It hasn’t taken long for both the Cazenovia and Chittenango boys basketball teams to engage in some spirited contests not decided until the final seconds of regulation – or beyond.
In fact, they both faced those situations last Tuesday night on the road, but only the Lakers proved successful, prevailing 63-61 over Homer as the Bears, at Hannibal, lost 64-62 in overtime to the Warriors.
For Cazenovia, an early lead at Homer was mostly gone by halftime, and then vanished when the Trojans, with a strong third-quarter push, moved out in front 51-48, desperate to earn its first win of the season after an 0-3 start.
But the Lakers staged its own rally, inching in front in the final minutes and hanging on in large part due to Drew Johnson’s career night.
All that Johnson did was torch the Trojans for 33 points, mostly on 14 field goals, three of them 3-pointers. Some help came from Keegan Bailey, who got 10 points as Ryan Romagnoli and Brian Pezzi had six points apiece.
Meanwhile, at Hannibal, Chittenango looked for back-to-back road wins after prevailing at Phoenix Dec. 7, only to get into trouble in the third quarter as the Warriors got hot from the field and built a 46-37 lead.
Fighting back, the Bears made up all the ground in the final period as Paul Wood all but carried them there, setting a career mark by pouring in 35 points, most of it from seven 3-pointers as Noah Schnauffer added 11 points and Evan Smith got six points.
That helped Chittenango tie it, 57-57, but in the four minutes of OT Hannibal pulled it out, helped by clutch defensive stops. Kyle Dixon amassed 22 rebounds to go with his 15 points for the Warriors as Zach Shortslef poured in 26 points.
A night earlier, Chittenango had rallied late and pulled out a 52-51 victory over Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
Having jumped out to a 13-4 lead, the Bears saw that margin vanish before halftime, with the Red Devils finding its shooting touch and forging a 24-24 tie.
Then Chittenango fell behind, only to inch back in front during the final minutes and hang on as Wood led the way with 21 points. VVS lost despite 22 points from Bailey Jankowski and 13 points from Phoenix Weydig.
On Friday night, the Bears visited Bishop Ludden, who won at Cazenovia earlier this month, and the Gaelic Knights would proceed to handle Chittenango, too, handing them a 67-29 defeat.
What was a competitive game changed when Ludden outscored the Bears 50-15 in the second and third quarters. Wood still had 17 points to lead Chittenango as Mykell Kaigler (19 points) and Nic Button (17 points) paced the Gaelic Knights.
Also on the road Friday, Cazenovia went north, taking on South Jefferson, and pushed its way past the Spartans 55-49, answering well after seeing a 28-20 halftime lead nearly disappear in the third quarter.
Johnson could not quite match his Homer numbers, finishing with 21 points, but he had far more help. Kevin Ammann gained 12 points, with Romagnoli getting 10 points and Ty Freyer contributing seven points.
Now at 3-2 on the season, Cazenovia would welcome two-time defending sectional Class B champion Westhill to Buckley Gym Monday night and then visit Chittenango on Thursday after the Bears had a Tuesday rematch with undefeated Skaneateles, whom it lost to back on Nov. 30.
