With a high-quality win over Bishop Ludden in in its pocket and a strong start in its game at Rome Free Academy last Tuesday night, the Cicero-North Syracuse boys basketball team was feeling quite good.
Then the second quarter started against the Black Knights, and things turned, enough so that, when things again were tight in the late going, the Northstars could not pull it out, taking a 73-65 defeat.
RFA had started 1-1, routing Camden 102-36 but then falling to Corcoran 88-82 in the same Peppino’s Inviational where C-NS had beaten Ludden. Clearly, the Black Knights were capable of big scoring bursts.
And another came in the second period against the Northstars, where, trailing 22-9, RFA scored 32 points in those eight minutes to erase the C-NS lead and tie it, 41-41, going to halftime.
They stayed close until the fourth quarter, when RFA stepped up on defense, holding the Northstars to nine points and taking the lead for good as Damien Call (21 points) and Cameron Williams (19 points) led the way.
On C-NS’s side, Nick DeMonte finished with 17 points, while Kyle Haas had 14 points. Noah Wieczorek got 10 points, but no other player had more than five points.
Back home on Friday, C-NS took on Christian Brothers Academy, who had started 1-2, and the Northstars would make it worse with a near-perfect defensive effort in the first quarter that made the difference in a 61-46 win over the Brothers.
Most of the game was played on even terms, but the Brothers never were able to overcome a brutal first quarter where C-NS held them to just two points and grabbed a double-digit advantage.
From there, the game evolved into a chase, CBA making up some ground, but not enough to really scare the Northstars despite 16 points from Aaron Clendenin and nine points apiece from Nick Valenti and Dan Anderson.
Delvecchio paced the Northstars, earning 16 points and six rebounds. DeMonte continued to excel with 13 points, six rebounds and four steals as Anthony Tricarico had eight points and six rebounds. Wieczorek got seven points and seven rebounds. Brayden McLean also had seven points.
Even with its ups and downs, C-NS was in a far better position than Liverpool, who found itself at 0-2 in the wake of last Friday’s 61-48 defeat to Corcoran in the Syracuse Showcase Basketball Invitational.
A week removed from a rough no. 29 defeat to Niagara Falls in the Peppino’s Invitational, the Warriors ran into more defensive pressure from a Cougars side that limited them to five points in the first quarter.
Fighting back, Liverpool pulled even before the fourth quarter, when Corcoran outscored them 29-16 as four Cougars scored in double figures, led by D.J. Haynes (15 points) and Daimar Miller (12 points) as De’jour Reaves and Dewayne Young had 11 points apiece.
For the Warriors, Romeo Clarke had 14 points, mostly from eight successful free throws. Kyle Caves got nine points, with Alex Ruston adding eight points and Kyle Butler held to seven points.
When Liverpool took on Utica-Notre Dame a day later, it played quite well at the outset, but could not make it stick as it took a 59-47 defeat to the Jugglers.
The Warriors doubled up UND in the first quarter and had a 16-8 advantage, only to see the Jugglers increase the tempo and, by the third period, zoom in front, staying there behind Jaylen Warmack’s 23 points and Derek Lindsay’s 16 points.
On Liverpool’s side, only Butler, with 14 points, hit double figures. Caves had eight points, with Nick Klein, Jake Piseno and Matt Senecal getting six points apiece.
Now both Liverpool and C-NS would have games this week against West Genesee, one of the pre-season Class AA favorites that had got off to a 2-0 start.
