All that the Cazenovia boys basketball team had done, racing to a 9-2 start and sneaking into the no. 24 spot in the latest state Class B rankings, had led to Friday night’s clash with Westhill at Buckley Gym.
As the defending state and Federation Class B champions, and perched atop the state rankings, the Warriors, with its high-scoring senior duo of Jordan Roland and Tyler Reynolds, presented the ultimate challenge.
As a large, loud “White Out” crowd looked on, the Lakers hung around for two quarters, but could not keep the Warriors from getting away in the second half of a 70-36 defeat that wasn’t as lopsided as the final score indicated.
For most of the first quarter, Cazenovia’s game plan of slowing down the tempo and holding its own on the defensive side panned out, as Westhill settled for jump shots and rarely got second chances.
Then, with less than a minute left in the first quarter and the Warriors only up 13-10, Roland, who is going to George Washington University next year, combined with Jeff Lobello on an alley-oop dunk and then hitting a tough leaner in the waning seconds of the period.
That settled the Warriors down, and Roland would tack on 11 points (including another dunk) during the second quarter, but Cazenovia, getting good production from Keaton Ackermann (he had six of his 13 points in that period), remained within sight, only trailing 33-23 at the break.
Not panicking, Westhill tightened its man-to-man pressure, and it gradually wore the Lakers down while getting better looks on the offensive end. An 8-0 run, done in a 90-second span of the third quarter, helped the Warriors stretch its margin to 44-26, and from there the game got away.
Roland finished with 22 points and nine rebounds. Tyler Reynolds contributed 17 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and three assists. Other than Ackermann, no Lakers player reached double figures as Evan Cornell got seven points and Jake Shaffner contributed six points. Ryan Henderson was held to a single field goal.
In the last tune-up before facing Westhill, the Lakers ventured to Jordan-Elbridge last Tuesday night and, while far from dominant, did enough to beat the Eagles 53-40.
Mostly, Cazenovia’s defense won this contest, holding J-E to seven points in each of the first two periods while building a double-digit margin, which shielded it from the Eagles’ Ryan Cooper getting most of his 17 points in the second half.
Henderson finished with 20 points, most of it from draining five 3-pointers. Ackermann, with 10 points, offered ample support, while Kevin Ridings earned eight points and Cornell got seven points.
Still with a 9-3 mark following the Westhill defeat, the Lakers host Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central on Tuesday and visit Hannibal next Friday night.
