Many official titles and honors remain well within the reach of the Westhill boys basketball team, ranging from league to Section III to state and Federation championships, all of which were attained a year ago.
However, the unofficial crown of best team in the Syracuse area belongs elsewhere – at least for now.
The long-awaited showdown between the Warriors and Henninger, played in front of a packed crowd at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall on Saturday afternoon, went to the Black Knights, who combined timely scoring runs with superb defense to beat Westhill 59-48.
They called it “Havoc on the Hill”, even selling T-shirts with that moniker outside the gym. Inside, the battle had all sorts of meaning, in large part because three Henninger players – Romero Collier, Destin Blunt and Keisean Scott – had joined forced with Westhill’s senior core on the Syracuse Select AAU team that spent many summers on the tournament circuit.
Now, at last, they were facing each other, and with most of the Section III basketball community looking on, Henninger got the best of it.
The getaway started late in the first quarter, when the Black Knights took off on an 11-1 to break an 8-8 tie and take the lead for good, with five different Henninger players contributing points during that spurt.
During that same time, the game’s defensive tone was set. Like other Westhill opponents, the Black Knights devoted its energy to trying to contain the dynamic senior duo of Jordan Roland and Tyler Reynolds, each of whom now had more than 1,000 career points on their resume.
But while Roland was recording 13 first-half points, including an off-balance 3-pointer that cut Henninger’s lead to 32-24 at halftime, Reynolds managed just two baskets all afternoon.
Black Knights head coach Erik Saroney said that the work of his senior forward, Terrence Walker, was the key to stopping Reynolds. Though fellow forward Shaitique Blatche offered some help, Walker handled most of the duties, and Reynolds was shut out in the second half.
On the other end, Collier, Blatche and Scott led the way as Henninger put up 10 unanswered points late in the third quarter and shut out Westhill for more than four minutes, building up a 48-28 lead. Blatche finished with 17 points, with Collier adding 16 points, Destin Blunt 11 points and Scott 10 points by game’s end.
Led by Roland, who still managed 31 points despite every attempt to contain him, the Warriors made a fourth-quarter dash, but got no closer than nine points, 55-46, with one minute to play. Mike Burton picked up six points as Dan O’Connell added five points and nine rebounds.
It was already a landmark week even before the showdown with Henninger, with the Warriors pulling off a rare feat and nearly getting to the century mark in last Thursday night’s 98-76 victory over Institute of Technology Central.
Entering the game, ITC carried a 10-3 mark and a nine-game win streak, having just defeated Cazenovia 58-56 two nights earlier on Matt Dickson’s jumper at the buzzer.
Given the quality of the opposition, Westhill wasn’t about to look ahead to Henninger, and its offense tore the Eagles’ defense to shreds in the first half, scoring 61 points in those first two periods.
That was enough time for Reynolds to get the 13 points he needed to reach 1,000 for his career. It marked the first time in program history that teammates had gone past that 1,000-point mark, Roland having gone past that milestone in his junior year.
Reynolds didn’t stop there, though, draining seven 3-pointers and finishing with 33 points overall, a season high, along with six rebounds.
Jordan Roland got 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Chase Gedney put together 12 points and five rebounds, and Lobello had 10 points, eight assists and three rebounds. Ryan Roland had eight points and Burton six points as, for ITC, James Walker produced 23 points.
