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 last 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.
It didn’t get any easier for the Warriors on Friday night, for it had to go visit Fayetteville-Manlius and, though it played well early and late, the game’s middle stages proved costly in a 71-63 defeat to the Hornets.
A wild first quarter saw Liverpool fall behind, 25-21, but F-M nearly doubled up Liverpool as it outscored them a combined 35-18 in the middle two periods.
Hunter got 15 points, while Cutler had 12 points and Sumit Singh 11 points. Sullivan, was held to one field goal and six points, one of his lowest totals of the season. F-M point guard Jake Wittig suffered a cut early in the game, but returned to post 24 points and add 10 assists, seven steals and four rebounds.
C-NS had a chance, on Friday, to end Baldwinsville’s playoff hopes, but the Northstars could not do so, paying a steep price for a bad start in a 73-59 defeat to the Bees.
B’ville tore up the Northstars’ defenses during a 25-9 first-quarter surge. Not content with that, the Bees’ margin grew to 43-22 by halftime before the Northstars could really settle down, but the main damage was already rendered.
In defeat, the Northstars saw Nesci earn 17 points and Gacek add 12 points. Jon Petrin finished with nine points and Keegan Wright contributed seven points. B’ville got big games from Tim Marshall and Devin McLeod, as Marshall hit on 28 points, including 11 field goals, three of them 3-pointers, while McLeod finished with 20 points.
