Having garnered an honorable mention in the state Class B rankings, the Cazenovia boys basketball team strode into 2014 in top form, having rolled to the championship of the Penn Yan Holiday Tournament held Dec. 27 and 28.
In the opening round at Penn Yan, the Lakers met Berlin, from Connecticut, and emerging from that game with a 71-61 victory.
What made that win so impressive was the way the Lakers rallied. After trailing 33-27 at halftime and remaining behind in the third quarter, Cazenovia used a big surge early in the fourth quarter to storm out in front, and would stay there.
By contrast, the final on Dec. 28, against Wayland-Cohocton (Section V), proved to be a breeze as the Lakers smashed the Golden Eagles by a 66-21 margin.
All of the points Cazenovia would need were in the books by the early part of the second quarter. But the Lakers didn’t stop there, roaring to a 36-11 halftime lead and maintaining superb defense the rest of the way, even as it gave lots of playing time to the reserves with the game well in hand.
After last Thursday’s game with Hannibal was snowed out, the Lakers (7-1) hoped to make up that game as well as make trips to Jordan-Elbridge and Hannibal this week.
Cazenovia’s girls basketball team, after the postponement of Friday’s non-league game at Oswego (it will get made up Jan. 28), also meets J-E and Hannibal, but does so at home.
