Twelve months have passed since the overtime epic in the boys basketball Section III Class A semifinals that sent Jamesville-DeWitt past Bishop Grimes on the way to a sectional title and state final four appearance by the Red Rams.
Neither side has forgotten what took place in that game, and the built-in storyline of Cobras head coach Bob McKenney going up against the side he led to five state championships makes any game between these sides packed with deep emotions.
So this Friday night at 7:15, on the same court at SRC Arena and in the same sectional semifinal round, J-D and Grimes reunite, set up by the intriguing events of Tuesday’s sectional Class A quarterfinals.
J-D overcame a rough performance to beat no. 7 seed Cortland 45-40, while Grimes went on the road to upend no. 3 seed PSLA-Fowler 59-54.
All the tests that the Cobras had faced in the regular season fed into its efforts against the Falcons. Grimes led most of the way, but PSLA-Fowler hung close and, by the start of the fourth quarter, had forged a 38-38 tie.
Down the stretch, though, Grimes benefited from the 1-2 punch of T.J. Bradford and David Mo. Bradford gained 28 points through 10 field goals and eight successful free throws as Mo finished with 17 points and Jack Gutchess added six points. For the Falcons, Dennis Jones led with 20 points and Davonta Stackhouse had 17 points.
As this went on, J-D faced a Cortland side it handled twice in the regular season, including a 62-36 romp on Feb. 2, but on this night the Red Rams’ cold shooting would lead to all kinds of stress.
Held to four points in the first quarter, J-D turned to its defense to make sure the Purple Tigers didn’t take full advantage. The offense did produce enough to give the Rams a 20-17 halftime lead.
Throughout the second half, J-D held on, even though its main scoring threat, Payton Shumpert, was held without a field goal. Teleak Robinson worked his way to 16 points as Takuya LaClair had 12 points. Matt Cieplicki added seven points as Cortland got 16 points from Jay Atkins and 12 points from Ricky Young.
Meanwhile, East Syracuse Minoa tried to replicate the magic of its dramatic first-round win at Carthage, but got nowhere close to that goal, the Spartans’ season ending with a 99-49 defeat to top seed Utica-Notre Dame.
Any idea that the Jugglers may overlook ESM quickly dissipated as it scored at will during a 29-9 first-quarter blitz. Even when the Spartans did put together some good scoring runs in the game’s middle stages, the deficit grew larger.
Kevin Richardson, whose 3-pointer at the horn beat Carthage, only got five points on this night as Dennis Benjack led ESM with 11 points. Gabe Holloman had eight points, while Devin Mascato-Buffaloe gained six points.
Nearly reaching triple digits, UND, who advances to face Whitesboro in the sectional semifinal that precedes J-D-Grimes, got 29 points from Jaylen Warmack as Treijen Garrett added 21 points. Nick Courto got 12 points and Dante Griffin had 11 points.
