After it once stood at 11-3, the Cazenovia boys basketball team had seen plenty go wrong in the last few weeks of the regular season.

During last Tuesday night’s trip to Jordan-Elbridge, the Lakers again found itself in a close contest and again could not pull it out, falling 52-50 to the Eagles for its fifth consecutive defeat.

And what made it more frustrating was that Cazenovia had led most of the way, not by a big margin, but enough to showcase an effective defense that was primarily responsible for a 37-31 lead through three quarters.

J-E turned it all around, though, zooming in front late thanks to an attack led by Dakota Holbrook, who put in 15 points, and Alex Pond, who got 14 points.

This negated the efforts of Ty Freyer, who set a new career mark with 22 points, most of its from six 3-pointers, and Alex Moesch, who added 14 points as Keegan Bailey got 12 points, but the rest of the squad was held to just two points.

As for Chittenango, its post-season hopes took a hit last Tuesday when a valiant effort against Institute of Technology Central fell just short in a 69-66 defeat.

The Bears led 18-12 through one period, only to have ITC outscore them 29-18 the rest of the half, led by Edwin Seton, who finished with 24 points, and Terrell McLaughlin, who had 20 points.

Staying in it until the final seconds, Chittenango saw Tyrus Kelly hit five 3-pointers on his way to 21 points overall, while Brian Schermerhorn had 15 points. Bryce Bishop had eight points and James Miller added seven points.

With Friday’s game against Homer snowed out, the Bears would have to make up that contest plus have a game Tuesday at Phoenix as Cazenovia met Altmar-Parish-Williamstown that same night Cazenovia hosts Altmar-Parish-Williamstown in Tuesday night’s regular-season finale.