With a spectacular regular season in the books, the Liverpool boys basketball team settled in for what would amount to an 11-day period of rest and recuperation, well-earned after its perfect 20-0 run.
When the state no. 3-ranked Warriors got a peak at the Section III Class AA playoff bracket, it discovered that its path to the March 4 title game at the Carrier Dome was full of familiar opponents.
As the top seed, Liverpool had a bye into Wednesday’s quarterfinal, where it had a chance to face its neighbors from Cicero-North Syracuse – but the Northstars squandered that chance when it lost, 66-55, to West Genesee in last Friday’s opening round.
From a quick 8-0 start, C-NS had gone 3-9 the rest of the regular season, many of them by the same close margins by which it prevailed so often in November and December.
This tumbled the Northstars all the way to the no. 9 seed and set up a sectional game at no. 8 seed West Genesee, who by contrast had played well in the last month, sparked by a last-second 64-63 win at C-NS in mid-January that had avenged an earlier home defeat.
Now, in the third encounter, things started well for the Northstars as it played defense with energy and intensity while also converting on the other end of the floor, bolting to a 16-9 lead late in the first quarter.
Then WG’s Liam Barry came off the bench and turned things around. Hitting three 3-pointers in the second quarter, Barry pushed WG in front, 33-31, by halftime, and connected twice more beyond the arc in the third quarter to push his season-high total to 15 points.
Never trailing in the second half, the Wildcats had an answer every time C-NS tried to catch up, especially in the fourth quarter, when it held the Northstars without a field goal for more than five minutes and then closed strong, hitting nine of its last 10 free throws.
WG’s Lucas Sutherland, contained for large stretches, still had a game-high 20 points. Of Will Amica’s 13 points, 11 of them came in the second half as Kam Jones added seven points.
Jaysaun Gunn, with 11 points, led C-NS as Nick Demonte and A.J. Forney each got 10 points. Forney added six rebounds as Omar Mere produced nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Kyle Cody added seven points.
So this meant that, as C-NS finished its 11-10 season, WG would face Liverpool in the sectional quarterfinals. The winner would get to SRC Arena Sunday afternoon for a semifinal against no. 4 seed Bishop Ludden or no. 5 seed Henninger.
Meanwhile, the girls sectional Class AA quarterfinals take place Tuesday with C-NS as the top seed, hosting no. 8 seed Fayetteville-Manlius. Win there, and the Northstars could face Liverpool (whom it beat twice during the regular season) in the semifinals if the no. 5 seed Warriors prevail at no. 4 seed Auburn.
