With bad weather causing a string of postponements in the middle of the week, the schedule of many boys basketball teams was curtailed – but once play resumed on Friday night, Marcellus and Solvay both reached the win column.
The Mustangs went to Chittenango and beat the Bears 66-53. A week removed from a narrow defeat to Cazenovia on Dec. 5, Marcellus didn’t want a repeat of that experience against the Lakers’ winless Madison County neighbors.
To that end, after an 11-11 first-quarter tie, the Mustangs slowly gained control, leading 25-22 by halftime, and then outscoring Chittenango 21-11 in the pivotal third period.
The Bears could not recover as Mike Melnyczuk paced Marcellus, earning 21 points, most of it from four successful 3-pointers. Gavin Hoey added 12 points and Mike Dillon got eight points as 10 different Mustangs earned at least one field goal by game’s end, a depth Chittenango could not match.
While this went on, Solvay, idle for 11 days since its Dec. 1 season-opening 55-23 rout over Hannibal (last Tuesday’s game with Cazenovia was snowed out and will get made up this week), visited Jordan-Elbridge and, starting fast in each half, beat the Eagles 64-45.
Hot shooting in the first quarter helped the Bearcats roar to a 22-8 lead. J-E, to its credit, made up most of that deficit in the second period and only trailed by four, 32-28, at the break.
But a 19-9 third-quarter Solvay push proved too difficult for the Eagles to answer, and Blake Bagozzi led the visitors, hitting on six 3-pointers to account for most of his 20 points. Sam Kippen provided the inside scoring with 17 points, while John Dippold and Jon Scutt had seven points apiece.
No one on J-E’s squad got close to Bagozzi or Kippen’s production, as Zach Wagner led the way with 11 points. Ryan Cooper and Zach Pangaro each got seven points and Justin Quinn managed six points.
J-E also played last Monday night, unable to keep up in a 77-53 defeat to its fellow Eagles from Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central.
Setting a fast pace, ITC led, 26-14, by the end of the first quarter. J-E tried to make up ground, but every time that attempt got turned back by a deep, versatile ITC attack that saw five players score in double figures, led by Josh Holmes, who had 20 points, and James Walker, who put together 13 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.
On J-E’s side, only Quinn, who had 11 points, reached double figures. Kyle Humberstone, with nine points, was right behind as Cooper, Pangaro and Brandon Macvicz finished with six points apiece.