With another boys basketball battle between West Genesee and Corcoran heading toward another dramatic conclusion on Friday night, Will Amica took charge.
Amica scored seven of his team’s final nine points and set a new career mark with 36 points overall, all of which helped the Wildcats earn a 69-61 victory over the Cougars.
It was yet another instance of Amica coming up with big plays down the stretch, something he did quite often in WG’s run to the 2019 state Class AA championship, but hadn’t yet needed this season during the Wildcats’ 3-1 start.
“I know how to control my game, stay composed and think out what I have to do,” said Amica.
Those thoughts on this night involved taking a larger role in WG’s attack, especially with Kam Jones not in the lineup and an opponent (Corcoran) that split two memorable showdowns with the Wildcats a season ago.
Amica matched Corcoran all by himself with 13 points in the game’s first 11 minutes, helping his side build a 24-13 edge before the Cougars roared back and took its first lead, 37-36, early in the third quarter.
Despite hot shooting spells by Corcoran, WG mostly stuck with a 2-3 zone defense that collapsed on whichever Cougars player drove to the basket.
That helped the Wildcats lead most of the way, but Corcoran rallied again in the fourth quarter, and it would go back and forth, the two sides exchanging the lead seven times in a span of less than four minutes.
Trailing 61-60, WG again got the ball to Amica, who hit a corner 3-pointer with 3:03 left that put the Wildcats ahead for good.
As WG’s defense tightened and shut out Corcoran the rest of the way, Amica added two more late baskets after a layup from Anthony Dattellas.
It was Sam Gallager (nine points), John Benson (eight points) and James Tully (six points) helping Amica the most as Corcoran got 20 points from DeJour REaves, 14 points from D.J. Haynes and 11 points from Dewayne Young, all in the first half.
All of this was part of a busy Friday for area teams, including Skaneateles, who was no. 13 in the first state Class B rankings of the fall thanks to its 4-0 start and moved up to no, 10 a week later.
And the Lakers made it five in a row at Institute of Technology Central, prevailing 64-42 as it outscored the Eagles 41-17 over the course of the second and third quarters to overcome a slow start.
Solvay faced Jordan-Elbridge that same night, the first time these two had met since the Eagles’ dramatic win over the Bearcats in the opening round of the 2019 Section III Class B playoffs.
Here, there was no last-second drama, but a bit of payback on Solvay’s part. Steadily building a 44-35 lead through three quarters, the Bearcats went on to defeat J-E 54-45 to improve to 3-2 as the Eagles fell to 4-2.
Marcellus, whose lone defeat of the season came to Skaneateles on Dec. 13, rebounded in its next outing at Homer, relying on its depth to pull away from the Homer Trojans in a 58-39 victory.
Only Matt Kershaw, with 11 points, hit double figures for the Mustangs, but Luke Ingianni and Jared Sammon were close behind, getting eight points apiece. Sean Tierney and Ryan Sammon each had six points, with Tristan Jarvi and Will Kimber both getting five points.
And two days before Christmas, Westhill, who had started the season 0-3, got a massive win at Cazenovia, defeating the state Class B no. 18-ranked Lakers 52-48 as it rallied in the fourth quarter to prevail.
The Warriors were winless before topping General Brown 55-42 on Dec. 14, the game where Zach Brown passed 1,000 career points, getting 14 points overall as Elliott Rouse led Westhill with 18 points and Liam Sanborn got eight points.
