For many of the area’s boys basketball teams, last week began with endless questions marks – not just about how well they would play or whether they would win, but whether the games would take place at all with anticipated heavy mid-week snows.

Westhill, for example, had a key game against Syracuse Academy of Science snowed out last Wednesday night, so the Warriors were idle until Friday, when it paid a visit to Cazenovia and had one of its finest all-around efforts of the season to beat the Lakers 65-35.

Just before this game, the Warriors appeared to suffer a key loss when starting forward Chase Gedney suffered a knee injury. He missed the rest of the week, but the Warriors inserted Owen Matukas into the starting lineup against Cazenovia and just kept rolling.

Defense helped carry Westhill along, as it never allowed more than 12 points in any single quarter, its man-to-man pressure too difficult for Cazenovia to handle as it had no player score more than Tom Bragg’s total of seven points.

Meanwhile, on offense, Kameren Jackson got 13 points and 10 rebounds. Ryan Roland had 12 points, six assists and three steals, while David Straugther stepped up with 10 points and five rebounds. Owen Matukas added eight points as 10 different Westhill players had at least one field goal by game’s end.

Then, a day later, Westhill met Skaneateles in the Zebra Classic at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall and prevailed over the Lakers for the second time this season in an 85-60 decision.

Other than giving up the game’s first basket, the Warriors never trailed, and though he didn’t score until the game was more than four minutes old, Roland made up for it by piling up 24 first-half points, nearly as much as the entire Skaneateles roster as Westhill went to the break with a 46-25 lead.

From there, the Warriors were not seriously threatened again, Roland finishing with 33 points and five assists and getting lots of help from Jackson, who had 21 points and eight rebounds, and Sean Dadey, who put together a great all-around effort of 13 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and four steals.

Beating the weather, Marcellus paid a visit to Jordan-Elbridge last Tuesday night, and the Eagles proved as cold as the snows during the entire first half and could not quite recover from it, falling to the Mustangs 42-37.

Physical play marked the entire game, and J-E paid for it, held to just two points in the first quarter and not doing much better in the second, either, Marcellus seizing control and gaining a 24-7 edge by the time they reached intermission.

And it got more lopsided before Marcellus, up 41-19 going to the fourth quarter, suddenly began to fall apart, held to a single free throw the rest of the way, which, combined with turnovers and a technical foul, allowed J-E to pull within five with 30 seconds left before the comeback fell short.

Before it all went dry, the Mustangs saw Nick Femano set a career mark with 19 points, while Tom Fiacchi gained 10 points. On J-E’s side, Brandon Macvicz finished with 11 points, while Lamatt Chisholm and Jonah Patrick had seven points apiece. No one else had more than two field goals.

Marcellus would make it back-to-back wins on Thursday night, venturing to Altmar-Parish-Williamstown and working hard to earn a 61-48 decision over the Rebels.

A tightly played first half saw runs on both sides. Still, Marcellus led, 34-31, at the break, and during a pivotal third quarter more than made up for its offensive struggles by limiting APW to six points to stretch out that slim margin.

As it pulled away, the Mustangs were glad to have Mike Melnyczuk back in top form as he poured in 24 points. Fiacchi added 13 points, with Femano and Jerrod Gates earning six points apiece. The Rebels’ Justin Bristol had 29 points, but other than he and Sage Bartlett (10 points), APW’s roster had just three combined field goals.

That brief win streak ended Saturday at Class AA power Utica Proctor, who defeated Marcellus 69-45. The Raiders outscored the Mustangs 46-20 over the course of the second and third periods to get away, led by Jalen Hawkins, who had 28 points. Melnyczuk put up 20 points for the Mustangs as Femano added nine points.

Solvay did get a game in last Monday night at home – but it was against undefeated Bishop Grimes, who took charge right from the outset and never let the Bearcats get into the argument during a 71-45 defeat to the Cobras.

Continuing to thrive under former Jamesville-DeWitt coaching great Bob McKenney, Grimes held Solvay to seven points in the first quarter, and by the time the Bearcats’ attack got some kind of footing, it found itself trailing the Cobras 44-22 at halftime.

The deficit got worse before Solvay made some late progress, but only Blake Bagozzi, with 10 points, reached double figures, though Mike Yaizzo (nine points) and Jake Dippold (eight points) got close and Mike Cimino added six points. Most of Grimes’ damage was done by the duo of Johnny Wike and Luciano Vigliotti, who had five 3-pointers between them as Wike finished with 21 points and Vigliotti contributed 15 points.

Snowed out of Wednesday’s game with Skaneateles, Solvay then would face J-E on Friday night, and in need of a win, the Bearcats got it, defeating the Eagles 64-58.

A back-and-forth first half saw Solvay limit J-E early, but still only take a 25-24 lead to the break. Then the Bearcats regained its cushion in the third quarter and held on late behind hot shooting from Yaizzo, whose 25 points included four 3-pointers, plus 16 points from Bagozzi and 15 points from a resurgent Sammy Kippen.

Macvicz paced J-E with 14 points, while Mason Barrigar had nine points. Aiden Carpenter (eight points), Dale Wagner (seven points), Jonah Patrick and Dylan Dunham (six points each) were close behind.