All season long, the West Genesee boys basketball team has traveled within close range of greatness, only to get denied.

And it happened again last Tuesday night, when the Wildcats went to Henninger and, attempting to break the defending Section III Class AA champion’s eight-game win streak, nearly did so, but instead got thwarted again in a 55-49 defeat to the Black Knights.

When they had met Dec. 22 in Camillus, a bad second quarter where it was outscored, 21-9, proved costly for WG as it lost to Henninger by a similar 60-55 margin. Here, the Wildcats were far steadier, even though the outcome was the same.

A tough first half with lots of defense from both sides saw the lead trade hands until WG inched in front, 26-23. They largely stayed that way until the fourth quarter, where, again, Henninger got the shots it needed to reclaim the edge and stay there.

Troy Temara was superb for the Wildcats, earning 22 points, while Owen Cross and Chris LaValle had 10 points apiece. But Jack Bova, the team’s most dangerous outside shooter, was shut out, and Henninger got another double-double from Destin Blunt, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds as part of a well-balanced attack where six players had six or more points and Daquan Brantley earned 10 assists.

Making up the snowed-up Jan. 19 game with Baldwinsville on Thursday night, WG did not have Malik Zachery in the lineup, but did take charge during the second quarter and never let the Bees catch up, prevailing by a score of 62-54.

Having only won a 53-50 decision over B’ville in December, the Wildcats started slowly here, too, but its 11-6 deficit got erased in that pivotal second period where it blitzed the Bees in a 22-4 surge and spent the rest of the night protecting its advantage, including a spate of late free throws.

Of Temara’s team-high 19 points, seven of them came at the foul line as NatePhillips continued his strong late-season work, earning 16 points. LaValle earned eight of his 12 points from free throws. Adam Seguin led the Bees with 16 points, but the Wildcats held B’ville’s other top scorer, Jordan Fragale, to a single field goal.

As for West Genesee’s girls basketball team, it didn’t have an easy time of if with Henninger during the first half of last Tuesday night’s game in Camillus, but it eventually pulled clear to beat the Black Knights 55-28.

Looking for a win to clinch a winning record for 2015-16, WG had some early nerves, allowing Henninger to hang around and only trail by six, 18-12, at the break. But any worries were quickly doused when the Wildcats outscored the Black Knights 18-8 in the third quarter.

Nine different WG players got at least one point, the production spread around as Camryn Chawgo gained 12 points to lead the way. Megan Farmer stepped up for nine points, while Mackenzie Smith and Kyra Bednarski each had seven points. Sierra Smith added six points and Olivia Davoli contributed five points.

Each of WG’s teams would face Liverpool on Tuesday night before finding out, on Wednesday, where it would start the sectional Class AA playoffs.