Yet another chapter in the rivalry between Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse will unfold this Sunday as part of the annual Zebra Classic at SRC Arena.
Before then, though, the Warriors and Northstars had plenty of basketball to deal with, including Liverpool having its rematch with Nottingham last Friday and C-NS finally breaking its month-long victory drought.
The second encounter between Liverpool and Nottingham was not as lopsided as the 81-54 defeat on Dec. 19, but again the Warriors were on the wrong end of it, falling to the Bulldogs by a score of 77-62.
In that first meeting, Liverpool’s main problem was that it could not keep pace and was dominated on the boards. That certainly didn’t happen in the rematch – at least in the first half, anyway, as the Warriors kept up, and then caught up late in the second quarter to forge a 34-34 halftime tie.
But during the pivotal third period, Nottingham outscored Liverpool 24-16, turning this time to guard Malik Zachery, who kept making 3-pointers – six of them – on his way to a career-best 27 points, with help from Nate Knight (12 points), James Davis and Jose Davila (10 points each).
Meanwhile, Tyler Sullivan pushed Liverpool until the end, finishing with 19 points. Matt Hunter added 11 points, with Naz Johnson getting nine points as Nate Cutler and John Marino each gained seven points.
The end of the six-game C-NS skid came last Tuesday night, at Central Square, where the Northstars managed to outscore the Redhawks in every quarter and prevail by a 58-48 margin.
No single run made the difference. Instead, C-NS steadily built a 28-21 halftime lead and withstood all of Central Square’s attempts to answer, led by Steven Theetge, who had 20 points, most of it from sinking a season-best six 3-pointers.
Inside, Brendan Gacek had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Anthony Nesci added 15 points, three rebounds and four assists. On the Redhawks’ side, only Ethan Williams, with 14 points, reached double figures.
Now looking for back-to-back wins, the Northstars hosted West Genesee on Friday night, but it paid the price for a slow start to each half and could not catch up in a 53-46 defeat to the Wildcats.
One thing that WG 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.
C-NS never let Temara get close to those gaudy numbers, but he still had 21 points, and his teammate, Nick Cunningham, added15 points, giving WG a second viable option.
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 Gacek and Turrell lead with just nine points apiece, though Gacek did add 11 rebounds. Nesci had eight points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, with Nick Antonello managing seven points and six rebounds.
Prior to facing Nottingham, Liverpool first had to make a spirited fourth-quarter comeback at Baldwinsville last Tuesday night, seeing Sullivan again lead the way in a 69-63 win over the Bees.
Mired at 2-5, B’ville needed a signature win. From the opening tip, both sides pushed the tempo, leading to lots of exchanges.
But B’ville inched into a 22-18 lead by the end of the first quarter and, more or less, maintained that margin through the next two periods, matching every Liverpool push with one of its own.
As the fourth quarter began, the Warriors trailed, 53-49, but saved its best work for the homestretch. Liverpool, led Sullivan, wore the Bees’ defenses down and moved out in front for good, ending on a 20-10 run.
All told, Sullivan had 25 points, with Will Cutler adding 11 points. Sumit Singh continued to improve, earning nine points as Nate Cutler (seven points), Matt Hunter and Naz Johnson (six points apiece) also helped out.
B’ville saw a tremendous defensive effort by Devyn McLeod (20 rebounds, to go with 11 points) wasted, with Tim Marshall getting 21 points and eight rebounds.
