In a single evening, each of the Fayetteville-Manlius basketball teams would reach the end of their respective 2015-16 journeys.
For the girls Hornets, with the no. 2 seed in the Section III Class AA playoffs, the pain was particular as one bad quarter of play proved a bit too much to overcome in a 46-41 defeat to no. 7 seed West Genesee in Wednesday night’s sectional quarterfinal.
While that was going on, F-M’s boys basketball side, an underdog as a no. 8 seed, got burned by the hot 3-point shooting of top seed Liverpool, whose constant barrage eventually led to a 76-59 win that halted another Hornets post-season run.
Following a strong regular season where it got as high as no. 12 in the state AA rankings, the girls Hornets found itself against West Genesee, with whom it had split two regular-season games, While the Hornets prevailed 48-38 game at SRC Arena in the Hoops For the Hospital Classic on Dec. 27, the Wildcats had turned it around and prevailed 55-47 in Camillus on Jan. 22.
For this third and most important encounter, WG went right after F-M forward Lizzie Hall, forcing her to pick up her third foul late in the first quarter. And though the Hornets still tied it, 9-9, on Carly Assimon’s 3-pointer at the end of the period, it was still in long-term trouble.
Without Hall to worry about, WG did whatever it wanted in the second quarter, from back-to-back 3-pointers by Sierra Smith to inside baskets by Madison Smith, all of it resulting in a 19-2 blitz that created a 28-11 margin going into halftime.
Every bit of that lead was required, for the Wildcats knew F-M would fight back. Sure enough, the Hornets whittled into its deficit throughout the third quarter, led by D’Jhai Patterson-Ricks, who finished with 16 points, and Abbey Harris, who added 12 points.
Though still up 39-30 deep into the fourth quarter, WG went cold, and F-M again charged. When Patterson-Ricks hit a basket with less than two minutes left, the Wildcats’ lead was down to two, 43-41.
After Camryn Chawgo missed two free throws with 39.7 seconds left, the Hornets had a chance to tie in the last minute, but missed. Chawgo was fouled again with 15.2 seconds to play, and this time went one-for-two at the line, extending WG’s margin to three, 44-41.
One more time, the Wildcats’ defense stood up, forcing an F-M turnover and then hitting the free throws to clinch it seconds later. For the night, Madison Smith had 15 points, with Sierra Smith and Mackenzie Smith earning 11 points apiece.
At least this game was in doubt at the wire. F-M’s boys team wished for a similar situation, but instead got overwhelmed at Liverpool, though the game was closer than the 86-53 Warriors romp of two weeks earlier.
Determined to slow down the game’s tempo, F-M actually found success with it in the first three minutes and took a 6-2 lead, but from there Liverpool took off, outscoring the Hornets 25-4 the rest of the quarter to take control for good.
And any time F-M tried to climb back, the Warriors answered, normally with a shot from beyond the arc. In fact, during the first half, Liverpool hit on nine 3-pointers, accounting for most of its 48-23 margin at intermission, and eventually finished with 12 treys for the night.
F-M did play a solid second half, but it proved too late. Jawaan Crouch had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Fernando Johnson had 12 points, but no one else had more than the seven points put up by Josh Loeffler as Ryan Miller contributed six points.
For Liverpool, the trio of Tyler Sullivan (17 points), Nate Cutler (14 points) and Will Cutler (13 points) combined for nine of the team’s 12 3-pointers, while Naz Johnson finished with 10 points.
