West Genesee, Marcellus and Solvay’s boys basketball teams would all take their turns on the big stage at SRC Arena as part of the massive “More Than A Game” Holiday Classic that benefited Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital – but none would produce as much as Troy Temara did for the Wildcats during its wild run through Pool C.
It all started with the Wildcats’ epochal opening-round Pool C game against Corcoran last Saturday that went deep into the night before Temara, capping off a career-best effort, helped WG edge the Cougars 88-86 in double overtime.
The first hint at this game’s wild nature came in the second quarter, where the Wildcats scored 22 points to take a 32-27 halftime lead. Corcoran erased it all in the third quarter, though, and it was tight for the rest of regulation, each side squandering chances to win it late, so it ended in a 71-71 tie.
That frantic pace carried over into the first OT, with Temara and Nick Cunningham both lighting it up for WG and Marquis Gilbert pacing the Cougars on his way to 31 points, but again neither side could win it.
So it was 80-80 going into the second OT. Corcoran continued to hit, but so did WG’s Sam Brown, hitting on a pair of clutch 3-pointers after not scoring a basket prior to that point in the game.
Thus, they were still tied, 86-86, when WG got the ball back and, with 27 seconds left, turned again to Temara, who netted the go-ahead basket, and then, with the Wildcats’ defense, thwarted Corcoran’s last chance to tie or win it.
All told, Temara had an astonishing 39 points, one of the highest single-game totals in Section III this winter. And Corcoran couldn’t concentrate on him, either, since Cunningham was working on his own 26-point effort. For Corcoran, Lashondie Jamison had 19 points to support Gilbert, with Romello Baxtron and Dante Coker each scoring 11 points.
After all this, Temara could be forgiven if he and his Wildcats would have tired legs in Sunday night’s Pool C final against defending Section III Class AA champion Utica Proctor, who didn’t go anywhere near overtime to beat Cicero-North Syracuse 60-45 in a rematch of last March’s sectional final.
Somehow, though, Temara nearly carried his Wildcats to an even bigger victory, going to the wire before WG fell to the Raiders in a tense 56-53 thriller.
Temara’s constant production gave Proctor problems and helped WG build a 27-22 halftime lead, and though the Raiders fared better in the second half and had a much more diverse attack, the Wildcats still carried a 48-47 lead to the final minute.
Then Proctor’s Jalen Hawkins drained a 3-pointer, putting his team in front. A pair of free throws made it 52-48, but Temara hit again to cut the deficit to two, raising his total to 35 points.
Tyvon Reed was fouled, and he made both free throws, restoring the Raiders’ margin to 54-50, but Temara still didn’t let up, sinking his own 3-pointer with five seconds left to give him 38 points for the game and 77 total points for the weekend.
Proctor went six-for-six on free throws down the stretch, with Reed converting two more before a last-second Wildcats attempt to tie it fell short at the horn.
All told, Temara had 17 field goals, while the rest of the roster had just six field goals combined. Proctor, on the other hand, saw Reed (18 points), John Allen (14 points), Jalen Hawkins and Daquan Testamark (10 points each) hit double figures.
