Having dealt with various types of early-season defeats, area boys basketball teams had to, in some instances, face each other in order to break those spells.
For example, Solvay would take on Marcellus last Friday night, a game that included early and late surges from the Bearcats that would prove the difference in a 61-50 victory over the Mustangs.
Coming off close back-to-back defeats to Weedsport and Fulton, Solvay was bent on ending that skid, and held Marcellus to seven points in the first quarter, ultimately gaining a 28-19 edge by halftime.
The Mustangs did erase most of that deficit in the third quarter, but could not quite catch up, with the Bearcats getting the baskets it needed down the stretch from several different sources.
Blake Bagozzi had a team-high 20 points, including four 3-pointers. Sammy Kippen connected three times beyond the arc on his way to 16 points, while Mike Yaizzo gained eight of his 12 points at the free-throw line and Jake Dippold added 10 points. For Marcellus, Mike Melnyczuk again led the way, earning 18 points, while Nick Femano gained 14 points and Tom Fiacchi earned seven points.
This followed last Tuesday’s action that included Marcellus visiting another main rival, Skaneateles, whose 2-0 start had included a last-second victory over Jordan-Elbridge on Dec. 5. This one didn’t go to the wire, though, as the Mustangs lost, 66-55, to the Lakers.
Skaneateles zipped to a 19-12 lead and, no matter what it tried, Marcellus just could not catch up, despite seeing Melnyczuk pour in 19 points as Fiacchi contributed 14 points and Jerrod Gates earned 10 points.On the Lakers’ side, Marc Pietropaoli led the charge, earning 17 points, while Jake Reed managed 15 points and Pete Knupp had 13 points, Reed and Knupp combining to make five 3-pointers between them.
Solvay, meanwhile, had met up with 3-0 Weedsport in last Monday night’s non-league game, and nearly handed the Warrriors its first loss before the work of J.J. O’Connor and Steve Nevec foiled the Bearcats’ plans in a 65-61 decision.
This game involved two different Solvay comebacks. One of them worked, the Bearcats rallying from a slow start to get even, 30-30, by halftime, and the other nearly worked, with Solvay eating away at 50-41 deficit it took to the fourth quarter.
Bagozzi, just as he would against Marcellus, led Solvay with 20 points, hitting on four 3-pointers. Yaizzo had 11 points, with Dippold (nine points), Jake Kyanka (eight points) and Kippen (six points) close behind. But Weedsport held on behind O’Connor’s 23 points, 12 rebounds and four assists as Nevec earned 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Of all of these teams, Jordan-Elbridge may have reacted best to adversity. That defeat to Skaneateles had dropped the Eagles to 0-3, but it showed that J-E was far more competitive than seasons past, something that it demonstrated last Wednesday when it won a 61-54 decision over visiting South Jefferson to break into the win column.
J-E held the Spartans to five points in the first quarter, moved out in front and stayed there, eventually building a 30-18 halftime advantage. Despite the efforts of the South Jefferson duo of Jon Worden (17 points) and Caleb Riordan (16 points), it could not catch up.
Again, the Eagles’ attack was well-balanced. Austin Cassick led with 13 points, while Brandon Macvicz had 12 points and Collin Barrigar, with 11 points, also hit double figures. Aiden Carpenter finished with eight points.
