For the second time in as many months, a big crowd watched Christian Brothers Academy take on Cicero-North Syracuse.
This was boys basketball, not football, and it wasn’t at the Carrier Dome and a Section III Class AA championship wasn’t on the line. But the Northstars still got a lot of satisfaction out of beating the Brothers 70-65, to the point where its large student section poured onto the floor to celebrate with the C-NS players at the final horn.
While CBA was getting wins over Nottingham and Syracuse Academy of Science, C-NS had last played in two weeks since falling to Rome Free Academy 95-87 in double overtime on Dec. 2. Some may have seen the long wait to get back on the court for game action as a nuisance, but head coach John Haas (a CBA graduate and member of its Athletic Hall of Fame) said it turned out otherwise.
“We had time to break down some things,” said Haas. “So it was nice to have that time off.”
The return to action was quite festive. Students showed up in jerseys of more than 60 professional, college and high school teams, with plenty of Syracuse University and C-NS uniforms on display and even fictional jerseys seen in movies like Space Jam and Semi-Pro worn, too.
And while no one had an Arizona Diamondbacks jersey on, C-NS graduate and Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin returned to his alma mater to watch the game. Corbin, who also played basketball for the Northstars, still holds the single-game record for 3-pointers in a game – eight, set a decade ago during the 2006-07 season.
Neither side led by more than two points in a closely-fought first quarter. When the Brothers went on a 10-1 run late in the second period, the Northstars countered with a 12-0 spurt that stretched to the midway point of the third quarter and took a lead that it would not relinquish.
The key, said Haas, was getting the ball inside to the paint and drawing contact. This got CBA’s forwards, including Dan Damico and Jack Carpenter, into foul trouble, which would eventually prove important.
All through the second half, any time the Brothers threatened to catch up, C-NS answered with a timely push, including an 8-0 run late in the final period where CBA was kept off the board for more than two minutes.
Trailing 58-48, the Brothers didn’t make it easy for the Northstars to get to the wire, twice drawing within four points. But Alexander Gray’s three-point play on a driving layup with 46 seconds left, and four successful free throws from Omar Mere, allowed C-NS to hang on.
Leading a well-balanced attack, Jaysaun Gunn produced 17 points, with Mere and Chris Stowell each getting 15 points and Gray adding 12 points. Paul Aversa paced the Brothers with 17 points as Damico, despite his foul trouble, got 12 points and Kevin Underwood added 10 points.
Before all this, CBA had its home opener against Class A newcomer Syracuse Academy of Science, a tough contest where the margin built up in the early going proved valuable for the Brothers as it held off the Atoms 66-60.
Normally a great defensive team on at its home court, CBA found, instead, that SAS could give them problems, and did so throughout the first half, requiring the Brothers to match production with them on the way to a 41-34 halftime lead.
Then, when things slowed down in the third quarter, CBA maintained control, and turned to its seniors to secure the win. Dan Damico was glad to do so, breaking out for 23 points as fellow forward Kevin Underwood had 20 points.
Paul Aversa had eight points, most of it from a pair of 3-pointers, while Zeff Ednefield finished with six points. SAS’s top player, Symir Torrence, produced 20 points, while Khari Odom got 10 points.
The loss to C-NS followed, and they could meet again in the Dec. 29-30 Bottar-Leone Holiday Classic, depending on how the first-round games (CBA against Jamesville-DeWitt, C-NS against Westhill) turn out. The Brothers’ only game this week is a Thursday-night home clash with Mexico.
