While working its way toward the holiday break, the Cazenovia boys basketball team continued its up-and-down ways.
The Lakers rebounded from a double-overtime home defeat to Institute of Technology Central on Dec. 16 by hosting Oswego Tuesday night at Buckley Gym and relying on the hot outside shooting of Dan Kent and Thomas Bragg to beat the Buccaneers 62-53.
Everything went well for Cazenovia in a pivotal first quarter. Between hitting outside shots and playing airtight defense, the Lakers found itself with a 16-5 edge, protection against Oswego coming to life late in the half and cutting the margin to 29-23 by halftime.
Then the Lakers got away for good, again seeing the shots fall as it outscored the Bucs 19-11 in the third period. Despite a game-high 25 points by Oswego’s Carson Smith that included 14 successful free throws, Cazenovia had enough to hang on.
Kent and Bragg both hit on three 3-pointers and combined to make eight free throws, too. Finishing with 20 points, Kent was just ahead of Bragg’s total of 18 points, and they were helped by Hunter Kowaleski, who had eight points. Kevin Stalder and Chris Becker had five points apiece.
A night later, Cazenovia would visit Sherburne-Earlville, just as undefeated Chittenango returned from a 13-day layoff and put its 5-0 mark on the line at Whitesboro before hosting its own ‘More Than a Game’ Tournament late this week.
