Stuck at the .500 mark through eight games, the Cazenovia boys basketball team headed into one of its busiest stretches of the season with the knowledge that, if it could hit outside shots, things might really get going.
The makeup of the snowed-out Jan. 5 game against Solvay at Buckley Gym last Monday night included a shooting barrage by Thomas Bragg and Dan Kent at the start of teach half that largely was responsible for a 66-42 victory over the Bearcats.
With Bragg and Kent finding open looks and converting them, Cazenovia bolted out to a 21-9 lead by the end of the first quarter. Any further doubts were erased when that same duo lit it up again during a 22-8 third-quarter outburst.
Bragg set a career mark with 31 points, helped by four 3-pointers. Meanwhile, Kent connected six times beyond the arc to account for most of his 22 points as Kevin Stalder added nine points.
A night later, Cazenovia visited Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, where it nearly got the exact same score as it beat the Rebels 67-43. Even the start replicated the Solvay game, only better as the Lakers roared out to a 24-4 lead and never got caught.
Up 51-21 by the fourth quarter, Cazenovia could rest its starters, having seen Bragg, with 15 points, lead a well-balanced attack where Stalder had 12 points, while Kent and Drew Johnson got 10 points apiece. Matt Regan had eight points and Ian Foswell got six points.
