Win by win, the Liverpool boys basketball team inches closer to an undefeated regular season, and also inches up the state Class AA rankings.
The Warriors pushed into the top five, ascending to the no. 5 spot in the wake of a regular-season sweep of rival Cicero-North Syracuse completed on Jan. 26 without either Charles Pride or Nas Johnson available most of that game.
Pride was still resting his injured ankle when West Genesee showed up last Tuesday night, trying to avenge a defeat to Liverpool earlier in the month in Camillus – and though it was playing better, the Wildcats could not do so, the Warriors prevailing 77-64.
WG knew it had to shoot well, and it did for much of the first half, matching baskets with Liverpool as, led by Lucas Sutherland, the Wildcats only trailed by one, 36-35, at halftime.
Yet like it has done to so many other opponents, the Warriors gradually got away in the second half, sparked by the tandem of forward Johnson, who had 23 points, and Kyle Butler, who poured in 20 points.
By contrast, no Wildcats player got close to Sutherland’s game-high total of 25 points, which was aided by four 3-pointers. Will Amica did have 13 points, with Christian Rossi gaining 12 points.
Liverpool’s undefeated run continued Friday at Corcoran, and it proved particularly special for Johnson as he led the Warriors to a 94-74 victory over the Cougars.
The pattern from the West Genesee game repeated itself, Liverpool only leading by a 34-32 margin at halftime, but then erupting for 33 points in the third quarter, a pace too hot for Corcoran to keep up with.
Johnson didn’t stop until he had put up 33 points and, by doing so, joined Pride as a 1,000-point career scorer, though in his case Johnson had done all of it at Liverpool. Not only that, but Johnson got 12 points, six steals and eight assists.
Not to be kept quiet, Alan Willimes Jr. had another strong Friday effort, finishing with 22 points as Butler earned 16 points and Issakainen had 14 points.
Meanwhile, what had gone so well on the way to an 8-0 start, especially the way it finished close games, had turned against C-NS.
Three straight games against city foes would test the Northstars, starting with last Monday’s visit from Henninger (the make-up of a snowed-out Jan. 12 game), who needed its own big victory and got it by holding off C-NS 61-59
Things started slow on both ends, but an active second quarter saw the two sides combine for 46 points, but that favored the Black Knights, who entered halftime holding a 38-31 edge on the Northstars.
Now C-NS tried to replicate its late-game magic from early in the season. It saw Riley Hogan and A.J. Forney each get 13 points, with Jaysaun Gunn adding 10 points, four rebounds and four assists as Alex Gray earned eight points and 10 rebounds.
Henninger would hold on, though, as sophomore Travis Gray hurt the Northstars all night with his hot shooting. Most of Gray’s 28 points came from six 3-pointers as Jadan Graves added 10 points.
A night later, C-NS faced Corcoran, and close to the same thing happened in a 62-59 defeat, only here the Northstars had worked its way to a 48-43 lead through three quarters, but could not prevent a Cougars comeback.
De’jour Reaves, with 21 points, and Tyrice Williams, who finished with 15 points, led that Corcoran rally, with C-NS unable to answer, though Mere finished with 20 points and Gunn added 14 points. Hogan had nine points and Forney picked up seven points.
Friday’s game at Nottingham offered yet another missed opportunity, C-NS falling in overtime to the Bulldogs 63-56 after it led by double digits in the first half and was still up 47-40 going to the fourth quarter.
Nottingham outscored the Northstars 13-6 the rest of regulation and then contained C-NS in the four-minute extra period, overcoming 19 points and seven assists from Gunn.
Forney and Mere each had 11 points, Forney adding 10 rebounds and Mere seven rebounds. Argjand Imeri (18 points), Jakair Sanchez (14 points) and Jaden Ezomo (12 points) paced the Bulldogs.
