What if the best thing that could happen to a program turns out to be a drawback?
To be sure, the East Syracuse Minoa boys basketball team’s epochal come-from-behind, last-second win over Jamesville-DeWitt on Jan. 10 proved that the Spartans had, at last, caught up to its more storied neighbors.
Yet the games that followed suggested that much more remained to be learned by the Spartans as, returning home last Tuesday night, it got shut down by Central Square in a 55-36 loss.
A sectional Class A semifinalist last winter, the Redhawks had started 6-4, but picked a perfect time to catch ESM as it limited the Spartans to just 21 points over the course of the last three quarters.
Nick Peterson had 13 points, with Devin Mascato-Buffaloe adding seven points, as Central Square got 15 points and nine rebounds from Brandon Kulakowski and 13 points from Tim Giblin, helped by 10 rebounds from Jayden Bonaparte.
By contrast, J-D impressively bounced back from the ESM defeat, handling Amherst (Section VI) less than 24 hours later and then prevailing last Tuesday over Oswego in a 93-51 romp.
For much of the game, the Rams were on a pace to hit triple digits, building a 73-37 lead through three quarters and ultimately having five players score in double figures.
Gunther Schnorr broke out with a career-best 22 points, while Payton Shumpert had 16 points. John Withers had 12 points, James Saroney got 11 points and Preston Shumpert finished with 10 points.
Now, on Friday, J-D faced Auburn and ESM went up against Cortland, and both teams would emerge victorious.
With the more difficult assignment, the Red Rams beat the Maroons 66-61, bolting out to a 24-16 first-quarter advantage and protecting that lead well the rest of the way.
Payton Shumpert’s 24 points included four 3-pointers. Trey Autry managed 10 points, just ahead of Preston Shumpert and Matt Cieplicki (nine points apiece) as Auburn got 18 points from Shareef Edwards and 17 points from Shaheed Beal.
ESM, meanwhile, responded quite well to the Central Square loss, flattening Cortland 71-35 as Peterson, with 18 points, led the way, Mascato-Buffaloe and Matt Burchill-Wright each adding eight points.
Moving to girls basketball, J-D had risen to no. 9 in the latest state Class A rankings in advance of appearing last weekend in a tournament in New York City.
Before that, though, the Red Rams first took care of Oswego 58-32 last Tuesday night, holding the Buccaneers to four points in the first quarter and, after a slow stretch, going on a 24-8 third-quarter dash.
Through it all, Paige Keeler was tough to stop, pouring in 25 points, including four 3-pointers. Momo LaClair’s 13 points featured a trio of 3-pointers as Lily Loewenguth got seven points and Kailey McKenna had six points.
Another solid showing followed on Thursday night, J-D handling Auburn 62-37 as it built its margin through the first three quarters, with Keeler again the focal point.
Matching what she did against Oswego, Keeler again had 25 points, hitting on four 3-pointers, with LaClair getting 15 points and Loewenguth adding seven points.
As for ESM, it lost last Tuesday to Central Square 58-29, unable to recover from a first quarter where the Redhawks held the Spartans to just four points.
Overall, Lauren Riihnen led ESM with 10 points, while Angelina Polcaro had eight points. Central Square’s Morgan Ransom led her side with 20 points
On Friday, against a 10-1 Cortland side, the Spartans put up a great battle, but lost 42-35 as it was held to four points in the fourth quarter with a chance at the upset.
Angelina Thomason led with 10 points, Polcaro adding seven points. Bella Pickard and Lailani Carrion had six points apiece. Kristen Merritt (11 points) and Margaret Starr (10 points) led the Purple Tigers.
