In a pivotal week for area high school boys basketball, Jamesville-DeWitt suffered a setback at the expense of a fellow Class A title contender, while East Syracuse Minoa surged forward and Fayetteville-Manlius nearly staged the season’s biggest upset.
Much of this happened on a single Tuesday night, marked by state no. 19-ranked J-D going north and trying to knock 10-0 Central Square from the unbeaten ranks, only to get denied in a 55-51 loss to the undefeated, though unranked, Redhawks.
This was one of the regular season’s most anticipated games, and perhaps that hype affected both teams early as neither of them got to double digits in the first quarter.
It barely improved before halftime, Central Square muddling its way to a 21-17 lead, and J-D pounced in the third quarter.
Led by Payton Shumpert, who would finish with 21 points, the Rams surged to a 40-31 lead, yet could not sustain it as the Redhawks adjusted its defense and made several big stops in the fourth quarter.
Having settled down on one end, Central Square went on a 14-2 run to take the lead, and then matched everything the Rams threw at them late to prevail.
No one on J-D gave Payton Shumpert a big amount of support, though Matt Cieplicki had 10 points, Max Schulman got nine points and Preston Shumpert added eight points.
Tim Giblin did a bit of everything for Central Square, earning 20 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals, with Brendan Kulakowski contributing 16 points.
Meanwhile, ESM had its own trip to Auburn, and trailed going to the fourth quarter before a well-timed comeback gave the Spartans a confidence-boosting 66-62 win over the Maroons.
All through the first half, ESM was cold from the field, and Auburn built a 29-19 advantage. Then it got wild in the third quarter, with the Spartans finding its rhythm and thwarting every attempt by the Maroons to put the game away.
Steeled by all this, ESM played well on both ends in the final period, outscoring Auburn 21-11 to surge in front as Dennis Benjack finished with 17 points, Nick Peterson had 15 points and Devin Mascato-Buffaloe got 14 points.
Auburn lost despite four players scoring in double figures. Kaleb Cook had 19 points and six rebounds, helped by Shaheed Beal (17 points), Jay Barnack (13 points) and Troy Churney (10 points).
On Saturday, ESM was scheduled to host F-M as part of its Athletic Hall of Fame festivities, a game that was already laced with excitement given the fact that two neighbors were playing each other.
But it nearly turned into more because of what the Hornets did last Tuesday against visiting Corcoran. Despite its 0-7 league record and 2-10 overall mark, the Hornets nearly shocked the 12-0, state Class AA no. 13-ranked Cougars before taking a 58-54 defeat.
The slower early pace favored F-M, and it even gained a 21-13 lead in the second quarter before Corcoran sprang to life and inched in front, 28-26, by halftime.
Trailing 48-42 by the fourth quarter, the Hornets’ defense stepped up and made several key stops, allowing it to pull back within two, 56-54, in the waning seconds before late free throws allowed the Cougars to ice it.
Luke Davidson, with 11 points (including three 3-pointers) led a well-balanced Hornets effort as Josh Michel got nine points, with Ethan Page, Zach Page and Jack Nucerino earning seven points apiece. De’Jour Reaves paced Corcoran with 21 points.
F-M didn’t get as close Thursday in a 54-44 defeat to Nottingham, where an early lead got away when the Bulldogs outscored the Hornets 26-13 in the second and third quarters.
Zach Page led with just nine points, while Nucerino had seven points. Ethan Page added six points as Jaden Ezomo (16 points) and Mazi Jackson (12 points) paced Nottingham.
As a follow-up to the loss to Central Square, J-D hosted Fulton on Friday night and got into trouble again, but led by Payton Shumpert, it surged late to beat the Red Raiders 59-52.
The Rams trailed for long stretches and were still down, 40-39, going to the fourth quarter, but here Shumpert led a big J-D push, eventually earning 28 points as Schulman added 11 points and Cieplicki got 10 points.
Ironically, as this went on, Central Square lost its first game of the season, falling 51-50 to Cortland, so J-D could still snare league honors when the two meet again Feb. 8.
