As far as the young Fayetteville-Manlius boys basketball team has traveled in this exciting winter, there’s still plenty of distance to cover before it can rise to the top of the Section III Class AA ranks.

That point got reinforced, in a painful manner, Thursday night when the Hornets took the difficult road trip to Utica Proctor and, from the start, were overwhelmed in a 60-34 loss to the Raiders.

Given all of Proctor’s success in recent years and its home-court prowess, F-M faced a big enough challenge. The fact that the Raiders were burning to assert itself again after overtime defeats to Cicero-North Syracuse and Henninger only made things worse.

In a near-echo of the loss at Oswego on Jan. 12, the Hornets suffered through a brutal first quarter, unable to crack Proctor’s relentless defensive pressure, full-court or otherwise. By the time those eight minutes were over, the Raiders held a 17-3 lead.

Settling down for a while, the Hornets played on even terms in the second period and trailed, 31-17, at halftime. As the second half wore on, though, Proctor again asserted itself on the defensive side, and F-M’s deficit kept growing.

By far, the main source of the Hornets’ misery was Raiders forward Chris Simmons, who proved unstoppable in the paint. Simmons finished with 32 points, just two less than the entire F-M roster, and added 11 rebounds.

Just five F-M players got on the board, none with more than John Schurman’s 10 points. Tomer Nesher had seven points, with T.J. Wheatley and Jake Wittig adding six points apiece and Louis Avellino contributing five points.

Meanwhile, the F-M girls basketball team, no. 17 in the latest state Class AA rankings, won twice at home to improve its record to 12-2 in advance of Tuesday’s big game at West Genesee.

First, the Hornets made up its snowed-out Jan. 13 game against Oswego last Tuesday, and played a near-perfect first half on its way to beating the Buccaneers 53-38.

F-M’s defense nearly blanked Oswego in the opening period while racing out to a 16-2 lead. By the time they reached the break, the margin was 30-8, and though the Hornets relented a bit in the second half, it had no reason to worry.

Kiley Shoemaker led F-M with 14 points. Charlotte Beers contributed 11 points, while Lauren Getman stepped up for 10 points and Alexis Rios added eight points.

Still at home Friday to face Utica Proctor, the Hornets turned up its defense and were in control all the way through a 55-32 romp of the Raiders.

Reversing what had happened to the boys team the night before, F-M jumped on Proctor 15-2 in the first quarter. From that, the Raiders never fully recovered, the Hornets using a 15-8 push through the third period to add to the margin.

Beers led with 14 points, but Shoemaker, with 12 points, and Getman, with 11 points, were close behind. Rios contributed six points.

Aside from that West Genesee clash on Tuesday, F-M also goes to Corcoran, and the boys Cougars visit the Hornets Friday for the annual “Pink Out” game that will raise money for breast cancer awareness and research.