If a sense of doom and gloom surrounded the West Genesee boys basketball team midway through Tuesday’s Section III Class AA quarterfinal against Baldwinsville, it was understandable.
The same Bees team that had handled the Wildcats 76-61two weeks earlier again led by double digits in the third quarter, and if that didn’t turn around, a WG season brimming with championship expectations would get snuffed out far short of the ultimate goal.
But a ferocious defense, taking full advantage of the absence of the Bees’ leading scorer, J.J. Starling, turned everything around, and the no. 2 seed Wildcats’ poise down the stretch led to a 56-49 victory.
B’ville, the no. 7 seed, had ousted Utica Proctor 68-49 in the opening round, and started confident here, too, trading baskets before J.J. Starling’s 3-pointer in the waning seconds put his team back in front 16-14.
But when Starling drove to the basket and hit a layup in the opening minute of the second quarter, he was injured, limping to the bench moments later and, as it turned out, was unable to return.
At first, the Bees made up for Startling’s absence. Sunday Joshua had nine first-half points and Josh Marshall eight points to pace a well-balanced attack that built a 32-20 advantage late in the half.
Though WG cut the margin to 34-26 by intermission, B’ville appeared to regain control with back-to-back baskets from Dan Fabrizio at the start of the second half.
Then, after a pair of Will Amica free throws, Marshall converted a 3-pointer with 6:14 left in the third quarter, extending B’ville’s lead to 41-28. And that was the Bees’ last field goal until the last 90 seconds of the game.
B’ville didn’t get another point in that third period, its attack slowed down and smothered by WG’s defensive pressure without the presence of Starling to draw attention and, perhaps, open looks for his teammates.
Gradually, the Wildcats’ deficit vanished until Kam Jones’ layup in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter put the Wildcats in front to stay. Despite this, the Bees’ own defense kept things close.
It wasn’t until Adam Dudzinski’s 3-pointer with 2:11 left, plus free throws from John Benson, made it 51-43 that the 12-plus minute field goal drought ended, on a Marshall 3-pointer, but the damage was rendered.
Amica and Lucas Sutherland each finished with 19 points, and carried WG’s attack for a large portion of the game before those key late contributions from Jones, Benson, Dudzinski and Christian Rossi.
Bishop Ludden, holding the no. 6 seed, knew that, if it won its sectional quarterfinal against no. 3 seed Rome Free Academy, it would go head-to-head with the Wildcats in the semifinal round Sunday at SRC Arena.
Instead, the Black Knights ended the Gaelic Knights’ season in a 67-60 battle that saw Ludden get hit hard early, only to battle back and keep the game interesting all the way to the wire.
A hot-shooting start by RFA left the Gaelic Knights trailing 25-17 through one period despite its own solid start, and when it clamped down in the second quarter, Ludden only trailed 33-29 at the break.
All through the second half, the Gaelic Knights found itself chasing RFA, and while it stayed close, it never could put together the sustained run required to fully catch up.
Nick Button led Ludden with 24 points, hitting on four 3-pointers. Monte Johnson had 15 points, with Tyler Webster adding 10 points as Champ Reid got nine points. Damien Call (21 points) and Andrew Recco (17 points) led the Black Knights.
So it’s RFA against West Genesee Sunday night at 6:30 at SRC Arena in one sectional AA semifinal, with Corcoran against Utica-Notre Dame to follow, the winners getting to the title game March 3 at the Carrier Dome.
