Now it was time for the West Genesee boys basketball team to reenter the CNY Counties League fray, and it did so Friday at Cicero-North Syracuse, who had gone a month without a victory before topping Central Square earlier in the week.
And while the Wildcats were far from smooth for 32 minutes, its relentless defensive effort provided a steady foundation for a 53-46 victory over the Northstars.
One thing the Wildcats wanted to do in this game was show that it had more to offer on the offensive side than Troy Temara, who had scored 77 combined points in games against Corcoran (a double-overtime win) and Utica Proctor (a last-second loss) on Dec. 27-28 at SRC Arena.
And it succeeded – a bit. Temara still had 21 points, but Nick Cunningham regained his form with 15 points, giving WG a second viable option as Will Randall added six of his eight points at the free-throw line.
More importantly, the Wildcats started each half with powerful resistance, holding C-NS to just seven points in both the first and third quarters. That created a 38-27 edge, and the Northstars could not put together enough of a late run, seeing Brendan Gacek and Devin Turrell lead with just nine points apiece, though Gacek did add 11 rebounds.
Solvay appeared to have just the right timing for Friday’s game at Cazenovia, since the Bearcats were refreshed, and the Lakers had lost to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill the night before in its first outing after a 17-day layoff.
But a slow start doomed the Bearcats in a 51-46 defeat to the Lakers. Stingy defense throughout the first half helped Cazenovia maintain full control, eventually building a 30-17 advantage.
As the second half wore on, Solvay chipped away, seeing Jon Scutt and Mike Yaizzo (15 points each) lead the comeback attempt as Blake Bagozzi and John Dippold each add seven points.
Cazenovia maintained its lead, though, because it put three players in double figures. Shaffner, getting plenty of chances in the paint, earned 20 points, with Henderson close behind as he had his second straight 16-point outing and Ackermann contributed 12 points.
Earlier in the week, Marcellus and Jordan-Elbridge both took defeats on Tuesday, with the Mustangs falling to CBA 82-58 and the Eagles losing 62-46 to Skaneateles.
Even though Marcellus caught the Brothers coming off its mammoth win in the Dec. 29-30 Bottar-Leone Holiday Classic (where it beat Jamesville-DeWitt and Henninger on back-to-back nights), it didn’t experience a letdown from CBA, who steadily built a 41-25 halftime lead.
The Mustangs got a big night from Mike Melnyczuk, who led all scorers with 28 points, while Mike Dillon added 10 points and Nate Kellar eight points.
But CBA had far more balance, seeing four players score in double figures as freshman Charles Pride hit five 3-pointers to account for most of his 19 points as Monte Stroman (11 points), Jack Carey and Emmett Dunn (10 points each) followed.
In J-E’s case, it never really recovered from Skaneateles jumping out to an 18-7 first-quarter lead. Though it closed the gap to 24-18 by halftime, the Eagles never put together the sustained run it needed to turn back the Lakers.
Still, Zach Wagner finished with 14 points, while Ryan Cooper put up 11 points and Brandon Macvicz contributed six points. On the Skaneateles side, Jake Peterson (18 points) and Pete Knupp (16 points) gave the visitors an effective inside-outside duo.
Returning to action Friday, at Fowler, Marcellus rebounded, fighting off the Falcons 42-34 largely due to a defense that slowed the game’s tempo down and never let Fowler score than 10 points in any single period.
Offensively, Marcellus nearly got shut down, held to three points in the third quarter, but still pulled away late behind free throws from Melnyczuk, who poured in 21 points, nearly half his team’s output. Dillon had 10 points for the second game in a row, with Gavin Hoey contributing six points.
