Even in basketball, with so few players on the court at the same time, the presence of a single player, no matter how gifted, should not make a total difference in how opponents fare against each other.

Yet when Baldwinsville’s boys basketball team routed Cicero-North Syracuse 72-42 last Tuesday night at Baker High School, that theory was put to a severe test.

When these same two teams met Dec. 21 at C-NS, the Bees lost 52-45, its offense having great difficulty without an injured Jake Marshall in the lienup.

But Marshall was here now, and in front of his home crowd he helped propel the Bees in front of C-NS 40-24 by halftime, setting a pace that the Northstars were unable to handle.

Though he led all scorers with 22 points, Marshall was not the only standout. Bo Nicholson, a role player most of the season, got hot and set a career mark with 18 points, including three 3-pointers, taking pressure off Marshall and J.J. Starling, who finished with 17 points.

No single C-NS player could consistently produce against B’ville’s defense as John DeMonte led with 10 points, while Justin DelVecchio had nine points. Connor Unger had seven points and Zach Turtschin added six points.

Whether B’ville could maintain this level of play against West Genesee was another matter, since the Wildcats were bent on bouncing back from a 75-70 loss to Nottingham. Plus, WG had handled the Bees 77-59 when they had first met Jan. 13.

That game was supposed to take place last Thursday, but the closing of school due to cold temperatures pushed it back to Monday night, right before a Tuesday trip to Fayetteville-Manlius and Friday’s regular-season finale against Corcoran