An extra day to wait, and perhaps fret, about what might take place did not bother the Skaneateles boys basketball team one bit.
Instead, the no. 4 seed Lakers jumped all over no. 12 seed Holland Patent in Wednesday afternoon’s Section III Class B quarterfinal, cruising to a 72-44 victory over the Golden Knights.
This sets up a date on Sunday with top seed South Jefferson (who eliminated Bishop Grimes 70-63) in the Class B semifinal at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena. The winner of that game plays Westhill or Clinton in the March 3 title game at the Carrier Dome.
In a small way, Skaneateles caught a break when Holland Patent, the no. 12 seed, took out no. 5 seed Sherburne-Earlville 59-56 in the opening round on Feb. 15 as the Lakers were knocking out Ilion 79-35. Weather forced a one-day postponement, but it could not save the Golden Knights from meeting an end against the Lakers.
Cold at the start, HP managed just a single field goal in the first quarter. This allowed Skaneateles to work any possible early jitters and take a comfortable 14-2 lead.
Though the Golden Knights did pick up some production in the second period, it didn’t keep the Lakers from expanding its lead to 29-11 as they reached halftime.
Even when HP started to solve the Skaneateles defense on a consistent basis in the third quarter, the Lakers kept pace, and pulled further away in the final period as all 11 players that saw action got at least one point.
Luke Drancsak led the way, pouring in 16 points. Collin Jones and Bobby Leslie each had 10 points, while Chris Knupp got nine points. Just behind them, Austin Gardner and Alex Brownlee got eight points apiece.
