This long, brutal season for the Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball team might not include any post-season participation, but at least it can say that it began and ended with signature victories.
The Northstars’ upset of Nottingham in its Dec. 6 opener at Henninger’s Peppino’s Invitational got better with time as the Bulldogs charged into Class AA championship contention.
But it took nearly two months for C-NS to get another victory that felt as good. And given the Northstars’ long-standing rivalry with Liverpool, going on the road to beat the Warriors 69-67 Tuesday night might have topped what it did against Nottingham.
These same two teams had met Jan. 18 at SRC Arena as part of the Zebra Classic, and Liverpool pulled away to win that one 63-44. Since then, C-NS had gone 0-3, with little reason to suggest that the rematch with the Warriors would turn out any different.
But records can mean little in rivalries, and that certainly was the case here.
Ignoring its 2-13 mark, C-NS set a fast pace and led, 20-14, after one period. Liverpool answered well, but the Northstars did not slack off, and took a 36-34 lead to halftime.
When the tempo slowed down in the third quarter, C-NS fought to regain a modest 50-44 margin, and that would hold up down a tense homestretch thanks to clutch free-show shooting and key defensive stops.
A.J. Nesci, Brandon Gacek and Steven Theetge led the Northstars. Nesci put together 17 points, eight assists and five rebounds, while Gacek earned a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds and Theetge connected on five 3-pointers to account for most of his 17 points. Nick Antonello added nine points and seven rebounds.
Liverpool lost despite Tyler Sullivan leading both sides with 27 points. Matt Hunter had 15 points, while Naz Johnson had 10 points and Will Cutler contributed seven points.
As this went on, the Liverpool girls basketball team, needing two wins for a playoff berth, found that it was too much to beat state no. 4-ranked Cicero-North Syracuse, as the Northstars, not looking ahead to its Friday showdown with Baldwinsville, beat the Warriors 74-31.
Wasting little time, C-NS roared to a 23-4 lead by the end of the first quarter. And it went from there, the Warriors making occasional inroads, but mostly unable to tame a deep, balanced Northstars attack.
Jenna Wike led with seven points, adding four rebounds, with Donyai Starling adding seven rebounds to go with her four points as Bre Socker added four points and Laura Patulski contributed five rebounds.
On C-NS’s side, McKayla Roberts had 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Beth Bonin and Amani Free each finished with 14 points, while Emilee Norris gained nine points. Jada Kims, Marissa Felasco and MaryKate Bonanni had six points apiece.
