On the same frigid Tuesday night, in two separate venues separated by a long, cold stretch of Route 20, the Cazenovia and Skaneateles basketball teams squared off.
Much to the delight of Cazenovia partisans, their Laker side would prevail in each of those games by the same five-point margin, the boys going on the road to win 56-51, the girls withstanding a rough finish to regulation to prevail 58-53 in overtime.
Coming off a loss to defending state Class B champion Westhill on Jan. 9, Skaneateles welcomed a Cazenovia side it beat 68-60 at Buckley Gym Dec. 12 on a night where Pete Knupp hit six 3-pointers and set a career mark with 37 points.
Knupp would get nowhere near that total here, settling for 12 points, as he and his Skaneateles side spent the night in chase mode after hot-shooting Cazenovia grabbed a 20-10 first-quarter lead.
Thwarted on several runs, Skaneateles still pulled within seven, 31-24, by halftime, and a surge late in the third quarter made the deficit just three points, 41-38, as Jake Peterson, with 14 points, was leading the effort.
Again, Cazenovia tried to get away, building a 52-43 edge. Again, Skaneateles fought back with seven straight points, making it 52-50, still with plenty of time left.
Cazenovia held on, though, getting 20 points from Ryan Henderson and 16 points from Keaton Ackermann, with the rest of the production coming from Jake Shaffner (eight points), Evan Cornell and Kevin Ridings (six points each).
Aside from Peterson, who finished with 19 points, and Knupp, Jake Reed finished with nine points for Skaneateles, while Marc Pietropaoli had seven points.
Meanwhile, at Buckley Gym, things were a bit different, but the theme was similar, Cazenovia attempting to avenge a 46-28 defeat at Skaneateles back on Dec. 11.
Once 3-4, Cazenovia was riding a two-game win streak, and displayed its intentions by holding Skaneateles to six points in the first quarter, though to its credit Skaneateles rebounded and, with a hot finish to the half, led 21-18 at the break.
They would continue to go back and forth as the pace quickened in the third quarter. Cazenovia inched back in front, 36-35, and saw its lead grow to five, 49-44, with less than 30 seconds to play in regulation.
Not giving up, Skaneateles quickly hit a basket, called a time-out, and then forced a turnover that led to a tying 3-pointer with 13.5 seconds left. When a last-second Cazenovia shot banged off the rim at the buzzer, they were going to overtime, just like the boys had one.
Given the finish to regulation, Skaneateles had every right to feel like it would prevail. But Cazenovia didn’t wilt, even after Shannon Foehl’s free throws cut the visiting Lakers’ deficit to one, 54-53, with 28.3 seconds left.
Try as it could, though, Skaneateles could not make one more rally, seeing Cazenovia’s Maggie Johnson, who finished with a game-high 24 points, hit free throws in the waning seconds.
Johnson’s hot inside play was complemented by Kate Sullivan, who stepped up to earn 12 points. Further help came from Danielle Tedesco, who had seven points, and Lizzy Bigsby, who added six points.
Hot outside shooting had kept Skaneateles close, with Olivia Dobrovosky making four 3-pointers on her way to 18 points and Foehl connecting three times beyond the arc as she finished with 17 points.
