At least for the moment, bragging rights among local private-school boys basketball teams belongs to Bishop Grimes over Christian Brothers Academy.
When those two sides gathered last Friday night, it was a tie game going to the fourth quarter, but the Cobras enjoyed the final push and defeated the Brothers 70-63.
It was fast-paced from the outset, Grimes inching in front 22-18 by the end of a high-scoring first quarter. And it stayed close, CBA closely trailing the Cobras until it caught up and entered the fourth quarter even at 47-47.
Grimes would finish strong, though, as everyone in its main rotation made crucial contributions, led by T.J. Bradford and David Mo as they both had 18 points, Bradford earning 10 of those points at the free-throw line.
Tong Mading had nine points, with David Cifonelli adding seven points. Jack Gutchess, Gus O’Connell and Nate Gay finished with six points apiece.
CBA wasn’t quite as deep, but it did see Aaron Clendenin put up 17 points and SirVocea Dennis earn 13 points. Sean Miller had 11 points as Avion Othman got held to seven points.
Before all this, Grimes broke a brief skid last Tuesday at Homer, topping the Trojans 51-43 as it used a 20-12 push through the second quarter to take the lead for good.
Strong defense in the second half protected the Cobras’ advantage as Mo earned 15 points, with Bradford adding 11 points. Gop Arop had eight points and Nick Davis contributed six points.
Elsewhere, Fayetteville-Manlius lost 72-47 to Henninger and CBA tripped up at Chittenango in a 68-48 defeat to the Bears.
F-M had played quite well in the first half against Henninger, establishing a 27-20 lead, only to see it vanish amid a Black Knights barrage that didn’t let up until it had outscored the Hornets 29-5 in the third quarter.
Khai Pugh, in defeat, had 11 points, with Nick Papa adding 10 points. Chris Lubrino had seven points and Alex Bychkov six points as, for Henninger, seven different players had six or more points, with Jonah Alston and Dujardin Sojo getting 13 points apiece.
CBA could not rebound from its defeat to J-D, its early lead vanishing when Chittenango went on a 23-9 push through the second quarter. Nick Valenti had 14 points, with Othman adding 11 points and Ryan Mackenzie getting eight points.
Yet still CBA found itself in the spotlight when, across town, head coach Buddy Wleklinski appeared in a tribute video to Bishop Ludden coach Pat Donnelly, who is retiring at season’s end.
Wleklinski said the “Holy War” rivalry between CBA and Ludden was built upon the mutual respect the programs had for each other, and the example Donnelly set in his 31 years as Gaelic Knights head coach. Those two meet one more time on Feb. 13.
Grimes head coach Bob McKenney also appeared in the video to offer his praise for Donnelly – which only figured, since the two were college teammates at Potsdam State.
After CBA beat Grimes, the Brothers had to face Marcellus on Saturday night, and broke its latest skid by defeating the Mustangs 54-41, setting the tone by holding Marcellus to four points in the first quarter.
Eventually, the margin got to 43-22 by the start of the final period as Mackenzie, in particular, hurt the Mustangs with four 3-pointers and 18 points overall. Othman had 10 points, with Clendenin and Miller adding eight points apiece.
F-M was at home, taking a 53-49 overtime defeat to Utica Proctor in a game close from start to finish and added further damage to the Hornets’ post-season hopes.
The Raiders outscored F-M 11-7 in the extra period as Pugh again had 11 points and Papa once more got 10 points, with Bychkov and Tyler Schneider getting seven points apiece. Lubrino and Brad Porcita had six points apiece.
