All of those years where opponents gladly beat up on the Chittenango boys basketball team are over.
Now it’s the Bears who are doing the pummeling, or at least it did so in last Friday’s home game against Hannibal, where it flattened the Warriors 67-23 and moved to 3-0 on the season with, among other things, a third-quarter shutout.
Knowing that a big early-season test against defending Section III Class A champion looms next Tuesday, Chittenango was determined to put Hannibal away early, and to some degree it did so, steadily building a 29-15 advantage through the first two periods.
But even that paled to what happened during the third quarter. Through the entire eight minutes, Hannibal did not manage a single point, this while the Bears forced a rash of turnovers and netted 24 points in a row.
No less than 12 different players got on the scoreboard for Chittenango by night’s end. Nate Falkenburg, with 14 points, and Zach Falkenburg, with 13 points, led the way, while Eli Kim got 10 points. Hunter Hendrix (six points) and Sam Hill (five points) added solid contributions.
The Chittenango girls basketball team was 0-1 heading into last Tuesday night’s game at Jordan-Elbridge and slumped early, but a third-quarter comeback, plus some clutch free-throw shooting, helped the Bears edge the Eagles 38-37.
Chittenango was held to four points in the first quarter, but J-E couldn’t take full advantage of it, only leading 19-13 at halftime. Then the Bears came to life in the third quarter, going in front 27-25, and from there it went back and forth, neither side able to get away.
With 1;20 left Emily Klock’s free throws inched J-E in front, 36-35. Another free throw made it 37-35, but the Bears’ Alex Shoemaker, fouled with 14.7 seconds to play, hit both of her attempts at the line to tie it again, 37-37.
Quickly, J-E turned it over, and Megan Pierce got fouled with 7.3 seconds left. Pierce made the first shot and missed the second and the Eagles had a shot to win – but Emily Somes’ attempt missed the mark.
Pierce led the Bears with 12 points, while Trisha Whaley got 11 points. None of the Eagles’ top scorers could produce down the stretch, especially Alexis Braun, who led all scores with 13 points, with Bailey Van Gorden adding eight points.
Looking for back-to-back wins, the Bears visited Tully Thursday night, and struggled throughout a 39-27 defeat to the Black Knights. No single drought or surge by Tully made the difference, but throughout the game Chittenango was cold, never scoring more than nine points in any single period.
What’s more, though eight different Bears players had at least one field goal, none finished with more than five points, put up by Sydney Bennett. Whaley had just four points and Pierce two points as the Black Knights leaned on Ashleigh Crawford, who nearly matched Chittenango by herself and earned 21 points.
Chittenango plays three times next week, hosting CBA on Monday and going to Oneida Wednesday before a Friday trip to Solvay.
