Just in time, the Baldwinsville boys basketball team was made whole again.
For nearly a month, the Bees had operated without the presence of senior guard Jake Marshall, out with an ankle sprain. The extent of what Marshall could do was demonstrated early this season when he netted 35 points in a win over Auburn.
Marshall’s absence had put more pressure on players like J.J. Starling and Cam Weatherly, and while the Bees won three times as Marshall healed, it had also taken league losses to Nottingham and Cicero-North Syracuse.
Finally, in last Wednesday night’s game against visiting Fayetteville-Manlius, Marshall returned, and he immediately was productive as B’ville crusied to a 70-42 victory over the Hornets.
The Bees had not played since a Dec. 28 win over Shaker, and the 12-day hiatus created some concern over rust, but those quickly went away as B’ville controlled the first half on both ends, steadily earning a 34-20 lead.
A 23-10 push through the third quarter settled matters as Marshall finished with 14 points and Starling produced 22 points. Six different B’ville players combined to hit 11 3-pointers as Dan Fabrizio, Max Dec and Bo Nicholson had eight points apiece, with Chase Trombley adding six points and Sunday Joshua four points.
And that began the Bees’ most difficult stretch of the season – four games in seven days, the middle two against state-ranked Corcoran and West Genesee and capped by a Tuesday trip to a Liverpool side much improved from the the one B’ville beat on Dec. 11.
Against Corcoran, B’ville until Daimar Miller’s 3-pointer beat the halftime horn, and from there the Cougars, avoiding a letdown after a big overtime win over West Genesee earlier in the week, pulled away to beat the Bees 86-74.
The tough corner shot from Miller capped Corcoran’s recovery after B’ville jumped to a 21-13 first-quarter lead, and the Cougars kept it going into the third quarter, where it outscored the Bees 22-14 to take charge.
Starling did all he could to keep B’ville in it, pouring in 34 points that included five 3-pointers. Marshall again had 14 points, with Fabrizio adding 12 points and Joshua producing 10 points.
Yet the duo of Miller and Da’Jour Reaves made it difficult for the Bees, Miller finishing with 32 points and nine rebounds as Reaves contributed 31 points and eight rebounds, a rare instance of teammates with 30-plus point efforts.
B’ville then took on West Genesee Sunday in the Pathfinder Bank Zebra Classic at Onondaga Community College, the Wildcats having started 8-0, but then taking back-to-back OT defeats to Corcoran and Henninger.
After rallying from an early 20-8 deficit to take a 35-32 halftime lead, B’ville fell victim to runs of 18-0 and 12-0 in the second half as WG prevailed, 77-59, led by Lucas Sutherland, who poured in 30 points, and Will Amica, who had 18 points.
Starling had to work hard for his 16 points as Marshall and Eric Casey each finished with 10 points. Fabrizio had seven points and Trombley got six points.
As if all this wasn’t enough, the Bees have to turn around Tuesday and visit Liverpool, who had won six of eight games following an 0-5 start that included a Dec. 11 defeat to B’ville. A Friday home game against Henninger follows.
