With just 24 hours to recuperate following a hard-fought defeat to Bishop Ludden at the Peppino’s Invitational, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys basketball team ventured Sunday night to the Carrier Dome to face Cicero-North Syracuse in the nightcap of the Holiday Tip-Off Classic.
This time around, John Schurman was in top form, as he and Tomer Nesher accounted for most of the critical production and the Hornets pulled away to beat the Northstars 73-48.
Uneven at the start, F-M actually trailed C-NS 9-7, late in the first quarter, but that was where Schurman, who managed just 14 points in that 70-67 loss to Ludden, started to take over. He had a pair of baskets late in the period, and F-M took a 15-12 lead.
That was just the warm-up, though. Schurman finally hit on his first 3-pointer of the season early in the second quarter, and drained another on his way to 10 points in that frame and 16 for the half, eclipsing what he had done against Ludden.
As a result, F-M built its margin to 38-27 by halftime, but it still wasn’t totally safe. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Michael Lumia early in the third period quickly cut the Hornets’ lead to 38-33.
F-M countered with an 11-2 run that proved decisive, six of the points coming from Nesher, who would finish with 19 points for the night.
The Hornets got away in the latter stages, Schurman exiting after he had posted 27 points, including an eight-for-eight night at the free-throw line. Louis Avellino cooled off from his Ludden performance (where he hit seven 3-pointers), but still contributed seven points.
On Tuesday night, the Hornets meet Corcoran in its home opener, and then rest until visiting Nottingham exactly one week later, on Dec. 18.