Each of the Skaneateles basketball teams has played multiple games at Onondaga Community College this winter, with mixed results.
Now, though, they’re quite glad to go back to OCC – or more specifically, to Allyn Hall – to fight for spots in their respective Section III Class B title games.
On Saturday, the boys Lakers, as the no. 5 seed, meet top seed Bishop Grimes at 4 p.m., with the winner to face Institute of Technology Central or Syracuse Academy of Science a week later at SRC Arena in the sectional final.
Then, on Sunday night at 7:15, it’s the Class B girls sectional semifinal involving no. 6 seed Skaneateles and no. 2 South Jefferson. Whoever wins goes to the final on Feb. 28 against Westhill or Bishop Ludden.
They got there by each winning quarterfinal games on the road Wednesday night, with the girls Lakers knocking off state no. 4-ranked General Brown 53-52 while, at the same time, the boys Lakers won a 64-48 decision at Sherburne-Earlville.
In no way were the Skaneateles girls, despite its no. 6 seed, intimidated by its opposition, though General Brown, who entered the game at 18-2, had knocked off South Jefferson in the Frontier League ‘B’ Division final on Feb. 6, which had a lot to do with the Lions’ rise in the state rankings.
The Lakers gained confidence by holding GB in check during the first quarter. Then it took control by outscoring the Lions 19-10 in the second period, which created a 28-18 halftime margin.
Fighting back, GB erased most of its deficit during the third quarter, setting up a tense homestretch. With every possession counting, the Lakers did just enough to hang on, in large part because its attack was deeper and more spread out than the Lions.
Shannon Foehl, hitting on four 3-pointers, led Skaneateles with 16 points. Olivia Dobrovosky earned 10 points, while Riley Pas’cal stepped up with nine points, five of them free throws. Bailey Herr and Chloe Metz had six points apiece.
For GB, Rhea Pitkin had a game-high 20 points, adding four rebounds as Kylee Rosbrook got 17 points and six rebounds. But the Lakers held the rest of the Lions to just five combined field goals.
Meanwhile, the Skaneateles boys made the long trip to Sherburne-Earlville a successful one.
Though it was at home, and sported a 15-6 records, the Marauders had not faced the sort of competition the Lakers had faced in the OHSL Liberty division, and toughened up by those experiences, Skaneateles put together one of its best all-around efforts – but only after a shaky start.
S-E was red-hot in the first quarter, sprinting out to a 21-15 lead. All that did, though, was anger the Lakers into one of its best stretches of the season, where it shut down the Marauders while going on an 18-4 run to close the half.
Even with that, though, S-E stayed within range and only trailed by three, 44-41, with one quarter left. But with a multi-pronged attack anchored by Pete Knupp, who had passed 1,000 career points in his team’s 65-48 first-round win over General Brown on Feb. 13, Skaneateles pulled away, closing the game on a 20-7 spurt.
Knupp finished with 19 points, seven of them from free throws, and Justin McClanahan burned the Marauders with his outside shooting, getting all of his 15 points from five 3-pointers as Sam Duggan added 13 points and Jake Reed got nine points. Gavin Giroux paced S-E with 18 points.
And now it’s back to OCC to face Grimes, where at adjacent SRC Arena on Dec. 29 the Cobras beat Skaneateles 67-54 before prevailing again 81-67 in a foul-filled rematch at East Syracuse less than three weeks later.
The task for the girls Lakers might prove more daunting. South Jefferson beat Skaneateles 64-36 when the two met at SRC Arena on Dec. 27, though Herr missed that game.
