EASTERN SUBURBS – Once the snows stopped and area high school boys basketball resumed, it was quickly apparent which local teams were on a good track and which were not.
Christian Brothers Academy fell into the first category, emphatically asserting its control of the “Holy War” over rival Bishop Ludden with a 64-24 romp in the Dec. 17 Zebra Classic at Liverpool High School.
The 50th season of games between the Brothers and Gaelic Knights saw CBA’s stifling defense limit Ludden to just nine field goals all night, allowing the Brothers to weather an off night from Braeden Burns, who had just six points.
A 24-8 third-quarter push sealed it, Will Harrigan getting a team-best 14 points as Luke Boule had 11 points and Tavin Penix added 10 points. Steve DeRegis got all of his nine points from three 3-pointers.
Fayetteville-Manlius had won its Dec. 3 opener against Utica Proctor – then not played for more than two weeks before it traveled to reigning sectional Class AA champion Liverpool for last Tuesday night’s SCAC Metro division opener.
And that rust was quite evident in the first half of the Hornets’ 66-46 defeat, where it went more than eight minutes without a point and found itself trailing 35-13 at the break.
To its credit, the Hornets were better the rest of the way as Trevor Roe got 13 of his 18 points in the second half, helped by Tyler Hutcheson (nine points) and Chris Cleary (seven points), but the Warriors got 27 points from star junior Andreo Ash and never got caught.
East Syracuse Minoa was dealt its second close league loss in as many weeks, falling 48-44 to Auburn who, led by Jason Irwin’s 16 points, never let the Spartans catch up late despite 12 points from Anthony Bryant and 10 points from Andrew Graham.