For a brief moment in Wednesday night’s Section III Class B quarterfinal, the Skaneateles boys basketball team experienced a flashback.
Trailing Cazenovia by double digits in this latest (and most important) Laker duel, Skaneateles saw guard Jake Reed start to unleash a 3-point barrage, something similar to what Pete Knupp had done when he scored 37 points on this same floor two months earlier.
Unlike that first time, though, this run would end, and of far more importance, Skaneateles would see its season end, too, as it just could not quite catch up to those other Lakers, taking a 63-58 defeat.
Fresh off an easy first-round win over Holland Patent on Feb. 20, Skaneateles, the no. 5 seed, knew the challenge would rise against Cazenovia, who had barely won its first-round sectional game over Phoenix, 52-49, but had won the Laker rematch at Skaneateles 56-51 on Jan. 13.
During a fast-paced, back-and-forth first quarter, the two Laker sides traded baskets, but it was Cazenovia’s Ryan Henderson (who had 32 points against Phoenix) taking charge with eight points, six of them late in the period to forge a 17-14 lead.
Cazenovia’s momentum stretched deep into the second period, with a 10-0 spurt that included a 3-point shot by Kevin Ridings and a three-point play from Shaffner that made it 25-14.
Then the game’s pattern really started to take hold. Skaneateles would push and get within striking range, and every single time Cazenovia would answer it, Henderson doing so with a big 3-pointer that gave the hosts a 33-25 halftime cushion.
Six straight points by Cazenovia early in the third quarter got the margin back to double digits, but that didn’t last, either.
Briefly channeling what Knupp had done in that 68-60 win on Dec. 12, Reed hit three 3-pointers in that period that helped Skaneateles move back within four, 47-43, with one quarter left.
The tension continued to build. Down by six, Skaneateles saw Reed again connect on a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter that cut the deficit in half, to 52-49, only to have Ridings offer a big 3-pointer to restore that margin.
With under a minute left, Skaneateles was again within three, 57-54, and pressed for a turnover, but Cazenovia broke that press, Jake Shaffner delivering a crucial basket.
The sides traded points until Marc Pietropaoli’s basket with 8.4 seconds left made it 61-58. Immediately, Skaneateles fouled Cazenovia’s Evan Cornell, but facing his biggest free throws of the season, Cornell made them both to clinch it.
Jake Peterson, offering an inside counter to Reed’ shot shooting, led Skaneateles with 21 points. Reed finished with 15 points, with Pietropaoli held to nine points and Knupp held to eight points, quite different from his first trip to Cazenovia.
For Cazenovia, Henderson finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds, while Shaffner got 13 points and 10 rebounds. Cornell managed 13 points and Ridings added nine points.
Skaneateles concluded its season with a 15-6 record. Despite a small varsity roster, head coach Karl Norris got a superb effort all winter, and while Peterson and Colin Foehl depart, Reed, Knupp and Pietropaoli lead a strong returning class for 2015-16 that can reasonably carry championship expectations.
