At some future place, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys basketball team hopes to reach the level of consistent success that Jamesville-DeWitt has enjoyed for decades.
For now, though, the Hornets had to settle for an up-close at its neighbors in Friday night’s opening round of the J-D Invitational, where the hosts surged early and late to prevail 65-44.
F-M had already defeated J-D’s other neighbors from Christian Brothers Academy 48-45 on Dec. 1 in new head coach Luke Tucci’s debut, employing a 1-3-1 defense to frustrate the Brothers most of the way.
And there was a long stretch where the Hornets’ defense was effective against J-D as it kept the Rams from hitting a single 3-pointer through the entire second and third quarters.
However, that came after J-D bolted out of the gate with five 3-pointers in the opening period, the barrage capped by a long shot from Teleak Robinson that put the Rams out in front 24-8.
Gradually, F-M settled into the slower tempo it wanted, and early in the third quarter trimmed its deficit to single digits, 38-30, one sustained run away from making it quite close.
Near the end of the period, though, four straight points from Matt Cieplicki and Payton Shumpert gave J-D some room, and then Robinson’s driving layup ignited an 11-0 run early in the fourth quarter that settled matters.
Robinson led with 17 points as Shumpert (13 points) and Cieplicki (12 points) also got to double figures, Matt Bradford adding nine points and Preston Shumpert getting seven points.
A consistent, effective J-D defense did not let a single Hornets player get more than eight points, the number that Jack Nucerino produced off the bench as Ethan Page got seven points, with Zach Page, Charlie Gadsden and Luke Davidson getting six points apiece.
Earlier in the night, Syracuse Academy of Science defeated Rochester’s University Prep 56-49, so on Saturday J-D would face the Atoms in the final as F-M met the Griffins in the consolation game.
The final provided the Rams with its first serious stress of the season, but it answered that challenge against SAS, rallying in the final minutes to beat the Atoms 59-53.
J-D again started fast, but its 23-10 lead vanished when SAS guard Anthony Butera scored 13 points in the second quarter, helping the Atoms charge in front 29-28 by halftime.
They traded baskets deep into the quarter, and the Rams found itself trailing 48-47 with less than four minutes left. But J-D’s ability to produce points in a hurry, bottled up most of the way, reemerged.
Payton Shumpert’s 3-pointer gave J-D the lead for good, and he scored again seconds later, and when Robinson hit a 3-pointer, it was an 8-0 run, and the Rams were never caught again.
For the game, Shumpert had 17 points, with Robinson getting 12 points and Max Schulman getting most of his 13 points from three 3-pointers. Cieplicki gained nine points and Preston Shumpert had eight points as Butera finished with a game-high 24 points.
F-M, in the consolation game, lost 62-41 to University Prep, unable to overcome the Griffins’ 20-3 start, though it ate into that deficit in the middle stages before getting held to two points in the fourth quarter. Zach Page had 10 points, with Ethan Page adding nine points.
