by E. Jay Zarett

The Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball team shaved its 13-point halftime deficit at Liverpool on Friday night down to just six in only three minutes, adding some suspense to the latest chapter of this neighborhood rivalry.

Cold throughout the first half, the Northstars headed into the locker room trailing, 25-12, but opened the third quarter on a 10-3 run to shrink Liverpool’s lead to 28-22.

But with slightly more than five minutes left to go in the period, Liverpool’s Jonah Harder knocked down a 3-pointer and followed that with lay-up to extend his team’s lead. The game would never be that close again.

The state Class AA no. 14-ranked Warriors (12-5, 10-1 league) closed the quarter on a 13-6 run and pulled away for 62-37 victory on its home court, bouncing back well from its first CNY Counties League loss of the season to Henninger earlier in the week and completing a regular-season sweep of the Northstars, whom it beat 66-59 four weeks earlier.

“The passing by our team allowed me to get some easy baskets,” Harder said. “(It was) all part of our team offense. We hit the open man.”

Liverpool entered the game coming off that 55-47 loss at home to Henninger on Tuesday, which snapped a nine-game win streak. Warriors head coach Ryan Blackwell said that getting back in the win column against C-NS was big for his team.

“I thought we bounced back after the tough loss to Henninger,” Blackwell said. “Defensively, we were really active (and) played with a lot of energy.”

The Warriors held the Northstars to just four points in the first quarter but had trouble scoring itself. Harder, Charles Pride and Cooper Chaffee established an early lead, but from there both teams went cold and combined to score just one other point in the period.

Finding its rhythm early in the second quarter with back-to- back lay-ups by Peter Cerrone, Liverpool stretched the lead to 15-5, and four straight points from Charlie Meile followed, establishing the double-digit margin that held up until C-NS began to stir in the third quarter.

Pride, who entered the contest averaging 16.9 points per game, had a slow first half for the Warriors, but following Harder’s five-point run to halt CNS’s momentum, he took over.

All told, Pride scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half. He converted back-to- back lay-ups midway through the third quarter to push Liverpool’s lead to 37-24. Minutes later, Pride knocked down a jumper, and the margin was 41-26 going to the final period.

“I was just waiting, letting the game come to me,” Pride said. “Whenever the defense left an opening I would just attack off that.”

Cerrone knocked down a 3-pointer to spark a 14-1 run opening the fourth quarter, securing Liverpool’s victory and setting up an even bigger test on Tuesday when the Warriors visit West Genesee with first place in the CNYCL at stake.

Both the Warriors and Wildcats are 10-1 in league play. Liverpool handed West Genesee it’s only loss of the season on Jan. 24, but that came with WG’s second-leading scorer, Jack Bova, out of the lineup. He’ll be back for the rematch.

“They (West Genesee) are going to be ready for us,” Blackwell said. “It’ll be a good game.”