Just when it looked like the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball teams were riding on separate roads and drifting further apart, they started going in the other direction in a hurry.
The Warriors, 0-3 going into last Tuesday night’s home opener against Baldwinsville, responded by flattening the previously undefeated Bees 81-52, while the Northstars, perhaps basking too long in its Dec. 16 win over CBA, got tripped up at home by Henninger in a 62-46 defeat.
When it hit the court against B’ville, Liverpool was two days removed from close back-to-back defeats to University Prep and Bishop Kearney in Rochester. Those games showed that the Warriors could put together wins if it had strong efforts for all four quarters.
B’ville, meanwhile, was 2-0, but those wins came against Class A teams, New Hartford and Carthage. Liverpool brought a different challenge, and the Bees didn’t come close to meeting it, the Warriors roaring out to a 42-18 halftime lead and nursing that margin through a drama-free second half.
All 14 Liverpool players that saw action got at least one point. Charles Pride, with 19 points, led that push, while Naz Johnson had nine points. Noah Issakainen had eight points, as did Alan Willmes, with Devan Mederios, Cooper Chaffee, Jonah Harder and Peter Cerrone getting five points apiece.
While all this was going on, C-NS was finding out that the Henninger side now coached by Gil Speights after Erik Saroney’s successful departure to Onondaga Community College still had the qualities of a perennial Section III Class AA title contender.
Throughout the first half, the Northstars got shut down, and the Black Knights pounced, steadily building a 38-19 advantage. And the margin got larger before C-NS made a belated fourth-quarter push.
Jaysaun Gunn, with 11 points, was the lone C-NS player to score in double figures. Omar Mere and Ryan Houser each had seven points, with Mere adding four rebounds, five assists and two steals, and Alexander Gray contributed nine rebounds, though he and Lorenzo Thompson (five points, five points) struggled to establish themselves in the paint.
By contrast, Henninger shot well thanks to 21 points from Jaden Graves (who hit five 3-pointers) and 14 points from Djuhardin Sojo, who twice connected beyond the arc. Anthony Samuel (10 points) and Drequan Brathley (nine points) were close behind.
