In the aftermath of the holiday tournaments, area boys basketball teams managed to get some games in during the first week of 2018 before weather interrupted the schedules again.
Jamesville-DeWitt traveled to Auburn last Wednesday night, and again found itself in a tense thriller that it managed to pull out, the Red Rams defeating the Maroons 73-68.
A strong second quarter left J-D in front, 38-30, going into halftime, but Auburn chipped away at that margin and then went in front for the first time, 54-53, early in the final period.
Though the Rams went back in front, Evan Donovan’s 3-pointer cut that margin to one with a minute to play. But J-D kept cool and, with clutch rebounding and free throws, pulled it out, overcoming a 29-point effort by the Maroons’ Kaleb Cook.
Payton Shumpert finished with 19 points, while Marcus Johnson, Max Schulman and Matt Cieplicki gained 10 points apiece. Takuya LaClair and Kaleb McCloud each had seven points as Teleak Robinson got six opitns.
As that went on, Fayetteville-Manlius was at Henninger, who had beaten J-D in the finals of the CBA Manny Leone Memorial Classic on Dec. 30. The Black Knights beat the Hornets 73-49,
Bishop Grimes entered 2018 with a lot of momentum, and kept it going in last Wednesday’s game at Cazenovia, where things were tense until the fourth quarter, when the Cobras pulled away to beat the Lakers 59-44.
Cazenovia led, 16-12, through one period, and even though Grimes moved out in front by halftime, nothing was settled until the final period, when the Cobras held the Lakers to four points as it pulled clear.
Before the old year ended, East Syracuse Minoa got in a game against Watertown on Dec. 29, where the Spartans played consistent defense throughout a 49-41 win over the Cyclones.
Even when Watertown put up its best point total in the third quarter, ESM outscored them 17-13, extending its lead. It held on behind 16 points from Devin Mascato-Buffaloe and 11 points from Kevin Richardson as Colton Cwikla earned seven points.
Then ESM faced Cortland last Wednesday night and dropped a tight 57-55 decision to the Purple Tigers, who in the fourth quarter held the Spartans to six points, erasing a 49-44 lead the hosts had established as John Blanchard (19 points) and Jay Atkins (16 points) led the Cortland comeback.
Still managing to get four players to score in double figures, ESM had Richardson and Gabe Holloman each score 12 points, with Mascato-Buffaloe adding 11 points and Jack Shields earning 10 points. Ermin Karic had nine points.
Manlius-Pebble Hill played Tully last Wednesday and lost, 82-27, to the Black Knights, still managing to get 15 points from Alex Abrams. But the rest of the Trojans had just five total field goals as 13 different Tully players got on the scoreboard.
