Just when the West Genesee boys basketball team wanted to feel good about its long-term prospects, Fayetteville-Manlius showed up to remind them just how much work still remains.
Behind 15 3-point field goals and a huge game from star senior John Schurman, the Hornets handled the Wildcats on its home floor quite easily Tuesday night on their way to a 76-42 victory.
If that looked familiar to WG fans, it was, for F-M did much the same thing last season in Camillus, drilling a series of 3-pointers in the early going to take the Wildcats out of it before it could get settled.
Schurman, who is headed for Binghamton University next year, came out firing on all cylinders, recording 18 first-quarter points, leaving WG staring at a 29-7 deficit by the time that period ended.
For a brief while, the Wildcats cooled things down, but another barrage of outside shots marked a 23-11 Hornets sprint through the third quarter that put the game out of reach.
The Wildcats, led by Shane Temara (who had nine points), seemed overmatched by Fayetteville-Manlius’ 1-3-1 half court trapping zone all night. This forced Fred Kent’s teams into many turnovers, including one that led to a runout and electrifying two=handed dunk by Schurmann.
Hitting on six 3-pointers, Schurman finished with 32 points, and that was despite sitting out most of the fourth quarter. But he also got a lot of help from his teammates.
F-M point guard Jake Wittig controlled the game all night on his way to eight points, 10 assists, and four steals. Louis Avellino managed 11 points, as he, Wittig and Sean Brown (10 points) each made a pair of 3-pointers. Mike Hoalcraft, Alex Leuze and John Stone also hit 3-pointers by the time it was done.
In support of Temara, Rob Pocyntyluk had eight points, with Nick Cunningham and Paul Smyth managing six points apiece. Will Randall and Michael Schmidt both made just one field goal apiece as Troy Temara got shut out.
WG would get a chance to recover Friday night, at Nottingham, the same team it beat 73-61 in last year’s Section III Class AA quarterfinals. But led by Henry Sullivan, the Bulldogs would gain a bit of payback, defeating the Wildcats 81-69.
This game was decided in the middle stages. WG broke out of the offensive doldrums it went through against F-M and was tied, 15-15, and continued to produce well, even though Nottingham took a 35-29 lead to halftime.
Where the Bulldogs broke it open was in the third quarter, outscoring WG 28-16. And much of it came from Sullivan, who would pile up 32 points, including four successful 3-pointers, as Nate Knight and Malik Zachery (10 points each) offered support.
Battling to the end, the Wildcats saw Troy Temara, with 17 points, lead the way. Cunningham had 14 points, with Randall adding 12 points and Joey Ulrich six points. However, Shane Temara managed just a single field goal.
At 2-2, WG went back on the road this week, visiting Cicero-North Syracuse on Tuesday and Central Square on Friday before hosting its own Booster Club Tournament on Dec. 27-28.
Joe Fabian contributed to this report.
