Though winter weather – specifically, Tuesday night’s ice storm – caused more changes to the local high school boys basketball schedule and a handful of postponements, teams were back on the court 24 hours later – and it proved eventful.
Jamesville-DeWitt took an 8-1 record into Wednesday night’s game at Syracuse Academy of Science, and saw itself run down by the Atoms in an 80-68 defeat.
Accustomed to large or medium-sized gym settings, J-D had to accustom itself to the intimate SAS atmosphere, and ran into a hot-shooting Atoms squad that, in the first quarter, bolted out to a 26-15 lead.
For the rest of the game, the Rams tried to chase SAS down. Buddy Boeheim continued his superb season with 24 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and two blocks, while Matt Carlin matched Boeheim’s 24-point effort and contributed eight rebounds.
Marcus Johnson had nine points and nine rebounds as Takuya LeClair contributed six points. But SAS held one of the Rams’ top players, Darvin Lovette, to a single field goal, and had plenty of its own standouts.
That began with Symir Torrence, who filled up the stat sheet with 25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and six steals. Noreon Williams helped Torrence with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Kenyang Lual had his own double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. TraeVonate Tape had eight points and seven rebounds and Anthony Butera matched Torrence’s total of eight rebounds.
While that was going on, Bishop Grimes made it back-to-back victories by topping Fowler 83-68. From the outset, the tempo was quick and the Falcons proved stubborn, only trailing 40-34 at halftime.
But the Cobras would gradually get away in the second half, and Lucci Vigliotti led the push, hitting on six 3-pointers on his way to a career-best 28 points. Shawn Gashi had 18 points, while Dom Delvecchio put in 10 points.
Jonah Cummings had eight points, just ahead of David Mo (seven points) and T.J. Bradford (six points) on the Cobras’ depth chart. Fowler lost despite 26 points and four 3-pointers from Davonta Stackhouse as Deamore Francis added 17 points and Yaret Osorio got 11 points.
Then, on Thursday night, Christian Brothers Academy hosted East Syracuse Minoa, and despite a spirited effort from the visitors, the Brothers got away in the late going to beat the Spartans 79-56.
Not looking ahead to the “Holy War” with Bishop Ludden two nights later in the Pathfinder Zebra Classic at Le Moyne College, CBA seized a quick lead, but ESM, getting a big effort from Gabe Holloman (who finished with 23 points), hung around for a while, only trailing by seven, 34-27, at the break.
But the Brothers’ pressure took a toll and led to easy baskets on the other end throughout the second half. What was more, CBA had a diverse attack, led by Kevin Underwood, who had 24 points, but also getting 18 points from Dan Damico (named a first-team All-State Class AA football selection this week) and 15 points from Zeff Edenfield. Clay Jarvis, Jeff Carpenter and Hilan Giupta added six points apiece.
By contrast, no other Spartans player beside Holloman reached double figures, though Kevin Richardson did manage eight points, just ahead of Colton Cwikla and Dennis Benjack, who each had six points.
J-D and Grimes both played on Friday night – and both won, with the Red Rams shutting down Mexico 59-42 and the Cobras rolling past Oswego 78-42.
Shoring up the defense that struggled so much against SAS two nights earlier, J-D took over in the game’s middle stages, breaking a 14-14 tie with Mexico by outscoring the Tigers 28-14 in the second and third quarters.
Boeheim, with 15 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, and Carlin, with 14 points and 10 rebounds, each recorded double-doubles as Ronald Lewis added 11 points and three rebounds. Lovette had eight points, two rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Grimes did most of the hard work against Oswego in the first three periods, steadily building a 62-28 lead on the Buccaneers before resting the starters in the fourth quarter.
Vigliotti led with 17 points, while Bradford continued to improve, earning 11 points. Delvecchio and Mo both earned 10 points and Cummings nearly had a double-double, getting nine rebounds and matching Gashi’s total of nine points as Nick Davis had six points.
