Much of the first week of the boys basketball regular season centered around Liverpool and first-year head coach Ryan Blackwell, whose side went 2-1, including a decisive win Dec. 4 over its neighbors from Cicero-North Syracuse.

Now, though, it was the Northstars’ turn to hold most of the attention, since the Warriors only played once last week while C-NS had three games, breaking into the win column twice and going after some momentum.

C-NS was 0-2 when it ventured to Rome Free Academy last Monday night, and was in danger of a third straight defeat before a big third quarter turned things around and allowed the Northstars to get past the Black Knights 63-53.

Cold first-half shooting left C-NS in a 24-18 halftime deficit, but as the second half started the Northstars started to click. RFA could not stop it, the run amounting to 22-8 through that third period, along with more big shots in the latter stages to thwart a Black Knights comeback.

Brendan Gacek finished with 16 points, one of three Northstars in double figures. A.J. Nesci and Lorenzo Thompson each had 12 points, while Alex Gray got eight points and Eric Bowen added six points. RFA had 10 points apiece from Tyrone Cowell, Isaiah Harris and Tyrell McClendon.

Back home 24 hours later, C-NS welcomed 0-2 Baldwinsville, and with a chance at back-to-back wins, the Northstars got it, but not without having to rally to force overtime before it ultimately turned back the Bees in a 62-58 thriller.

An early C-NS lead vanished when B’ville played a strong second quarter and went in front. The Northstars still trailed, 42-37, going to the fourth quarter, but outscored the Bees 16-11 in those last eight minutes, getting it to OT, where it maintained that momentum and pulled it out.

Nesci had much to do with it, getting 19 points, but also earning three rebounds, three steals and three assists, while Gray piled up 14 rebounds to go with six points. Bowen doubled his RFA total to 12 points, while Gacek had eight points and nine rebounds and Thompson added six points and nine rebounds. B’ville lost despite 22 points from Jordan Fragale and 15 points and eight rebounds from Adam Seguin.

Now, on Friday night, C-NS looked for three in a row and hoped to give 3-0 West Genesee its first defeat of the season. And it proved close and exciting, but the Northstars fell just short in a 54-45 defeat to the Wildcats.

Fired up in front of its home crowd, C-NS took an early lead, and maintained it throughout the first half. At the same time, though, it couldn’t get away, allowing WG to creep within one, 24-23, going to halftime, and then take the lead when it held the Northstars to nine points in the third quarter.

As it pulled away, the Wildcats proved that it did not need big production from George Mason-bound senior forward Troy Temara, who had just four points. Instead, it was Jack Bova crushing C-NS with five 3-pointers to account for most of his 19 points, with Owen Cross adding 11 points and Chris LaValle 10 points.

For its part, the Northstars nearly had a double-double from Gray, who had 10 points and nine rebounds. Nesci also had 10 points, tacking on three rebounds and four assists, with Bowen getting eight points and four rebounds, and Keegan Wright contributing six points. Thompson earned seven rebounds.

While C-NS was battling B’ville, Liverpool, in its lone action of the week, traveled to Auburn and, with a Dec. 5 loss to CBA still bothering them, took that frustration out on the Maroons, putting up big point totals in an 88-58 rout.

During a wild first quarter, the Warriors gave up baskets, but managed to tear right through Auburn with a fast tempo and did not let up until it had a 32-18 lead. And then the defense settled in, holding Auburn to seven points the rest of the half as the margin grew to 48-25.

Cruising trom there, Liverpool managed to get at least one field goal from all 13 players that saw action. Tyler Sullivan, with 25 points (including a trio of 3-pointers), led the way, while Will Cutler got 12 points, Nate Cutler had 11 points and Devan Mederios contributed 10 points.

Liverpool takes a 3-1 record into Tuesday’s game at Nottingham before its hosts Corcoran on Friday night and has a key Dec. 22 game at Fayetteville-Manlius.

C-NS, for its part, heads to Auburn Tuesday night, and then visit Christian Brothers Academy on Friday, bringing Northstars head coach John Haas back to the alma mater where he is a member of that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.