A few miles from each other, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse experienced very different emotions at the end of long regular seasons.
The Warriors were euphoric, having defeated West Genesee 69-62 to lock up the top seed for the Section III Class AA playoffs. But the Northstars were disappointed, having seen its last attempt to reach the sectional tournament thwarted in a 73-53 defeat at home to Fayetteville-Manlius.
Fresh off a massive Feb. 5 win at Henninger, Liverpool returned home to take on West Genesee, who it had rallied to beat 69-63 on Jan. 7 just after the Warriors had dropped back-to-back games to Rochester Aquinas and Henninger, a game cited as the season’s turning point.
Again, it was close against the Wildcats but, again, the Warriors got the best of it. Tyler Sullivan, in his last regular-season home game, delivered 23 points, with Nate Cutler getting 14 points, Naz Johnson 12 points and Nate Cutler 11 points. Devan Mederios contributed nine points.
Meanwhile, at C-NS, the equation was simple for the Northstars – either beat F-M, who had just secured its own post-season bid in its previous game, or the season was over.
Of course, C-NS had beaten F-M 53-45 on Jan. 8 in large measure because it went on a 20-4 third-quarter run. Remembering that outcome, the Hornets wanted payback, and from the moment Fernando Johnson netted the game’s first points on a rare four-point play (3-pointer, foul, free throw), the Hornets led and never surrendered that advantage.
C-NS watched it start to get away in the second quarter thanks to a 15-2 Hornets run, with 10 of those points coming in a row. Up 42-23 at halftime, F-M then stretched out the margin to 27 at one point in the third quarter, and cruised from there.
A.J. Nesci would finish with 14 points, while Bryce Tuohey gained 11 points and Jon Petrin had 10 points. Brendan Gacek managed eight points and four rebounds. To lead F-M, Tim Zapisek had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists. Johnson had 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals, with Jawaan Crouch getting 13 points, six steals, seven assists and five rebounds.
Ironically, by beating Rome Free Academy 70-56 last Friday night, F-M, as the no. 8 seed, gets to face Liverpool (the same team it routed 86-53 on Feb. 2) in Tuesday night’s AA quarterfinal. The winner of that game goes to SRC Arena Saturday for the sectional semifinal against no. 4 seed Corcoran or no. 5 seed Utica Proctor.
