Throughout the month of December, the Bishop Grimes boys basketball team is tied to the Friday-night marquee.
First, there was taking on – and beating – Christian Brothers Academy Dec. 2 in the Peppino’s Invitational at Onondaga Community College. Then, later this month, there’s the long-awaited return of coach Bob McKenney to Jamesville-DeWitt.
And in between, there was the small matter of Grimes facing defending Section III Class AA champion Bishop Ludden in front of an overflow home crowd last Friday night. What they saw was a ferocious display of defense from the Gaelic Knights, who took over in the game’s middle stages and beat the Cobras 56-35.
Ludden had already won two big games away from its home court, topping Liverpool Dec. 3 at OCC in a rematch of last winter’s sectional AA final and then winning a tough decision last Tuesday at Syracuse Academy of Science. Thus, it wasn’t going to get fazed by the festive Grimes atmosphere.
And even though the Cobras led 10-8 through one period, in the second quarter Ludden erased that deficit by outscoring Grimes 16-2 in that quarter and establishing a lead it would not relinquish.
Eventually, the margin got to 38-20 by the end of the third quarter, with the Gaelic Knights contesting every single possession and keeping the Cobras off the board for long stretches. No Grimes player scored in double figures as Shawn Gashi, Lucci Vigliotti and Jonah Cummings stopped at nine points apiece.
Meanwhile, Ludden’s star junior guard, Mika Adams-Woods drew lots of contact and would record 11 of his 22 points at the free-throw line as Joe Connor got 10 points. Ed Walser, Keandre Sanders and Monte Johnson had six points apiece.
Grimes tuned up for Ludden with an impressive effort in last Tuesday’s home opener against Fulton. The 74-42 decision was decided early, with the Cobras roaring out to a 20-5 first-quarter lead and then outscoring the Red Raiders 26-8 in the third period to pull further away.
Each of the 10 players that saw action got at least two points, and the scoring balance was close to perfect. Cummings led with just 12 points, but Vigliotti (11 points) was close behind as David Mo got nine points. Four others – Gashi, Dom Delvecchio, Skyler Gashi and Gop Arop – earned eight points apiece.
It won’t be until early February when Grimes gets another shot at Ludden. In the meantime, the Cobras has its own meeting with Syracuse Academy of Science this Friday, the last stop before McKenney makes his return to J-D.