Even an outright CNY Counties League regular-season championship could not spare the Liverpool boys basketball team from the ruthless nature of the Section III Class AA playoff bracket.
Instead of a top seed, the Warriors garnered a no. 4 seed, behind the no. 3 seed West Genesee it beat twice during the regular season. Most significantly, it meant that, if the seeds held, Liverpool, would meet top seed Bishop Ludden in the AA semifinal at SRC Arena – exactly where it lost to the Gaelic Knights in the title game one year ago.
On Friday, Liverpool would find out its quarterfinal opponent, Central Square or Corcoran – and, perhaps to its relief, it would be the Redhawks, who prevailed 54-49, giving the Warriors an opponent less familiar with its strengths and weaknesses than the Cougars.
Before all this, the Warriors provided an exclamation point to its league championship run in last Tuesday’s regular-season finale, pulling away in the second half to knock off the Fayetteville-Manlius Hornets 73-50.
To its credit, F-M made things far more competitive than in the 87-53 Liverpool rom p of Jan. 17, but that was about it for moral victories. Liverpool took over in the latter stages because, once again, its best players produced plenty of baskets.
Nahjier Johnson continued to draw contact, earning seven of his 19 points at the free-throw line. Charles Pride had 18 points, while Anthony Taylor made a trio of 3-pointers to account for all of his nine points. Devan Mederios (eight points) and Cooper Chaffee (six points) offered more paint production.
Cicero-North Syracuse had seen its post-season hopes dissipate with a Feb. 10 defeat to Nottingham, but it still closed its season on a strong note when it hosted Baldwinsville and put together a 68-64 victory over the playoff-bound Bees.
This completed a regular-season sweep, since C-NS won 57-53 at B’ville four weeks earlier. In the rematch, it went back and forth most of the way, but trailing 50-48 after three periods, the Northstars reclaimed the lead in the fourth quarter and held on from there.
Eric Bowen led C-NS with 15 points. Alex Gray got 13 points and five rebounds, while Jaysaun Gunn, Riley Hogan and Jordan Garnett each got nine points. Justin Kegebein gathered up 11 rebounds to go with his five points. Garnett added five rebounds, the same total as Chris Stowell, while Kyle Cody gained six rebounds.
Four Bees still scored in double figures, led by Jake Marshall, who had 15 points. Matt Dickman finished with 11 points, while David Cerqua and Casey Pluff had 10 points apiece, combining to make five 3-pointers.
