Coming off a defeat to Auburn in its Nov. 28 opener, the Baldwinsville boys basketball team got a week to work on problems before resuming action.

When it did, the Bees went to Whitesboro, where the offense remained fairly potent, but it still didn’t amount to a victory as it lost a narrow 68-65 decision to the Warriors.

Ultimately, B’ville paid for a first quarter where it got held to nine points. Much of the rest of the game followed a pattern where the Bees would put together a scoring run, only to give up one as Whitesboro maintained its slim edge.

Jon Starling still had 22 points for the Bees, including four 3-pointers. Eric Casey, with 11 points, and Brandon Mimas, with 10 points, also hit double figures as Casey Pluff got nine points and Cameron Weatherly had six points.

Whitesboro’s Tommy Morreale led his side with 22 points, but had more substantial help as Rashad Alfahad finished with 16 points and Zach Britt gained 15 points.

Back home on Saturday afternoon, B’ville took on Hilton (Section V), and here the first win of the season was achieved as the Bees pulled away to defeat the Cadets 71-55.

A 21-11 romp through the first quarter gave B’ville the advantage, and when Hilton threatened to make it interesting, the Bees just kept putting together scoring runs as four players reached double figures.

Starling had two of the team’s four 3-pointers and 18 points overall, but Jacob Marshall wasn’t far behind, contributing 15 points as Pluff poured in 13 points and Mimas again got 10 points. Weatherly and Alec Williams had five points apiece.

B’ville faces a tough assignment in the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division opener Friday when it hosts Henninger, the team it lost to last winter in the opening round of the Section III Class AA playoffs who has started 3-0 this season.