What the Fayetteville-Manlius boys basketball team had in mind for the last week of the regular season, and what actually took place, proved quite different.
The Hornets, with a 12-5 record, intended to go to Baldwinsville last Tuesday night and not just win, but spoil the post-season hopes of a Bees squad it beat 68-61 back on Dec. 16.
Then F-M planned on making Senior Night for Jake Wittig a special one by beating Nottingham, considered by some the prime challenger to Henninger in the upcoming sectional playoffs.
It did neither.
In the first part, the Hornets, without Wittig in the lineup due to a facial injury suffered in a Feb. 6 win over Liverpool, ran into an inspired and desperate Baldwinsville squad playing on its home court, and never could get on track in a 58-47 defeat to the Bees.
Things started to go sour in the second quarter. Tied at 14-14, F-M went cold, and B’ville took full advantage, outscoring the Hornets 16-7 the rest of the half.
By the time they reached the fourth quarter, F-M stared at a 41-30 deficit, and without Wittig to settle things down, it would not catch up.
Jimmy Barns had 11 points, while Nick Quilty-Koval added 10 points. Jeff Martin had eight points, six rebounds and five assists, with David Stegemann also getting eight points and six rebounds and Cormac Bettinger grabbing 10 rebounds to go with his six points. B’ville’s Tim Marshall led both sides with 21 points, adding seven rebounds.
Now the Hornets headed home to deal with 15-3 Nottingham, and would have Wittig back on the floor for Senior Night.
But neither Wittig, nor the rest of the Hornets, had an answer for Malik Zachery, whose blazing start helped the Bulldogs blow past F-M 60-46 to ruin all of the festivities.
As Wittig got used to game action again, Nottingham attacked hard, and before F-M could settle down, it trailed, 16-2. Even though the rest of the half was played on more even terms, Zachery, by himself, score more points (20) than the entire Hornets roster (18) in those first two periods.
Trailing at the break, F-M fought back as much as it could, holding Zachery to just three points the rest of the way, but the shots just didn’t fall, and Nottingham’s margin grew to 59-40 before a late charge that proved futile.
With one minute left, and knowing that this was the last home game of Wittig’s four-year varsity career, the Hornets took him out, to a standing ovation. He had played through his injury to produce nine points, five steals, four assists and three rebounds, while Bettinger had 13 points.
Quilty-Koval went cold, managing just four points, and even when Zachery tailed off, Nate Knight, with 13 points, and Jose Davila, with 12 points, helped Nottingham stay in front.
Even with these losses, F-M still ended up, at 12-7, as the no. 5 seed in the Section III Class AA playoffs, and that means it will go east to face no. 4 seed and defending champion Utica Proctor (a team it lost to, 75-64, on Jan. 20) in the quarterfinals, with the winner possibly getting a shot at top seed Henninger in the March 1 semifinal at SRC Arena.
