All season long, the Skaneateles boys basketball team has searched for the kind of victory that could jump-start an effort that, at the very least, would secure a post-season appearance.
Such a chance came Friday night, with Skaneateles hosting 10-2 Cazenovia, but once again that big win proved elusive as, with a 65-47 defeat, it again fell back below the .500 mark.
When the two Lakers rivals had first met on Dec. 13 at Cazenovia’s Buckley Gym, Skaneateles lost, 64-54. The rematch came as Skaneateles was trying to climb back to the .500 mark and inch closer to a post-season berth.
They played the first half at a quick tempo, and Skaneateles adjusted to it, only traling 19-16 going to the second quarter. Once there, though, the host Lakers struggled on the defensive end, Cazneovia extending its lead to 43-31 at the break.
Once it had that lead, Cazenovia was content to slow things down, and its defense made sure Skaneateles didn’t catch up, holding the host Lakers to just five points in the fourth quarter.
No one on Skaneateles had more than the 10 points put up by Pete Knupp and Bobby Leslie. Chris Knupp managed nine points, while Collin Jones, Jake Peterson and Colin Fohel had six points apiece.
Cazenovia’s Ryman Seeley earned nearly half his 20 points from three 3-pointers. Ross Gerber, with 10 points, also sneaked into double figures, while Keaton Ackermann picked up eight points. Ryan Henderson and Kevin Hopsicker had six points apiece.
Prior to that, the Lakers were in trouble late in last Tuesday night’s game against visiting Solvay, but did enough down the stretch to pull out a 39-36 victory over the Bearcats.
A solid first half had Skaneateles in front, 22-16, but all of that changed in the third quarter, the Lakers only managing four points as Solvay, led by Jon Scutt (11 points) and Tyler Cardinell (10 points), surged in front, 30-26.
With a sense of desperation, the Lakers played strong defense in the final period, holding the Bearcats to six points as Pete Knupp led the comeback, producing 15 points, most of them from four 3-pointers, while Leslie worked inside and got 10 points and Chris Knupp helped, too, earning eight points.
After that loss to Cazenovia, Skaneateles has just one home game left – on Feb. 7, against East Syracuse-Minoa. Everything else is on the road, including next Wednesday’s visit to Hannibal.
