In recent years, West Genesee’s boys basketball team had not enjoyed many pleasurable moments while on the same court as Fayetteville-Manlius, often on the wrong end of lopsided defeats punctuated by a barrage of Hornets 3-pointers. This only made the Wildcats’ 73-57 victory at F-M last Tuesday night that much sweeter, for in the face of the vaunted “Hornets Nest” student section, WG took charge during the second quarter and did not let go the rest of the way. As if the Wildcats needed any more motivation, surrendering a late lead to CBA in its Dec. 6 opener provided it. And it didn’t care much that F-M, playing for the first time this winter, had seen its all-time leading scorer, John Schurman, depart for Binghamton University, along with standouts like Louis Avellino and Mike Hoalcraft. From the start, F-M leaned on its senior point guard, Jake Wittig, fully recovered from a shoulder injury suffered during football season early in September. And Wittig didn’t disappoint, putting together 26 points, eight rebounds and six steals. But WG was content with that, so long as it contained the rest of the Hornets’ roster. And it did, especially during a second quarter when it turned a 17-13 deficit into a 37-29 halftime lead, and then outscored F-M 22-12 in the third period to put it away. Troy Temara worked inside for his 18 points. Sean Brown provided the outside touch, getting most of his 14 points from four 3-pointers, while Nick Cunningham also got 14 points. Will Randall and Derek Jones managed seven points apiece. WG then had its home opener on Friday night, against Auburn, in a game that was tight most of the way before the Wildcats pulled away late to beat the Maroons 67-55. An active first quarter saw WG move out in front, 22-16. Though that pace couldn’t be maintained, the Wildcats were content to trade baskets with Auburn throughout the next two periods, staying out in front and waiting until the final minutes to get a more comfortable margin. Of Cunnigham’s 19 points, 11 came from successful free throws. Brown got most of his 11 points from a trio of 3-pointers, while Temara, Rob Pocyntyluk and Ryan Greco each had eight points and Tyler Shoults managed six points. Trevor Ash paced Auburn with 14 points. West Genesee’s girls team had Wednesday night’s game at Bishop Grimes snowed out. But it got made up two nights later, and the Wildcats could not solve the Class B favorites as it lost a 64-44 decision to the Cobras. When it scored the game’s first five points, WG looked, briefly, like it would solve Grimes’ defensive pressure. But reality soon set in and the Cobras outscored the Wildcats 18-5 the rest of the period to take the lead for good. Trailing 31-20 at the break, WG made one more push, cutting the deficit to 34-28 in the third quarter, Camryn Chawgo hitting a pair of 3-pointers to give her four for the night as she would lead the Wildcats with 16 points. Grimes countered with Katy McInerney hitting on all seven of her points in a brief stretch that made it 45-30 going to the final period, and from there the Cobras got away, led by Jordan Vaught’s 21 points and Azariah Wade’s 15 points. Helping Chawgo, Grace Osterdale picked up eight points and Elle Lazore added seven points. Each Wildcats side plays just once this week, with the girls going to Utica Proctor on Wednesday and the boys hosting Baldwinsville on Friday night. Then both of them play Dec. 23 – WG’s girls hosting F-M at 2 p.m., followed by a boys game against Henninger at 6 p.m.