Wins late in January restored some of the confidence for the Baldwinsville boys basketball team, but more was needed if it wanted to return to the Section III Class AA playoffs.
With little margin for error, the Bees hosted West Genesee last Tuesday night, and pushed the Wildcats into overtime before going cold at the worst possible moment in a 64-55 defeat.
It was close from start to finish in regulation. B’ville led, 12-10, after one period, only to have WG move out in front and stay there through the game’s middle stages, the Bees leaning on its defense to not let the Wildcats get away.
During a tense fourth quarter, B’ville, trailing 38-36, did enough to get back even, and both teams missed chances to win it, sending it to overtime 54-54.
Yet all the Bees could manage in that four-minute extra period was a single free throw. WG would do much more, and get away as Nick Cunningham finished with 23 points, Troy Temara added 15 points and Derek Jones added 11 points.
For the Bees, only Tim Marshall, with 17 points, reached double figures. Ben DiOrio dished out 13 assists and grabbed five rebounds to go with nine points as Devyn McLeod added seven points and seven rebounds. John Brecht also got seven points.
Now with far more urgency, B’ville had to get a win at Cicero-North Syracuse on Friday night – and got it, bursting out of the gate and not letting up until it had beaten the Northstars 73-59.
Perhaps sensing that C-NS was still reveling over its upset of rival Liverpool earlier in the week, the Bees tore up the Northstars’ defenses during a 25-9 first-quarter surge.
Not content with that, the margin grew to 43-22 by halftime before the Northstars could really settle down, but the main damage was already rendered.
And much of it came from the duo of Marshall and McLeod. Hitting on 11 field goals, three of them 3-pointers, Marshall finished with 28 points, and when C-NS tried to stop him, McLeod got open and had 20 points by night’s end, and Brecht tacked on 11 points, too. In defeat, the Northstars saw A.J. Nesci earn 17 points and Brendan Gacek add 12 points.
Without any rest, B’ville ventured to Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena Saturday night to face Horseheads, from Section IV.
The Blue Raiders tried to be a playoff spoiler, but the Bees, spreading out its production a lot more than in the C-NS game and also playing superb defense, prevailed by a 52-39 margin.
They were tied, 8-8, when B’ville made its decisive move in the second quarter, nearly shutting out Horseheads and not letting up until it had made a 17-3 push and owned a double-digit margin.
Though the Blue Raiders reduced the Bees’ lead to 32-25 by the fourth quarter, it could not pull closer, B’ville responding with a strong finish where McLeod worked his way to a double-double, earning 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Cameron Skipworth, who signed his football letter of intent earlier in the week to attend the University at Buffalo, led with 12 points, six of them free throws. Marshall cooled off, but still had eight points as DiOrio had four steals to go with his six points and Brecht added eight rebounds.
This put the Bees at 6-10, with a 3-4 league mark, and still having games left against Fayetteville-Manlius on Tuesday and Corcoran on Friday to perhaps find its way to the post-season.
