Look anywhere in area high school boys basketball, and there’s reason to feel quite bullish about what might take place in 2020.
Already, West Genesee is offering up a capable defense of its state and sectional Class AA titles with Bishop Ludden a worthy challenger, the Gaelic Knights moving to 7-1 on the season Sunday with a 57-37 win over St. Mary’s (Buffalo).
And in Class B, Skaneateles, at 7-0, has risen to no. 7 in the state Class B rankings, with Marcellus and Solvay shaping up as prime contenders, too, for both league and sectional honors.
On the second day of the new year, Solvay further established its credentials by making the short trip to Westhill and, leading from start to finish, earning a 71-56 victory over the Warriors.
Much of it had to do with how the game started. Fueled by 12 first-quarter points from Justin Scott, the Bearcats jumped out 28-16 and, after the Warriors cut the margin to five, eventually built a 39-30 halftime advantage.
All through the second half, Solvay thwarted Westhill’s many attempts to catch up, never letting the Warriors put together a sustained scoring burst.
Part of it was Scott, who finished with 24 points, but another part was Jaimen Bliss steadily earning 17 points as Brock Bagozzi got 12 points and Elijah Wright added nine points.
The Bearcats also contained Westhill’s 1,000-point scorer, Zach Brown, holding him to 11 points, though Elliott Rouse got 21 points and James Kelley contributed 19 points off the bench.
On that same Thursday afternoon, Marcellus went to Cato-Meridian, and pulled away to beat the Blue Devils 69-54.
Having not played a game in 13 days, the Mustangs had an up-and-down first half, ultimately trailing Cato 24-22. But with superior depth, Marcellus zoomed out in front in the third quarter and never looked back.
Leading that charge, Jared Sammon put up a season-high 19 points and Matt Kershaw finished with 18 points. Luke Ingianni had nine points as Tristan Jarvi got six points.
Two days later, at Oneida, the Mustangs looked to improve to 6-1, but instead saw its offense dry up in a 38-34 defeat to the Indians. Other than Kershaw’s 17 points, the team just made four other field goals.
Jordan-Elbridge returned last Friday in the Fulton Savings Bank Tournament and held off Hannibal 65-60 in the first round,.
This was largely due to Dakota Holbrook, who set a career mark with 31 points, many of them in the third quarter during a 23-8 run that erased a 32-27 halftime deficit.
Some help came from Jeremy Meili, who gave J-E 11 points as Tyler Waldron got seven points. Hannibal got 17 points from James Somers and 16 points from Jack Smith.
A 68-58 defeat to host Fulton followed in Saturday’s final, the Eagles not able to overcome a tremendous performance by the Red Raieders’ Seth Grimshaw, who piled up 35 points, including five 3-pointers.
Holbrook, cooling off from his own big effort against Hannibal, had 14 points, with Alex Pond getting 11 points and Owen Barrigar adding 10 points.
