digits.
At one point in the fourth quarter, the Hornets were down by only seven and had a 3-point shot to move within four. But that one, like so many others on the night, went off target, and Oswego slowly pulled away in the final minutes.
Freshman Jake Wittig led F-M with 15 points, while Tomer Nesher had 11 points. John Schurman struggled all game long, only making a pair of 3-pointers. For the victorious Bucs, Josh Gillard put in 18 points, with Dylan Lavner (13 points) and Ryan Lavner (10 points) also hitting double figures.
F-M will get a chance Tuesday to break its skid at Central Square, finally returning home next Friday to face Nottingham.
On that night, fans attending the game are encouraged to wear orange in honor of Matt Murphy, an F-M graduate who passed away in October while attending Syracuse University.
