The longer it went, the less of a fluke the Jordan-Elbridge boys basketball team’s terrific start to the 2018-19 season would seem, especially when it could play well away from home.
Having raced out with four straight wins, all on its home court, J-E faced its first road test at Institute of Technology Central last Tuesday night, but met that challenge in a big way, defeating that other group of Eagles 65-54.
Hot shooting at the outset had J-E out in front 21-10. ITC cut that margin to 28-27 by halftime, but over the course of the second half the visitors regained control and, more importantly, showed that it wasn’t all due to Jeremiah Sparks.
To be sure, Sparks still was productive, pouring in 32 points, including three 3-pointers. But Mitch Holt had a career-best 18 points of his own and Alex Pond got 12 points to help negate the 28 points put up by ITC’s Edwin Seton.
So it was now a 5-0 Eagles team that traveled to Christian Brothers Academy Friday night. Even though it had struggled early this season, the Brothers still possessed more quality than opponent J-E had faced so far.
And CBA didn’t hesitate to display it, pulling away to hand the Eagles its first defeat 76-37. Essentially, what the Brothers did was allow Sparks to produce, as he had 25 points, while shutting everyone else down.
That worked as, aside from Sparks, who had 25 points, the rest of the J-E roster had just four field goals, three of them by Holt, who finished with eight points.
CBA only led 22-18 at halftime, but dominated the rest of the way with a 54-19 second-half surge. Between them, Dan Anderson and Sam Haas had 10 3-pointers as Anderson got 20 points and Haas 14 points, with Aaron Clendenin adding 15 points.
As that went on, Solvay faced its own big test, the 4-1 Bearcats traveling to face Bishop Grimes, and the Bearcats were flattened in a 75-38 loss to the Cobras.
Over the course of the second and third quarters, Grimes outscored Solvay 43-19, ending the suspense as Brock Bagozzi had 11 points for the Bearcats, with Elijah Wright and Justin Scott getting eight points apiece. All 11 Grimes players that saw action earned at least one field goal, though David Mo led the way with 24 points.
J-E’s great start contrasted with that of Westhill, who already had two defeats (to Skaneateles and Bishop Grimes) on its ledger, unusual for the reigning sectional Class B champions.
However, the Warriors went to Marcellus last Wednesday night and put together an efficient 61-43 victory over the Mustangs, taking over in the game’s middle stages.
Already in front, Westhill shut down Marcellus by holding them to 13 total points in the second and third quarters, extending its margin to 51-27 to put the game out of reach.
Zach Brown hit on five 3-pointers and got 19 points overall. Dan Washburn had 12 points. Elliot Rouse (eight points), Charlie Bolesh (seven points) and Liam Sanborn (six points) helped out. Luke Ingianni led Marcellus with 13 points as Connor Rogalia added nine points.
In Friday’s game against Syracuse Academy of Science, Marcellus lost, 79-47, the deficit growing throughout the night as Kyle Brown had 12 points, with Jared Sammon getting 10 points and Tristan Jarvi eight points. Jessiah Kirkland led the Atoms with 17 points, just ahead of Augustine Jusu (14 points), Dale McMillan (12 points) and Anthony Butera (11 points).
