At the very least, the Fayetteville-Manlius boys basketball team has kept alive its chances of reaching the Section III Class AA playoffs to the last week of the regular season.

At home Tuesday night in what amounted to a must-win game against struggling Cicero-North Syracuse, the Hornets pulled through in convincing fashion, defeating the Northstars 69-47.

F-M had to make a late-game comeback to win 56-53 the first time they met on Jan.3. Six consecutive defeats had followed, and with tough games ahead the Hornets could not afford any more setbacks.

With that kind of desperation, F-M jumped all over C-NS, taking a quick lead and then furthering it by outscoring the Northstars 22-6 in the second quarter.

Up 40-16 at the break, the rest was routine, James Madill leading the charge as he earned most of his 17 points from five 3-pointers.

Ethan Page and Luke Davidson both converted twice beyond the arc as Page had 12 points and Davidson got 10 points. For the Northstars, only Brian Bonin, with 12 points, hit double figures.

Even more impressive was the fact that, 24 hours later, F-M went on the road and knocked off 16-3, state Class B no. 17-ranked Solvay 66-61.

Granted, the Bearcats were coming off a draining overtime win over Westhill two nights earlier, but it still had enough energy to rally from a 30-25 halftime deficit to tie it, 46-46, through three periods.

But the Hornets regained the lead in the fourth quarter and kept it, again showing balance as Page led with 17 points, Madill and Charlie Gadsden had 12 points apiece and Davidson added 10 points.

F-M now needed just one more win to clinch a playoff berth, facing daunting tests against the trio of West Genesee, Nottingham and Baldwinsville.

It would have to wait for the West Genesee game, though, as snow on Friday postponed it until next Saturday at 2 p.m., the second half of a doubleheader that starts with the F-M girls against WG at noon.

Those F-M girls had to work its way around the injury that had sidelined leading scorer Lexie Roe.

Unfortunately for the Hornets, it had to face state Class AA no. 12-ranked Cicero-North Syracuse while short-handed, and even though the Northstars didn’t have its own standout, Jessica Cook, in the lineup, F-M got overwhelmed in the early stages of a 54-32 defeat.

Everything was decided in the first quarter, when the Northstars’ relentless pressure produced turnovers and baskets, the run not letting up until F-M had fallen behind 22-3.

Things improved from there for the Hornets, Lily Fish earning 11 points as Lexi Kellish got eight points and Lilly Coleman had six points.

But C-NS demonstrated that it didn’t have to rely on Cook to put together a fine all-around performance. Julia Rowe led the Northstars with 15 points as Alita Carey-Santangelo added 12 points.

Aside from making up the games with West Genesee, each of the F-M sides would also meet Nottingham on Tuesday and the girls would have a non-league game Thursday at Chittenango.