All that stands between the Baldwinsville boys basketball team and its long-awaited breakthrough in the Section III Class AA playoffs is an opponent it already has beaten this month.
Once again, the Bees found its way into the sectional quarterfinal round thanks to Friday night’s 68-49 victory over Utica Proctor in the opening round of the AA sectional tournament at Baker High School.
And this will bring B’ville, the no. 7 seed, face-to-face with no. 2 seed West Genesee next Tuesday night in the quarterfinals at Camillus – the very same Wildcats side the Bees just handled 76-61 on Feb. 4. At stake is a berth in the semifinals Feb. 24 at SRC Arena against Rome Free Academy or Bishop Ludden.
All of this hung on the Bees first handling Proctor, the no. 10 seed, who went 9-9 in the regular season. And it well at first, B’ville building a 17-11 lead on the Raiders by the end of the first quarter.
Yet the Bees went cold the rest of the half, and Proctor caught up, tying it 24-24 going into halftime. But the slump didn’t last long.
In fact, as soon as the second half started, B’ville took over. Led again by the duo of Josh Marshall and J.J. Starling, the Bees outscored the Raiders 23-10 in the third quarter, and pulled further away late.
Marshall hit four 3-pointers and finished the night with 22 points, while Starling got 17 points. There was ample support, too, as Eric Casey earned nine points, with Sunday Joshua and Bo Nicholson each getting eight points. Isiah Warmack (17 points) and Trent Adamson (12 points) led Proctor.
Since only eight teams qualified for the girls basketball sectional Class AA playoffs, Baldwinsville got a week of much-needed rest following last Monday’s game against Nottingham.
The Bees lost 64-40 to the Bulldogs, who went out in front amid a quick early pace and then, in the second quarter, outscored B’ville 18-4 to establish a 38-18 halftime margin.
Despite 16 points from Alex Bednarczyk and 12 points from Sydney Huhtala, the Bees could not recover. Jakaya Howard got 22 points for Nottingham and Amaya Williams earned 19 points, with Lauryn Withrow adding 14 points.
As the no. 6 seed in the sectional AA bracket, B’ville ,meets no. 3 seed Liverpool in Tuesday night’s quarterfinal, trying to avenge two regular-season defeats to the Warriors in order to advance to the semifinal Feb. 24 against West Genesee or Corcoran.
